I don't understand your question: the documentary asserted it was a pre-1492, European motif - is that what you're saying?

You are correct to assume that the coyote as trickster is Native American and it is almost certainly pre-contact. As an aspect of pre-contact culture, we lack the sort of documents that could pin down an age for the cycle of legends associated with the coyote/trickster complex, but given its distribution, we can assume it is fairly old.

Perhaps the documentary you were watching asserted that the trickster also appears in traditional European folklore. It does, and indeed it appears in Africa (often as a spider). Loki in pre-conversion Scandinavian folklore played the role, as did the devil in much of Europe after conversion. Brer Rabbit in the Uncle Remus stories also plays this role (as does Bugs Bunny). It is a widespread motif, the diverse manifestations of which are not necessarily linked historically. Indeed, they are probably not linked. And the trickster manifests differently in many cultures.

I'm not sure if that answers your question or if I understand your question, so feel free to clarify.

Personally, I'd argue that the archetype of the trickster is one of the oldest there are. One book you might be curious to read is Trickster makes the World by Lewis Hyde. Hyde goes through the more elements of trickster characters, such as Hermes, Coyote, or Raven very well and outlines their common patterns.

Essentially, the reason I expect trickster archetype to be very old (might not always have been a coyote) is that it is a very common archetype worldwide and due to something else, a hypothesis I'm sort of working on.

Now, that hypothesis hinges on one interesting motif: If you want to get a trickster to reveal itself when it is cloaked, is to spread some filth around and it is forced to roll in it. (See African Mbulu stories as one example)

If I were to take my own dog, who is a sweet lab mix. He has no cunning or trickery in him. He is straightforward, predictable and extremely well mannered. The only time he ever ever does anything to "trick" is when he finds filth to roll in, to hide his scent. That is truly the only trick he knows.

So my theory is, that if evolutionarily this is the first trick, or the origin of the archetypal pattern which later in our bigger brains became the idea of the trickster, then this 'character' must be very old because it is common in lots of animals as a form of disguising themselves. That's just my hunch but I hope it helps, and I'd love feedback on what you all think as well.

Edit:

Since we're dealing with the topic of Tricksters and tricks, I felt the need to hide one in this post. Have fun!