Bering Land Brdige

Intro

North American migration theories are a commonly debated topic today. We all know that humans originated from Africa, however, how humans first ended up in North America is still a mystery. Some people even believe that America was first inhabited by the lost tribes of Israel and others believe that early Europeans sailed across the Atlantic here 20,000 years ago. Early settlers in the 1500s were also curious as to who first arrived on this vast continent. These settlers came up with many theories as to who first inhabited North America. One radical theory was that human life in the new world originated from Atlantis. However, as time progressed and science improved, these radical theories were all disproved and more plausible theories came into light. 

What is the Bering Land Bridge?

A common migration theory is the Bering Land Bridge theory. This theory suggests that Humans migrated to North America from Siberia across a land bridge in the Bering Sea as early as 30,000 years ago. This land bridge existed 11,000 years ago but is now part of the ocean. It connected Russia to North America.  In 1590, A Spanish Missionary named Jose Acosta wrote the first written record that suggests humans migrated to North America from Asia across a land bridge. He believed that the land bridge still existed during his time. Many people agree that this was the means of travel for North American migration, but many people disagree on when and how the first humans arrived.  

Artifacts and remains

One excavation site found near the Bering Sea land bridge was the Bluefish Cave site. This site was excavated almost 40 years ago. At the site, thousands of bone fragments were found and a small collection was also found. Years later, Dr. Lauriane Bourgeon of the University of Montreal took over examination of the object. She dated a horse jaw with human markings back to between 12,000 and 24,000 years ago. This pushes the time period scientists thought human's originally inhabited by 10,000 years. It also further pushes the theorem that humans stopped and stayed on the Bering Land bridge.*Note This theory has still not been fully accepted in the Archaeological community. 

In 2010 at the Upward Sun River Archaeological site,  Dr. Ben A. Potter excavated the cremated remains of a 3 year old girl and the remains of two infant girls in an Ancient burial site. Dr. Potter put together a team of geneticists and anthropologists to analyze the remains. They were unable to extract DNA from the cremation remains and but succeeded in creating a full genome from one of the infant girls.  The final result of the examination of the genome displays that the child comes from a previously unknown population of Native Americans that branched off from the rest of their people about 20,000 years ago. It is unknown whether this group branched off in Siberia, on the land bridge,  or as they arrived in North America.

Sources

This source talks about the excavation, examination, and results of the remains found at Upward Sun River.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/science/native-americans-beringia-siberia.html 

This source is a picture of the Horse Jawbone

https://www.google.com/search?q=horse+jawbone+found+near+bering+land+bridge&rlz=1C5CHFA_enUS829US829&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi4sICbg7fhAhWc14MKHZzDAicQ_AUIDigB&biw=1440&bih=821#imgrc=A7AYSx_fPao4jM: 

This source talks about the excavation and examination of the horse jaw with human markings. https://www.archaeology.org/issues/257-1705/from-the-trenches/5447-trenches-canada-bluefish-caves 

This source talks about the history of the Bering Land Bridge Theory. https://www.nps.gov/bela/learn/historyculture/the-bering-land-bridge-theory.htm

This source talks about other popular migration theories. https://www.nps.gov/bela/learn/historyculture/other-migration-theories.htm