Paulette Steeves. Ph.D. (Cree- Metis)
Dr. Paulette Steeves is an Indigenous archaeologist focusing on the Pleistocene history of the Western Hemisphere. In her research, Steeves argues that Indigenous peoples were present in the Western Hemisphere as early as 100,000 years ago and possibly much earlier. She has created a database of hundreds of archaeology sites in North and South America that date from 250,000 to 12,000 years before present. This challenges the Clovis First dogma of a post 12,000 year before present initial migration to the Americas.
She received her BA Honors Cum Laude in 2000 at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville. In 2008, Dr. Steeves was awarded the Clifford D. Clark fellowship to attend graduate studies at Binghamton University in New York State and was awarded her Masters in Anthropology in 2010. She continued her education, earning a Doctorate in Anthropology in 2015. During her Doctoral studies, she worked with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science to carry out studies in the Great Plains on mammoth sites, which contained evidence of human technology on the mammoth bone, thus showing that humans were present in Nebraska over 18,000 years ago. Dr. Steeves has taught Anthropology courses with a focus on Native American and First Nations histories and studies and decolonization of academia and knowledge production at Binghamton University, Selkirk College Fort Peck Community College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and Mount Allison University. She is currently an Associate Professor at Algoma University and is awarded as a Canada Research Chair tier II in Indigenous History Healing and Reconciliation.
The image was taken at the Museum of Anthropology in Vancouver.
The Indigenous Paleolithic Of The Western Hemisphere
Dr. Steeves spent the last 12 years of her life working on The Indigenous Paleolithic Of the Western Hemisphere. In this book, Dr. Steeves discusses the political history of American anthropology to focus on why pre-Clovis sites have been dismissed by the field for nearly a century. She explores supporting evidence from genetics and linguistic anthropology regarding First Peoples and time frames of early migrations. Additionally, she highlights the work and struggles faced by a small yet vibrant group of American and European archaeologists who have excavated and reported on numerous pre-Clovis archaeology sites. This book has received a lot of positive feedback and it is one of the most powerful books that decolonize indigenous history.
