Critique de School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-The age-old mystery of how humans came to inhabit the Americas has long been considered the holy grail of scientific quests. This program explores the unraveling of a long-held theory formed to answer this question. It also examines how various facets of science (anthropology, climatology, genetics, geography, et. al.) conspire to create a radical new hypothesis. Once thought to have arrived via a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska, the first inhabitants of the American continents are traced by close examination of the stone-age tools they used to hunt and live. Until recently, the oldest evidence of human habitation had been the discovery of the Clovis point-a spear head dating back 13,500 years which was used to fell mammoths and other game. The latest discoveries have given birth to radical and widely contested new theories. Human genetic strains possibly traceable to Europe are found in the Americas pre-dating the Clovis point. The technique used to create the Clovis spear heads are matched to one used by an ancient people hailing from modern-day France and Spain. Beautiful landscape photography, archival footage, computer recreations, and interviews with many scholars combine to tell the story of how these theories have been formulated. What is remarkable about this program is its ability to present the discovery and evolution of scientific fact as an exciting undertaking. The filmmakers impart the groundbreaking effect of the accumulation of these discoveries on human history, making the mystery of scientific discovery real to a young audience.-Meghann R. Matwichuk, University of Delaware, Newark (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.