Finding the Americas

There have been several theories about how mankind found their way to the Americas. I’m not going to go through all of them in this blog post. But a couple theories keep getting tweaked as scientists find new evidence.

 

Two theories postulate that mankind made its way to Alaska by way of following a land bridge from Siberia into Alaska. The land bridge existed due to a much lower sea level during the last ice age. There are two theories because some scientists believe the people followed the edge of the land bridge by boat, keeping the land in their sight all along the way. Another group of scientists believe the people followed game animals as they walked across the land bridge. Which group reached Alaska first? I don’t think anybody knows.

 

According to data gleaned from sediment and fossilized marine life, the first Siberians might have traveled to the New World more than 10,000 years before the First Nations people are thought to have arrived. Such an early migration would have been a lot easier because of sea ice. It’s been suggested that expanses of winter ice may have facilitated travel by foot when passage by boat would have been treacherous.

 

For about five decades, archaeologists thought the Clovis people as the original pioneers of the North American continent. This theory stated that families trekked across the land bridge around 13,000 years ago.

 

Yet recent discoveries have pushed back the arrival of humans in the Americas to more than 25,000 years ago.

 

But could they really have walked all that way? The sea level was probably low enough to expose a solid bridge as far back as 36,000 years ago. However, the rugged cap of snow and glacier covering the bridge might not have been traversable.

 

However, once glaciers began to retreat, a thin strip of coastal ecosystems could have provided resources for traveling by boat. A 14,000-year-old settlement on Canada’s western coast implies that pre-Clovis people were inching their way along the water’s edge.

 

However, windows of opportunity may have closed during warm periods, when melting snow and ice would have sent currents swirling in the wrong direction for migrating paddlers. An analysis of climate models says high winds and lower sea levels would have made ocean currents 20,000 years ago twice as strong as they are today.

 

Records also suggest that winter sea ice would have been present until 15,000 years ago, which migrants could have walked across, or even sledded. Researchers identified 24.5 to 22 thousand years ago and 16.4 to 14.8 thousand years ago as the most likely periods for early migration along the Alaskan coast, possibly aided by a “Sea-ice Highway.”

 

Emerging signs that humans ventured as far south as New Mexico more than 20,000 years ago imply there may have been a relatively safe and open path for them to get there.

 

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-may-have-found-an-ancient-path-into-america-24-000-years-ago/ar-AA1lV4H4?ocid=mailsignout&pc=U591&cvid=59a8d49a00384382a6fcf88ce2c5200b&ei=76