The Bering Transitory Archipelago: stepping stones for the first Americans
Retrospective sea-level mapping advances a promising geographic solution to the longstanding mystery about when, where, and how the first Americans crossed over from Asia. A paleotopographic reconstruction accounting for Glacial Isostatic Adjustment digitally explores an archipelago about 1400 km lo...
| Published in: | Comptes Rendus. Géoscience |
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| Main Authors: | , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English French |
| Published: |
Académie des sciences
2021
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5802/crgeos.53 https://doaj.org/article/3cabc18eba8643b3a7e6e9142857d95b |
| Summary: | Retrospective sea-level mapping advances a promising geographic solution to the longstanding mystery about when, where, and how the first Americans crossed over from Asia. A paleotopographic reconstruction accounting for Glacial Isostatic Adjustment digitally explores an archipelago about 1400 km long that likely existed from $>$30,000 BP to 8000 BP. Here the authors examine this Bering Transitory Archipelago in regard to established hypotheses—Clovis-first, Ice-free (deglaciation) Corridor, Kelp Highway, and Beringian Standstill hypotheses—and a new Stepping-Stones hypothesis. Scores of islands at that time would meet all requirements previously proposed for a viable hypothesis: a source population in Asia, a pathway with abundant sustenance, settlements in North America soon after but not before, and an isolated sanctuary where Beringians could have become genetically distinct. |
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