Bering Archipelago May Debunk Land Bridge Migration Theory
A controversial new study may rewrite the history books on how and when North America was first populated.
Historians and archeologists have tried for years to answer the question, “how did our ancient ancestors first populate North America?”
The most prevalent theory has been the Bering Land Bridge theory—that ice age migrants crossed an ancient landmass from Siberia to North America. But a new theory states that ice age migrants may have used a series of islands, The Bering Transitory Archipelago, to make the crossing and use these islands as stepping stones to get to North America. Using a method called retrospective sea-level mapping, scientists found evidence of an archipelago nearly 900 miles long that existed up to 30,000 years ago.
This theory could debunk the Bering Land Bridge theory, change our understanding of early human migration to North America, and shine a light on maritime technologies they may have possessed.
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Is the 'Dragon Man' Skull Actually a New Human Ancestor?
A groundbreaking, recent discovery of a huge fossilized skull in China has archeologists embroiled in heated debate. Is this extraordinary finding evidence of a new human species?
Over the last several decades, the view of human evolution during the past half-million years has become ever more complicated with regular additions to the list of human species that lived during the Pleistocene period. Working out the relationship between these populations of early humans and how they relate to modern humans has proven difficult and, at times, contentious.
The new finding in China is one of the more recent additions to the growing debate.
Andrew Collins is an ancient history researcher who has been closely following these discoveries. “An incredible discovery has been made in China,” Collins said. “And this is of a fairly massive human skull. It’s around 140,000 years old. The first thing they’ve noticed is that it’s got features that are in common with Homo sapiens, but also archaic humans.”
