Paleoindian colonization of the Americas: Implications from an examinationof physiography, demography, and artifact distribution

GIS-based, least-cost analyses employing continental scale elevation data, coupled with information on the late glacial location of ice sheets and plu vial lakes, suggest possible movement corridors used by initial human popul ations in colonizing the New World. These routes, demographic evidence, and the location of Paleoindian archaeological assemblages, support the possib ility of a rapid spread and diversification of founding populations. Initia l dispersal, these analyses suggest, would have been mast likely in coastal and riverline settings, and on plains. The analyses suggest areas where ev idence for early human settlement may be found in North and South America. In some cases, these areas have received little prior archaeological survey . The method can be used to explore patterns of human migration and interac tion at a variety goegraphic scales.