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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Human 'Hobbit' Ancestor May Still Be Alive in Indonesian Jungles
Could an ancient human species still be alive deep in the forests of Indonesia? An award-winning anthropologist thinks that might be the case.
On the Indonesian island of Flores, some locals tell tales of an animal that is like a human but is not human. Some say they are extinct, others claim to have seen them with their own eyes. Anthropologist Gregory Forth, who lived with and studied the people of the island for decades, calls this creature the “Apeman.”
For years it was an interesting story, but as many anthropologists will tell you, stories like this are often allegory or a way to explain the natural world. But in 2004, the anthropological world was shaken when the “hobbit” skeleton was found. This was a tiny species of hominin. A rebuilt skeleton stands at just 3’7,” but apparently lived at the same time as early modern humans.
The tale of the relationship between oral histories and the fossils, dubbed Homo floresiensis, is the subject of Forth’s new book, “Between Ape and Human.”
Forth, now retired, was a professor of anthropology at the University of Alberta for more than three decades. He first heard of the “Apeman” from the “Lio” people of Flores in the 1980s.
But what about this story sounded like it might be true?
“It’s the way that people were describing them as animals, as a kind of animal — not human beings by the way, the distinction is very important for them as it is for most people. But at the same time they’re beings that walked erect unlike any other animal, and otherwise looked humanlike, although they were very small (or they are very small), and somewhat hairier.”
