Jacques Cinq-Mars

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Jacques Cinq-Mars Born: 1941/42 (died 27 November 2021, aged 79) was a Canadian archaeologist specializing in Canada, especially Yukon. [1] Cinq-Mars excavated the Bluefish Caves site in the Old Crow area from 1977 to 1987. [2] His careful research showed the presence of humans in the Americas long before Clovis. [3] His dates for the site are around 24,000 BP. [4] [5] Cinq-Mars began his work in the Old Crow area early in the 1970s. [6] Although the Clovis-first hypothesis has substantially fallen out of favor, some archaeologists question the 24,000 BP date for human presence at Blue Fish Caves. [7]

He was on the staff of the Canadian Museum of History.

He is survived by his widow Andrée Favre, and his two sons, Marc and Eric Cinq-Mars. [1]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beringia</span> Geographic region of Asia and North America currently partly submerged

Beringia is defined today as the land and maritime area bounded on the west by the Lena River in Russia; on the east by the Mackenzie River in Canada; on the north by 72 degrees north latitude in the Chukchi Sea; and on the south by the tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula. It includes the Chukchi Sea, the Bering Sea, the Bering Strait, the Chukchi and Kamchatka Peninsulas in Russia as well as Alaska in the United States and the Yukon in Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clovis culture</span> Prehistoric culture in the Americas c. 11, 500 to 10,800 BCE

Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican archaeological culture, named for distinct stone and bone tools found in close association with Pleistocene fauna, particularly two Columbian mammoths, at Blackwater Locality No. 1 near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936 and 1937, though Paleoindian artifacts had been found at the site since the 1920s. It existed from roughly 11,500 to 10,800 BCE near the end of the Last Glacial Period.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Monte Verde</span> Archaeological site in Llanquihue Province, Chile

Monte Verde is a Paleolithic archaeological site in the Llanquihue Province in southern Chile, located near Puerto Montt, Los Lagos Region. It contains two separate layers, the younger Monte Verde II, dating to 14,500 cal BP, and an older, much more controversial layer suggested to date to 18,500 cal BP. The Monte Verde II site has been considered key evidence showing that the human settlement of the Americas pre-dates the Clovis culture by roughly 1,000 years. This contradicts the previously accepted "Clovis first" model which holds that settlement of the Americas began after 13,500 cal BP. The Monte Verde findings were initially dismissed by most of the scientific community, but the evidence then became more accepted in archaeological circles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Crow, Yukon</span> Place in Yukon, Canada

Old Crow is a community in the Canadian territory of Yukon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porcupine River</span> River in Canada and the United States

The Porcupine River is a 916 km (569 mi) tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States. It rises in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. From there it flows north through the community of Old Crow, veers southwest into the U.S. state of Alaska, and enters the larger river at Fort Yukon, Alaska. It derives its name from the Gwich'in word for the river, Ch'oonjik, or "Porcupine Quill River".

The Paleo-Arctic Tradition is the name given by archaeologists to the cultural tradition of the earliest well-documented human occupants of the North American Arctic, which date from the period 8000–5000 BC. The tradition covers Alaska and expands far into the east, west, and the Southwest Yukon Territory.

<i>Equus lambei</i> Extinct species of horse

Equus lambei, commonly known as the Yukon horse or Yukon wild horse, is an extinct species of the genus Equus. Equus lambei ranged across North America until approximately 10,000 years ago. Based on recent examinations of the mtDNA of Equus lambei remains, scientists have concluded that E. lambei was probably much like the extinct tarpan, also known as the Eurasian wild horse, and the living Przewalski's horse. A partial carcass of Equus lambei is on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse, Yukon.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Solutrean hypothesis</span> Hypothesis for ancient human migrations to the Americas

The Solutrean hypothesis on the peopling of the Americas claims that the earliest human migration to the Americas took place from Europe, with Solutreans traveling along pack ice in the Atlantic Ocean. This hypothesis contrasts with the mainstream academic narrative that the Americas were first populated by people crossing the Bering Strait to Alaska by foot on what was land during the Last Glacial Period or by following the Pacific coastline from Asia to America by boat.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Crow Flats</span> Canadian wetland & archaeological site

Old Crow Flats is a 6,170 km2 (2,382 sq mi) wetland complex in northern Yukon, Canada along the Old Crow River. It is north of the Arctic Circle and south of the Beaufort Sea, and is nearly surrounded by mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pedra Furada</span> Collection of archaeological sites in Brazil

Pedra Furada is an important collection of over 800 archaeological sites in the state of Piauí, Brazil. These include hundreds of rock paintings dating from circa 12,000 years before present. More importantly, charcoal from very ancient fires and stone shards that may be interpreted as tools found at the location were dated from 48,000 to 32,000 years before present, suggesting the possibility of a human presence tens of thousand of years prior to the arrival of the Clovis people in North America.

Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in Yukon, Canada, located 54 km (34 mi) southwest of the Vuntut Gwichin community of Old Crow. It has been controversially suggested that human occupation radiocarbon dates to 24,000 years Before Present (BP) based on radiocarbon dating of animal remains, but these dates are contested due to the uncertain stratigraphic context of the archaeological remains relative to the dated animal remains. There are three small caves in the area.

