First Americans & Prehistoric Arrivals: boats, ice, land bridges | Beringia | Bering Land Bridge

When did the first Native Americans arrive in the Americans?
How did Native Americans get to the Americas?

American Archaeology: The First Americans

The following presentation discusses one interpretation of the archaeological evidence regarding the arrivals of the first people into the Americas. new evidence comes to light in periodic fashion, and this interpretation might be adjusted in the future.

first, i will discuss the traditional model of the arrival of the First Americans, and then provide an updated model that answers important questions about the dates of many sites.

So, let's start with the traditional interpretation of the initial peopling of the Americas which is very likely greatly outdated yet still prevalent in much media.

Let's roll back the landscape to the end of the last glacial period about 13,000 years ago.

at the end of the last glacial period, known as the late or upper pleistocene, there are two major geologic differences in North America as compared to today. First, America is connected to Asia by a land bridge here. the land masses are connected. humans, plants, and animals can now migrate and pollinate between the continents.

Thus, today's Bering Sea is transformed, 13,000 years ago, into Bering land bridge. Also, the glaciers of the Laurentide ice sheet dominate almost all of modern Canada and large portions of the northern United States.

This geography provides the conditions for the traditional "Clovis first theory" of the peopling of the Americas. It is called "Clovis" after spear points found in Clovis, New Mexico that many believed represented the first Native Americans.

This is the "Clovis first theory", which holds that the only way for people to get from Asia to America was over the Bering land bridge near the end of the last glacial period. What this theory has going for it is that at this time, some 13,000 years ago, Asia is connected to America and there is an ice-free corridor through Canada leading to north America and south America. In this traditional, clovis first model, people walked from Asia to America and moved through this ice-free corridor and then down the content.

Thus, clovis first theory puts the first peoples into the Americas about 13,000 years ago. Advocates maintain that a migration before this period is not possible due to geography. if we wind the geologic clock back to about 18,000 years ago, during the last glacial maximum, there is no open passageway through Canada, so the path is blocked.

Thus, according to the clovis first theory, it is impossible for the first Americans to arrive to before this corridor opened. So, no humans before about 13,000 years ago in North America.

However, there is a problem. the oldest known sites in the Americas are not found in Alaska or northwest Canada, which would be expected if the first populations moved through an ice-free corridor there. rather, radiocarbon dates from numerous sites across north and South America predate the clovis era. Meadowcroft Rockshelter in western Pennsylvania is 19,000 years old, and possibly older. Likewise, Cactus Hill in Virginia has radiocarbon dates going back 15,000 years.

Further south provides even more startling dates. Pedra Furada in Brazil has incredibly old dates, some of which go into very deep prehistory before thirty thousand years ago. Monte Verde in Chile also has early dates.

So how can this be?

We will actually turn to Australia. an archaeological site in Australia at Lake Mungo confirms that people were in Australia at least 40,000 years ago.

The only way to get to Australia from Asia was through Oceania, even during the low seas of the last glacial period as shown here. Travel from Asia through Oceania to Australia requires boats. This startling discovery pushed boat technology way back into prehistory.

these aren't large galleons or sail ships, but rather canoes. However, the arrival of peoples into Australia before 40,000 years ago by boat provides answers to large question marks in the Americas.

With the arrival of people to Australia in deeper prehistory over 40,000 years ago, suddenly sites in north America like Meadowcroft no longer seem out of place.

let's slide back over to the Americas.

The use of boats in deep prehistory means that we no longer have to wait for an ice-free corridor to emerge through Canada 13,000 years ago. A glacial impasse over the land is no longer an issue, which means we can push the dates backward to glacial high points like 20,000 years ago or more.

With canoe technology, we can now imagine ancient peoples following the coastline from Siberia to Alaska, and then following the coast down the west coast of the Americas and up the eastern side.

The old radiocarbon dates, such as 19000 years ago in Pennsylvania, likely point to the reality of human occupation in the Americas in deep prehistory, at least 20 or 25 thousand years ago.

A short film by Jeffrey Meyer, librarian and historian

[hamlltonhope]

Absolute first rate, just wish you had the resources to go deeper, you have exceptional talent for explaining things clearly and simply.

[oldrootsoutdoors]

Love the history mapped videos. Found this channel about a month ago. Jeffery the coolest librarian, keep up the awesome work!

[andabien]

Excellent presentation/explanation. Job well done.

[FacesintheStone]

Great work as always, thank you for sharing. You’re doing a service for the public.

[bobsmoot]

Excellent presentation! Very logical. The "primative" Micronesians/Polynesians found, virtually every spec of land with fresh water on it, in the South Pacific and Hawaii (bringing their chickens/pigs/plants with them). That's about 1/3 of the surface of the planet. They accomplished this with no compass, no charts/maps, no metal fasteners, not even a written language. Some tiny islands were/are thousands of miles apart. Their sailing proas (outrigger canoes) and catamarans, shocked the first European explorers, with their seaworthiness, brilliant design, and amazing speed (over 24 knots while European vessels were pushing 4-5). Is it "possible", that primative people had adequate boats? Uhh... Yes.

