First Americans may have crossed Atlantic 50,000 years ago. Well, I think the headline is way too bold, and I don't understand why the Christian Science Monitor of all places would want to engage in this sort of behavior. Nevertheless, the important point is not this dating of artifacts from 50,000 years ago in the New World itself (the attempt by the writer to claim some association with the Solutrean culture of Western Europe is bizarre since there were still Neandertals in much of what would later become Cro-Magnon territory over the Atlantic during this period), it is the metastory that scientists would actually come forward with these sort of dates with a straight face that one should pay attention too. I think Greg Cochran's assertion that he won't believe all these early dates until we get some human remains is defensible, I really don't know what I believe, though I do know what I don't believe. It is rather suspicious to have such an early date (honestly, I don't think 50,000 B.P. is right, but who am I to say?), and I wouldn't be surprised if more than half of these splashy sites turn out to be false leads. Nevertheless, we live in exciting times, and because the old orthodoxy (paradigm) is crumbling so fast you have all these theories and claims rushing to fill the vacuum until the rise of the next orthodoxy crystallizes reputations and closes off avenues to clinch tenure.

Related: First to America. Earlier less fantastic dates from the same site.