Ice Age Columbus: Who Were the First Americans?

Many Native Americans resent the theory this fascinating docudrama seeks to prove. Could the first Americans have been palefaces paddling over from the Old World, and not Asian-Indians who walked across from Siberia to Alaska via the Bering Strait?

Well, whichever side you're on, this story is unlike any documentary you've ever seen. Yes, there are sleepy looking scientists droning on about spear points, but for once the dramatic recreations really are drama. There's murder, betrayal, passion, family loyalty, and danger. And the cast is sensational, especially Kathleen Munroe as Zia, the most beautiful young savage since Raquel Welch donned a fur bikini in 1 Million BC.

Now just for the record, I didn't quite buy the conclusion of the film. Maybe a handful of Europeans could have crossed the mostly frozen Atlantic as depicted in this gripping story. But does that really mean they survived, for six thousand years, and lived to intermarry (peacefully!) with the well-documented wanderers from the Bering Strait? I suspect any European settlements from the year 17000 BC would have vanished without a trace after a few generations. As Leif Ericson used to say, visiting America is easy, settling down is hard.

Can you say Croatoan?

This docudrama is entertaining, but viewers should be advised that the hypothesis presented has not fared well under further scrutiny. The genetic evidence has been largely counter-interpreted. Still, there remains a slim chance that there's something to the notion. I am curious about the fictional language spoken by the actors. Who created it? It sounds vaguely like something hoked up from proto-Indo-European... which would not be particularly appropriate for Solutrians.

Some of this movie was shot on Manitoulin Island at Cater's Bay. Although it is not apparent to the viewers it was very cold during the shoot. Often raining and snowing leaving the actors shivering in their fur costumes. Most of the people on screen have very little acting experience, mostly locals who were rustled up at the last minute. One notable extra is Canadian musician Kevin Closs (who gets killed by Tim Burd).His brother Fionn Closs also had a small part in the documentary playing one of the tribesmen. He can be seen grimacing behind the chief as the exile one of the members of the tribe. Tim Burd, who plays Obi in Saw 2 appears in the movie. Mr. Burd was so inspired by the beauty of Manitoulin that he moved there.

I wasn't expecting this Discovery Channel docudrama to be so compelling! The actors were very good, (even though the girl Zia seemed a little too modern). The special effects of Wooly Mammoths were excellent. And the story - of Ice Age Europeans marooned on an ice floe that floats them to the New World, was highly educational. The entire story was extrapolated from one prehistoric arrowhead found embedded in a Virginia creek bed and dated to be over 17,000 years old! This stunning find contradicts the notion that America was discovered by Asians. The writers used French cave paintings to imagine who might have crafted that arrowhead (which matches European arrowheads from the same era) and how Europeans might have crossed the Atlantic. But instead of taking a strictly scientific approach, they wrote a story of murder, politics, family, and love which is surprisingly entertaining. Definitely worth watching but try and find it without the numerous commercials that Discovery inserted.