For decades, archaeologists have debated a basic question about the first people who spread across the Americas. Were they broad-spectrum foragers who adapted to whatever food was available in each landscape.

Picture yourself walking through the ancient Americas many millennia ago. You will see no farms or villages that we have come to expect in our understanding of history.

For decades, archaeologists have debated a basic question about the first people who spread across the Americas. Were they broad-spectrum foragers who adapted to whatever food was…