Paleoamerican Odyssey, 100 Years Beyond Folsom

Since the first Paleoamerican Odyssey conference, new research has deepened our understanding of the peopling of the Americas. Revolutionary genetic methodologies, combined with developments in archaeology, geology, and paleoecology, have generated new insights into the timing and patterns of early dispersal events and the technologies and lifeways of the first Americans during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. We now know that humans first migrated from northeastern Asia, and upon arrival in North America, they moved south, either along the deglaciated Pacific coast, through the Ice Free Corridor, or both to what is now continental North and South America. However, as archaeologists continue to shed light onto the movements of the first Americans, the story becomes ever more complicated.

Paleoamerican Odyssey, 100 Years Beyond Folsom presents twenty-nine original papers from experts at the 2026 Paleoamerican Odyssey conference. These works provide summaries of the late Pleistocene archaeology of every major region in the Americas and explore exciting new discoveries from newly reported and reinvestigated sites, new chronological models for major cultural complexes in North and South America, and cutting edge technologies and theoretical models for understanding the Indigenous first peoples on this continent.

Jessi J. Halligan is an associate professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University and associate director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans.

Lily E. Dempsey is a research technician for the Center for the Study of the First Americans.

Nicholas E. Bentley is a PhD candidate with the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University.

Cody L. Preston is a PhD student with the Center for the Study of the First Americans at Texas A&M University.

Kurt Rademaker is an associate professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University and a faculty member in the Center for the Study of the First Americans.

Michael R. Waters is a distinguished professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University and director of the Center for the Study of the First Americans.