“This is bold work that challenges a number of orthodoxies in the historical linguistics and anthropology of the Americas using an innovative, inter-disciplinary approach to the study of the connections between ancient populations. By rejecting parochial assumptions about the localism of Indigenous cultures, it is sure to re-ignite debates about the linguistic relations between the First Peoples of Western North America and long-distance migration and dispersion of linguistic groups.”

David Beck, University of Alberta

This work introduces a striking new theory: the Utian languages of California—Miwok and the coastal languages in the “Costanoan” group—are related not to other Californian languages, but to Aleut. Aleut, in turn, is related not to the Inuit-Yuit languages (“Eskimoan”) but to the Utian. The many similarities of these languages to their neighbors in California and Alaska is due to borrowing, not common origin. The Utians (or Proto-Utians) would have voyaged down the Pacific Coast, from Alaska to California, with stops identifiable by loanwords in coastal languages in British Columbia and Washington. Other language-user migrations are suggested as parallels. The reconstruction of possible migrations is another major contribution. This is an exciting and challenging work. It is supported by a wide range of meticulously collected and analyzed data. It is convincingly argued. The authors are experts in the linguistics and archaeology of the regions. The book presents a formidable challenge to conventional knowledge of North American and Siberian linguistics. Scholars will be debating its rich store of innovative ideas for a long time to come.

Eugene Anderson, University of California, Riverside

This is an ambitious analysis of linguistic connections spanning 5000 kilometers of the north Pacific Coast and 5000 years of prehistory. Brown enlists leading archaeological and ethnobotanical scholars to complement his extensive linguistic and genetic analysis. The authors argue for a mid-Holocene colonization of the central California coast by Aleut mariners, a claim certain to generate vigorous scholarly debate.

Eugene S. Hunn, University of Washington