Mobility and Ancient Society in Asia and the Americas contains contributions by leading
international scholars concerning the character timing and geography of regional migrations
that led to the dispersal of human societies from Inner and northeast Asia to the New World in
the Upper Pleistocene (ca. 20 000-15 000 years ago). This volume bridges scholarly traditions
from Europe Central Asia and North and South America bringing different perspectives into a
common view. The book presents an international overview of an ongoing discussion that is
relevant to the ancient history of both Eurasia and the Americas. The content of the chapters
provides both geographic and conceptual coverage of main currents in contemporary scholarly
research including case studies from Inner Asia (Kazakhstan) southwest Siberia northeast
Siberia and North and South America. The chapters consider the trajectories ecology and
social dynamics of ancient mobility communication and adaptation in both Eurasia and the
Americas using diverse methodologies of data recovery ranging from archaeology historical
linguistics ancient DNA human osteology and palaeoenvironmental reconstruction. Although
methodologically diverse the chapters are each broadly synthetic in nature and present current
scholarly views of when and in which ways societies from northeast Asia ultimately spread
eastward (and southward) into North and South America and how we might reconstruct the
cultures and adaptations related to Paleolithic groups. Ultimately this book provides a unique
synthetic perspective that bridges Asia and the Americas and brings the ancient evidence from
both sides of the Bering Strait into common focus.
