Dramatic discovery reveals the experts are wrong, the Americas were populated by boat, just as many Native Americans explain

Discovery proves Native American legend is true.

For decades, the prevailing hypothesis for the populating of the Americas is that people crossed the Bearing Strait land bridge and followed a path along the Rocky Mountains. They hypothesis now faces a new challenge.

LOS ANGELES, CA (California Network) -- There has always been something unsatisfying about our hypothesis about how people came to populate the Americas. There was one migration, perhaps two or even a few, across the Bearing Strait land bridge around 15,000 to 20,000 years ago. These people probably arrived, following herds of animals, then spread south, all the way to Tierra del Fuego.

The explanation sounds too trite, too neat. Humans are not a homogeneous group. We find different solutions to the same problems. One difference seems to be how we arrived in the Americas.

New archaeological evidence suggests humans traveled down the west coast of North America, making their way south.

On an island in British Columbia, students from the University of Victoria have unearthed artifacts from a coastal fishing village that date back 14,000 years. The discovery challenges that idea that humans populated the Americas using a single, land-based corridor.

The discoveries include fish hooks, spears, and tools. The discoveries also match local Native oral histories, which say their ancestors were fishermen who traveled along the coast.

As modern people, we sometimes commit the error of hubris, assuming the ancient people were less intelligent than us. While we have more knowledge, we are no more or less intelligent than they were. History reveals surprise after surprise as we learn than ancient people often solved problems long before modern times. For example, the invention of the boat may date back some to prehuman ancestors, 900,000 years ago. That's not a typo.

Certainly, our ancestors developed seaworthy boats before 14,000 years ago and used them to fish in the Pacific waters off British Columbia.

Ancient people developed many technologies from plumbing to primitive air conditioning, and much more. While the discovery at hand affirms the oral traditions of the Native Americans who live on the American and Canadian Pacific, it also demonstrates that we have much to learn about ourselves, and our Native brothers and sisters know well what they are talking about.

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