[mikersey]

No doubt, the Clovis First theory is losing favor but the Pedra Furada dating(30+BP) has been challenged and hasn't really gained traction. The Monte Verde dating(14.5 to 18.5BP) seems more reasonable and is in line with other recent sites.
Your path showing the early migration route overlooks the very easy, low elevation crossing of the isthmus at Nicaragua, only ten miles to Lake Nicaragua, across the lake down the San Juan to the Caribbean. To spread south around the tip of South America would've taken generations and passing through another area with grim weather.
Having spent a winter in Grand Forks, North Dakota, I can guarantee the so-called "ice free corridor" passed through an area with some of the most miserable weather on the globe. Even today, it is sparsely populated. The coast is much warmer. Compare winter temperatures inland and on the coast, same latitude. Thirty or forty degrees warmer in mid-winter. And walking on tundra, carring everything(no horses yet) on your back seems a lot more work than paddling a canoe down the coast. Lot faster by the coast.

[Jesse-cxsi]

Yet another great video. As I’ve said previously, keep ‘em comin’ JtL! 👌

[jeffhistoryrogers]

Love watching your videos! I’ll like to make a request that you make a video of Florida and it’s Geographical History as far back into History as possible including the Human History and all the Cultures and People that inhabit Florida throughout its human history to up until maybe the 1960’s. I’m making this request due to my desire to learn more of my home state of Florida.

[karlyohe]

Wonderful, as always; thank you! I have long held the notion that today’s humans lack due respect for the intelligence, resourcefulness and courage of ancient peoples. I believe humans—being inquisitive and acquisitive—have always moved toward greener grasses, establishing and maintaining a network of relationships that, given enough degrees, was if not global, at least encompassing large regions.

[jgstevens]

Appreciate your channel and presentations. I guess you've heard about trails of human foot prints amongst prints of giant sloths... Found in/near the White Sands National Park. Even parallel tracks left by dragging a pair of long poles such as a travois have been found as well.
All to say the evidence also points to considerably older dates much earlier than Clovis.

Thank you again for your research!! Much enjoyed!

[snarflatful]

This report is well formulated, and more importantly, well presented. You have enough details to interest us science geeks, but one doesn't have to have a master's degree to understand it. You're in the Goldilocks Zone. I also think you have the latest facts "as we know it" as of 2024. Who knows what developments are still to come? I can't wait!

[tgchism]

The recent discovery of preserved human foot prints in New Mexico certainly backs the idea of people coming via a coastal route.

[senojah]

When I was teaching American History in the 1960s and 70s, I purported this theory to my students because even then we had so much information to prove the First Americans came by sea. A common view of history is that people travel by waterways before they travel by land. The records show that explorers first use the rivers when penetrating the continent. I am so amazed that this outdated “land bridge” hypothesis is still so prominent. Yes, humans traveled by the land bridge as evidenced the artifacts found there but they travelled by boat first.

[Hawknetic]

How great of a discovery of canoes and influence in history.

[smae]

Working fine now. Thank you, Jeffrey.

[roryherman]

There was also findings of a settlements found from around 14000 years ago up along the queen Charlotte's

[davefranklyn]

I think part of the misconceptions about the Bering Land Bridge is in the continued use of that name. It's as much as a "bridge" is as Bolivia is a bridge between Peru and Argentina.

You should refer to it as "Beringia", which is a better name. It is like using the name Sunda for all of Ice Age Southeast Asia, Malaysia and Indonesia joined together, or Sahul for the New Guinea/New Britian Australia mass construct. All were vast lands when the sea levels were 100+ meters lower than today.

[Andy_Babb]

This is my back yard, which has most recently been dated to as far back as 8-12, 000 years based on artifacts I’ve found (yes I had them looked at by an actual archaeologist). But this is cool:

In 1968, human remains representing one individual were removed from the Bear Swamp site in Berkley, Bristol County, MA, by Arthur C. Staples and Roy C. Athearn of the Massachusetts Archaeological Society and were donated to the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology by the Massachusetts Archaeological Society in 1969. No known individual was identified. No associated funerary objects are present.

Osteological characteristics indicate that the individual is Native American. Although the Bear Swamp site generally dates to the Late Archaic period (3000-1000 B.C.), the interment most likely dates to the Late Woodland period (A.D. 1000-1600). In a 1969 publication, the collectors concluded that this flexed burial is typical of Late Woodland period, rather than Late Archaic period, mortuary practices. Museum documentation indicates this interment was an intrusive Late Woodland burial in a Late Archaic site and was not associated with other Late Archaic features at Bear Swamp. Oral tradition and historical documentation indicate that Berkley, MA, is located within the aboriginal and historic homeland of the Wampanoag Nation. The present-day tribes that are most closely affiliated with members of the Wampanoag Nation are the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) of Massachusetts, Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribe (a nonfederally recognized Indian group), and Assonet Band of the Wampanoag Nation (a nonfederally recognized Indian group).

[billkallas]

18, 000 to 25, 000 years ago, glaciers along the West coast of Canada and the US, went all the way to the ocean, making a very long water trip extremely difficult. I've read that in the years between 25, 000 to 32, 000 years ago, temperatures warmed up slightly, allowing an ice free passage to form, where the later passage formed (16, 000 years ago) I would think that the early (30, 000 year ago) passage would allow a very few thousand people to move into North America, followed by a major movement of people, starting 16, 000 years ago, by boat, and land travel.

[paolopellegatti]

The coastal hypothesis has been studied at lenght and it has many valid points but I don't think it had the strenght to start the population of the continent. The date for those South American sites are debatable and even assuming, correctly, that many ancient sites are now under water there is practically nothing between California and Meadowcreek. Is it possible that all of the "paleolithic" sites are gone or haven't been yet found? Beringia is still to be considered the main highway although dates need to be refined. Great video lecture.