Posted on 02/12/2023 10:21:26 PM PST by SunkenCiv
The first people to enter the Americas may have taken the coastal route along the Bering Strait Land Bridge during these two periods.
During the last ice age, the coastal route from Asia to North America was so treacherous, humans likely crossed over only during two time windows, when environmental factors were more favorable for the long and dangerous journey, a new study finds.
The first window lasted from 24,500 to 22,000 years ago, and the other spanned from 16,400 to 14,800 years ago, according to the study, published Feb. 6 in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(opens in new tab).
During these periods, winter sea ice cover and sea ice-free summers would have likely given these travelers access to a diverse marine buffet, as well as ways to safely travel along the North Pacific coast, the researchers said.
There are two main scenarios explaining how people may have first migrated to the New World. The older idea suggested that people made this journey on land when Beringia — the land bridge that once connected Asia with North America — was relatively ice-free. However, a growing body of evidence suggests that travelers used watercraft along the Pacific coasts of Asia, Beringia and North America before 15,000 years ago, when giant ice sheets would have made an overland journey extraordinarily difficult.
To see how viable the coastal route may have been for migration at different times, scientists analyzed how changes in climate over the past 45,000 years might have influenced sea ice, glacier extent, ocean current strength, and food supplies on land and sea.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
I find it so interesting they seldom mention migration from the east, constantly pushing Asia. The earliest tools found in Eastern US closely match those found in France.
Yeah, because we all know they were both hydrophobic and to stupid to know how to float. Why does this antiquated perspective continue to be repeated?
I am convinced there was also a Southern migration long before. Both the winds and currents are extremely favorable for a quick float from Australia and New Zealand along the coast of Antarctica to the tip of South America.
Plenty of food and water along Antarctica.
We have trouble visioning this perspective because we have the Mercator Projection burned into our subconscious. When in reality if by water it would be closer than the Northern route.
There is also the Black Current which swings by Japan and goes to SA near Peru.
Two sons were born to Eber: One was named Peleg, because in his time the earth was divided...Peleg means division.
A reasonable inference thus relates Peleg's birth to the Bering Sea land-bridge's parting, whether or not it was actually used for migration.
Doesn’t matter. Early humans took up sailing a long time before that. Plus the oceans were smaller and saltier during the ice age, making travel less of a challenge.
Boat parts and ancient trinkets throughout coastal north America prove that transoceanic voyages occurred frequently. In the northeast, items from the 3rd century were preserved by nature, and then found by modern contemporary prople.
The boats and ships didn’t always survive the trip here, or the return trip, but left evidence of their existence. A 1715 fleet perished in a hurricane off the coast of Florida carrying Billions in gold coins, gold, jewelry, the dowery of the Queen of spain. Those items get pushed on shore during hurricanes.
Historians tried to tell us that trans oceanic travel couldn’t occur back then, but they were wrong. Very wrong. People like to and often need to move. Nations seek riches and will exploit anyone they can to acquire those riches in whatever form they come in to fulfillthose desires or needs.
All that ice meant sea level was about 400 feet lower. Any settlements or artifacts are under water.
“There is also the Black Current which swings by Japan and goes to SA near Peru.”
True!
So nobody ever builds settlements or leaves artifacts above 400 feet above sea level? Amazing!
Not really my point. If you are paddling your way to a new world you most likely are hugging the coastline. That ancient coastline is currently 400 feet under water. And can be quite a distance offshore from our current coastline. So they could have wandered far and wide but still be in an area now inundated with sea water.
Congratulations and welcome to the fold.
Yes, island hopping might have been an option back in the day when the Kurile and Aleutian chains occupied a more temperate zone than is currently the case . . . or even might have been fewer and larger islands.
During both my Undergraduate and Graduate schooling, I was taught the ice free corridor and the human caused mega fauna extintion. The evidence was scarce and probably largely invented or misinterpreted.
The dinosaurs like me are dying off in large numbers every year. Very soon, this nonsense will be purged like the Plitdown hoax. Soon, Science will recognize the coastal route, perhaps along both the Atlantic and Pacific shores as the main routes. If the ice free corridor was ever used, it was infrequent and unimportant.
“the oceans were smaller and saltier during the ice age,” -— So was the vocabulary.
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