In the sciences and related fields, it's often claimed that belief is set solely by the evidence. If the evidence shows you are wrong, then you admit it and go on. Sometimes that's the way it is; but more often, the old ego rears up. If you've built your career based on one hypothesis, it's not that easy to change. Indeed, major shifts in science often seem to depend on youth taking up the new paradigm while many of the elders resist to the death.
The Clovis Firsters appear to be a case in point. Ancient
archaeological remains of the so-called Clovis Culture were first revealed at the
fringes of our desert, near Clovis, New Mexico. Over the decades, the firm belief was
established that Clovis represented the first peoples to reach the New World. Now,
however, sites that seem to meet all the criteria for earlier inhabitants are known in
the eastern U.S. and even in South America. Many archaeologists have made the
transition gracefully; the die-hard Clovis Firsters will always just KNOW the evidence
HAS to be wrong!
Contributor: Arthur H. Harris, Laboratory for Environmental Biology, Centennial Museum, University of Texas at El Paso.
Desert Diary is a joint production of the Centennial Museum and KTEP National Public Radio at the University of Texas at El Paso.
Clovis Culture (Wikipedia)