Steeves eloquently reminds us that settler/colonial history is not the only history nor the singular authority on the past. Through a multi-lensed approach, weaving archaeology, sociology, and her own Indigenous traditions, Steeves challenges supporters of the already waning view concerning a panhemispheric cultural group that migrated to the prehistoric Americas. Defining all prehistoric Native Americans as descendants of a singular ancestral Clovis Point people is a gross oversimplification and is not supported by the archaeological evidence, the oral traditions of Indigenous groups, nor by linguistics. Steeves warns that classifying all prehistoric American Indigenous peoples as Clovis (a) wrongly groups them as homogenous, (b) superimposes a single technological categorization on diverse heritages, and (c) forces an untrue, Eurocentric narrative.
Though the Indigenous method and theory that Steeves employs includes empirical knowledge and critical thought, her process also recognizes these are not the only systems for knowing the world. Furthermore, she emphasizes...
