Before kitesurfing. Before Tevas and gortex. Before even gorp and beef jerky (back then they had mastodon jerky), a
group of intrepid engaged travelers came to America for a new beginning (and because they heard the surf was
excellent). We used to think those first folks trundled here a mere 13,000 years ago, but now we realize (well,
possibly, the results are controversial) we were wrong. Not off by much, actually, just 37,000 years or so.
Yes, a new study of the earliest
Americans, led by scientists Albert Goodyear of the University of South Carolina, places man’s first footprints on the
continent at around 35,000 BC. The site where the discovery was made is called the Topper site, apparently NOT
named after the 1979 TV program with Jack Warden, but rather a dig
site along the Savannah River.
Some scientists are finding the new, um, findings, difficult to swallow. Says Theodore Schurr, anthropology professor
at the University of Pennsylvania and a curator at the school’s museum:
“You almost have to hope for instantaneous expansion…We’re talking about a very rapid movement of people around the
globe.”
Ted, Ted, Ted, no big whoop. Didn’t you know the first humans got here on magic foot saucers? I mean, duh!