How People First Arrived in the New World … Maybe
Humans had a population boom around 16,000 years ago as they neared or reached the Americas after traversing the Bering Strait land bridge. Notice that known sites with ancient human remains (red circles) and archaeological sites (black crosses) are marked on the map.
Credit: Potter et al., Sci. Adv. 2018;4: eaat5473
Did the first people to inhabit the Americas hug the coast after crossing the Bering Strait or travel farther inland, between two massive ice sheets?
This question has dogged researchers for decades. Now, a review of archaeological, geologic, anthropological and genetic data argues for both, but especially for the latter: It appears that prehistoric humans favored the inland route, although some traveled along the so-called coastal kelp highway later on, the new review says.
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