MOVING TO AMERICA?Early Human Migration

The least you should know

1. What is the debate over time?2. What are the pros and cons of each

major theory?

When did we come to be here?

There are two possible answers to this question:1. The short chronology theory: the first

movement beyond Alaska into the New World occurring no earlier than 15,000 – 17,000 years ago, followed by successive waves of immigrants

2. The long chronology theory: the first group of people entered the hemisphere at a much earlier date, possibly 21,000–40,000 years ago, with a much later mass secondary wave of immigrants

Beyond the question of when we also have the question of how.

The Long Walk

Beringina

First proposed in 1590 and has been widely accepted since 1930.

Sometime during the last ice age, roughly 17 000 years ago the sea levels dropped.

There are scientists who argue that this could have occurred earlier (40 000 years ago) in a previous ice age.

Humans then crossed over the exposed land following herds of game animals.

Humans then crossed over the exposed land following herds of game animals.

They then followed the ice free corridor that ran roughly where the Rocky Mountains are to warmer southern areas.

Eventually these hunters worked their way all the way to the tip of South Africa.

Having populated South America the people began to move back north as the glaciers retreated at the end of the last age

Primary support for this theory can be seen by tracing mitochondrial DNA

The primary issue with this theory is that we have evidence of people in the South earlier than some scientist believe can be explained by this theory

The Long Boat Ride

Watercraft theories

There are a number of different watercraft theories this is due to the fact that early man tended to settle near coastlines.

Coastal areas were popular because of:1. Ease of transportation2. Abundance of life supporting materials

Pacific Coastal Theory

Very similar to the land bridge theory except in this case transportation was by boat.

One particular advantage of this theory is that it helps to explain the arrival of people further south than where they could have walked to in the time allowed

One anthropologist points out that there were boats in Japan 20 000 years ago and that the Kurile Islands (north of Japan) are like stepping stones to Beringia from which they could have then followed the land bridge and continued all the way south

Atlantic Coastal Theory

The most common is the Solutrean theory in which people migrated from Europe instead of Asia

The Solutrean people could have used skills similar to the traditional Inuit and followed the glaciers to Greenland and then down to the mainland

Issues with this theory include the mtDNA for North America is tied to Asia, also the tools used to make the connection are not seen as being very closely related

Australia / Oceania Theory This is the least accepted of the watercraft

theories. In this case people used boats to first migrate from

Asia to Australia and other islands in the area. Then from these locations and again likely following

glaciers or using islands that existed due to lower water levels worked their way to the southern tip of South America and then migrated north.

There is no DNA evidence to support this theory and it would have been the longest trek of all the migration theories

We have always been here

Oral traditions

This theory is based on the large number of First Nations oral traditions stating that they have always been here.

Further support comes from the debate over whether human life began in one general area or several.

What we do know for sure was that there was a great deal of migration in both directions.

Thinking outside of the box

Other theories

Lesser theories and particularly less supported theories include: Egyptian – Some evidence indicating

that there could be ties to Egypt or Africa but even its proponents don’t claim that these people were anything other than immigrants

Atlantis – New age believers make claims that North America is home to the survivors of Atlantis