<i>Arctodus</i> Extinct genus of bears

Arctodus is an extinct genus of short-faced bear that inhabited North America during the Pleistocene. There are two recognized species: the lesser short-faced bear and the giant short-faced bear, also known as the bulldog bear. Both species are relatively rare in the fossil record. A. pristinus was largely restricted to the Early Pleistocene of the Eastern United States, whereas A. simus had a broader range, with most finds being from the Late Pleistocene of the United States, Mexico and Canada. A. simus evolved from A. pristinus, but both species likely overlapped in the Middle Pleistocene. Of these species, A. simus was larger, is known from more complete remains, and is considered one of the most charismatic of North America's megafauna.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre</span> Human and natural history museum in Yukon, Canada

The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre is a research and exhibition facility located at km 1423 on the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse, Yukon, which opened in 1997. The focus of the interpretive centre is the story of Beringia, the 3200 km landmass stretching from the Kolyma River in Siberia to the MacKenzie River in Canada, which remained non-glaciated during the Pleistocene due to light snowfall from an arid climate. Beringia is of special interest to archeologists and paleontologists as it played a crucial role in the migrations of many animals and humans between Asia and the Americas. The term Beringia was first coined by the Swedish botanist Eric Hultén in 1937.

Pinus matthewsii is an extinct species of conifer in the pine family. The species is solely known from the Pliocene sediments exposed at Ch’ijee's Bluff on the Porcupine River near Old Crow, Yukon, Canada.

Old Crow River is a transnational stream, 282 kilometres (175 mi) long, that begins in the U.S. state of Alaska and flows generally southeast to meet the Porcupine River in the Canadian territory of Yukon. In turn, the Porcupine, a tributary of the Yukon River, flows back into the United States, and its water eventually reaches the Bering Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Giant pika</span> Extinct species of mammal

The giant pika or Wharton's pika is an extinct mammal species in the family Ochotonidae. It lived during the Pleistocene and early Holocene in northern parts of North America. Very similar forms have also been found also in Siberia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beringian wolf</span> Extinct type of wolf that lived during the Ice Age in Alaska, Yukon, and northern British Columbia

The Beringian wolf is an extinct population of wolf that lived during the Ice Age. It inhabited what is now modern-day Alaska, Yukon, and northern British Columbia. Some of these wolves survived well into the Holocene. The Beringian wolf is an ecomorph of the gray wolf and has been comprehensively studied using a range of scientific techniques, yielding new information on the prey species and feeding behavior of prehistoric wolves. It has been determined that these wolves are morphologically distinct from modern North American wolves and genetically basal to most modern and extinct wolves. The Beringian wolf has not been assigned a subspecies classification and its relationship with the extinct European cave wolf is not clear.

The Upward Sun River site, or Xaasaa Na’, is a Late Pleistocene archaeological site associated with the Paleo-Arctic tradition, located in the Tanana River Valley, Alaska. Dated to around 11,500 BP, Upward Sun River is the site of the oldest human remains discovered on the American side of Beringia. The site was first discovered in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peopling of the Americas</span> Prehstoric migration from Asia to the Americas

The peopling of the Americas began when Paleolithic hunter-gatherers (Paleo-Indians) entered North America from the North Asian Mammoth steppe via the Beringia land bridge, which had formed between northeastern Siberia and western Alaska due to the lowering of sea level during the Last Glacial Maximum. These populations expanded south of the Laurentide Ice Sheet and spread rapidly southward, occupying both North and South America, by 12,000 to 14,000 years ago. The earliest populations in the Americas, before roughly 10,000 years ago, are known as Paleo-Indians. Indigenous peoples of the Americas have been linked to Siberian populations by linguistic factors, the distribution of blood types, and in genetic composition as reflected by molecular data, such as DNA.

References

  1. 1 2 "Archaeologist whose research in Yukon made waves in science world remembered". CBC News . 2021-12-07. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
  2. Bourgeon, Lauriane; Burke, Ariane; Higham, Thomas (2017-01-06). "Earliest Human Presence in North America Dated to the Last Glacial Maximum: New Radiocarbon Dates from Bluefish Caves, Canada". PLOS ONE. 12 (1): e0169486. Bibcode:2017PLoSO..1269486B. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0169486 . ISSN   1932-6203. PMC   5218561 . PMID   28060931.
  3. Bidal, Devon (14 March 2022). "What Were Humans Doing in the Yukon 24,000 Years Ago?". Smithsonian Magazine. Smithsonian Institution. Hakai Magazine. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
  4. "What Happens When an Archaeologist Challenges Mainstream Scientific Thinking?". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 2021-12-10.
  5. ICI.Radio-Canada.ca, Zone Science-. "Décès de l'archéologue Jacques Cinq-Mars, associé pour toujours aux grottes Bluefish". Radio-Canada.ca (in Canadian French). Retrieved 2021-12-10.
  6. "Archaeologist whose research in Yukon made waves in science world remembered | CBC News".
  7. Kathryn E. Krasinski and John C. Blong. 2020. "Unresolved Questions about Site Formation, Provenience, and the Impact of Natural Processes on Bone at the Bluefish Caves, Yukon Territory," Arctic Anthropology 57(1): 1 1-21. doi: 10.3368/aa.57.1.1