Human evolution; reaching North America (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, December 17, 2023, 18:56 (132 days ago) @ David Turell

About 24,000 years ago:

https://phys.org/news/2023-12-north-america-people-sea-ice.html

"...a growing number of archaeological and genetic finds—including human footprints in New Mexico dated to around 23,000 years old—suggests that people made their way onto the continent much earlier. These early Americans likely traveled along the Pacific coastline from Beringia, the land bridge between Asia and North America that emerged during the last glacial maximum when ice sheets bound up large amounts of water causing sea levels to fall.

"Now, in research to be presented Friday, 15 December at the American Geophysical Union Annual Meeting (AGU23) in San Franciso, paleoclimate reconstructions of the Pacific Northwest hint that sea ice may have been one way for people to move farther south.

"The idea that early Americans may have traveled along the Pacific Coast isn't new. People were likely south of the massive ice sheets that once covered much of the continent at least 16,000 years ago.

"Given that the ice-free corridor wouldn't be open for thousands of years before these early arrivals, scientists instead proposed that people may have moved along a "kelp highway." This theory holds that early Americans slowly traveled down into North America in boats, following the bountiful goods found in coastal waters.

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"Arctic people today travel along sea ice on dog sleds and snow mobiles. Early Americans may also have used the 'sea ice highway' to get around and hunt marine mammals, slowly making their way into North America in the process, Praetorius said. The climate data suggest conditions along the coastal route may have been conducive to migration between 24,500 and 22,000 years ago and 16,400-14,800 years ago, possibly aided by the presence of winter sea ice.

"While proving that people were using sea ice to travel will be tricky, given most of the archaeological sites are underwater, the theory provides a new framework for understanding how humans may have arrived in North America without a land bridge or easy ocean travel."

Comment: if footprints are 23,000 years old the folks were here. It is how that is the problem.