Early Human Migration: The Journey to America

Introduction

People arrived in North America around 14,000 BP (BP = Before Present). Evidence for the arrival of Homo sapiens is found throughout the Bering Strait (then Beringia), Siberia, and Alaska. Homo sapiens arrived through Beringia, most likely through the boat, despite the lack of evidence. Homo sapiens are said to have originally rooted in Africa; from Africa, Homo sapiens migrated north into Europe and Asia over the course of 10,000 years and then over to North America followed by South America. Along the time that Homo sapiens were moving into Eurasia, there was also proof of Homo sapiens moving into Australia (Choi, 2014) showing that they had a good idea of marine travel, something that will be important when considering the

movement of people once they enter America. Along with the Bering Strait hypothesis, there is another potential hypothesis called the Solutrean Hypothesis. In this hypothesis, it is shown that people travelled across Europe (from France, Spain and Portugal) and across the ice bridge that once existed where the Atlantic ocean is today (Straus, 2000). This hypothesis has less support because of a lack of genetic support, however, that does not mean that it is completely incorrect (Johnson, 2002).
Where Did People Come to North America From?
There are many varying opinions about when people reached north America for the first time. Genetic evidence in Eurasia shows that groups of people had left for Beringia around 30,000 BP and genetic evidence also shows that people had commenced the migration to North America around 16,600 BP (Hall R et al., 2004). Archaeologists suggest that people could have entered North America earlier than 16,600 BP but there is no way to tell without evidence. Proof of migration throughout North America is most prevalent after 15,000 BP (Goebel, T et al., 2008). In 14,600 BP, artifacts were found along the western coast in places such as the Paisley Cave in Oregon (Goebel, T et al., 2008: Fig.1). Genetic proof of life in Paisley’s Cave is denoted by mtDNA found from the A2 and B2 Haplogroups (University of Oregon, 2008). The haplogroups that show the migration through North America are labeled A, B, C and D as well as X (Goebel, T et al., 2008). It is noted that Haplogroups C and D’s DNA are more closely associated with more Asian oriented countries such as Mongolia and Altai-Sayan ranges. The haplogroups A, B and C are found throughout Siberia, Mongolia and other surrounding countries (Starikovskaya, E. B et al., 2015). Evidence that people on the west coast came to North America from the Bering Strait is solidified with the discovery of these found genetics. It is agreed upon by archaeologists that Homo sapiens had settled in north America by 11,500 BP because there is skeletal proof of Homo sapiens by that point in time (Kelly, 2003). Homo sapiens were said to have spread from Alaska into British Columbia and Alberta because this is where the mouth of the Ice Free Corridor would be (Pitbaldo, 2011). The IFC (ice-free corridor) is the area of North America where land was accessible and ice had recessed to a manageable point. The IFC carried over to the west coast which allowed the native people to make their way south. Proof that people did, in fact, move south across the coast lies in the diets of the discovered people. Across the west coast, there were discoveries of marine life usage for food as well as transportation for southern migration. Found in Cross Creek, California was a series of bones from fish in the area. Though this does not dictate a lot on its own, it is accompanied by remains of people from 12,800 BP to 9,300 BP. The accompanying remains include the Prince of Wales Island Man (Dixon, 2001) who’s genetic group, Haplogroup D (Pitbaldo, 2011) showed traces of an aquatic diet, the Kennewick Man (Goebel, T et al., 2008: Fig. 1), whose diet showed a 70% salmon-dependent diet (Pitbaldo, 2011), and the Buhl Woman, whose diet contained “anadromous fish” (Pitbaldo, 2011). Arlington Springs man was found on an island near Santa Barbara, California (Goebel, T et al., 2008: Fig. 1) around 13,000 BP. An interesting fact about the Arlington Springs man is that the proof was found on an island that would only be accessible by boat (Goebel, T et al., 2008). The fact that Arlington Springs can only be accessed via waterway corroborates the idea that people had understood the uses of water and were using it to their advantage (Dixon, 2001). The Arlington Springs man also proves that people had, in fact, moved down to southern America relatively quickly after entering through Beringia.
Along with the hypothesis that people came to America through Beringia, there is also proof that people could, in fact, have come to America from Europe, more specifically Spain, France and Portugal (Straus, 2000). Although there is not much genetic proof of this migration, there is a viable option for the time of discovery. At the time of the last glacial maximum, Europe and North America were connected by an ice bridge which would lead to the eastern coast of America and Canada (Straus, 2000). Proof of people on the eastern coast exists most abundantly in relatively coastal US states, places such as Cactus Hill, VA, a place where European instruments were found. Tools such as hammers and flakes were found in the North Eastern Americas tracing back to 20,000 BP (Johnson, 2002). These tools could not have been brought by the migrators from Beringia because they pertain to the fashion of the Spaniards and they are also stratigraphically much older than those of the migrants from Beringia. This brings up the idea that perhaps the Europeans were the first migrants or one of the first migrants to the USA. Because of the lack of evidence, many people do not support this theory including myself, however, it is interesting that these materials were found on the eastern coast.
Proof
There is an abundance of genetic proof when it comes to people coming to the Americas. Genetics have been divided into Haplogroups for ease of classification and to show where people came to America from. Haplogroups A to D and X have been classified as those of Native Americans. Haplogroups flow throughout the alphabet and each letter has a specific area that it pertains to. Haplogroup E, for example, stems from East and West Africa as well as Southern areas of Asia. There is genetic verification of people moving to Alaska and then down into South America within 2000 years and part of this phenomenon is the fact that coastal waters flow south making it easier for people to make their way down. Genetic proof of the descent down does not appear chronologically but does appear nonetheless. The Arlington Springs and Cross Creek examples show that people made their way down to the edge of Mexico by 13000 BP, but remains for the Kennewick man and Prince of Wales man was found to be using the same routes in 10,000 BP. Proof from Chilean archaeologists shows that people had arrived there at Monte Verde by 14,500 BP (Hall R et al., 2004). What was the first thought to be a series of artifacts, could not be verified by archeologists because of the removal of artifacts by the initial researchers (Gugliotta, 2013). Reevaluation of this claim showed that people had in fact arrived in chile by 12,500 BP (Gibbons, 1997), which satisfies the chronology. This also shows the descent of people from North America into South America. In just over 2000 years, it was possible for people to have reached Chile from Alaska.
Conclusion
All in all, the Beringia hypothesis is the most plausible hypotheses of all of the other hypotheses discussed.

It took 12,000 years for people to cross the Bering Strait, an 85 km long area from Serbia to Alaska (Hall D, 1997). The reason it took people 12,000 years to cross the Bering strait was mostly weather conditioned. The cold and unsurvivable conditions made it impossible for people to attempt crossing into Alaska. After crossing into Alaska though, it only took people 2000 years to travel down the west coast from Alaska to Chile. Other hypotheses may suggest that people came to North America to South America, however there is no particularly useful proof for this. An already discussed proof shows that people may have come across the Atlantic Ocean to the east coast and even if this did happen, there is no proof of survival there. The proof of migration from the Bering strait lies in the Haplogroups, skeletal proof, tools and disturbances in the environment of North America pre-native people. The Arlington Man, Prince of Wales Island Man and Kennewick Man are all examples of people who have been found while migrating across America. These examples, however are not the only examples of people who have been found during excavations. There have also been situations where human remains have not been found but instead, remains of animals and tampering with the natural balance of the environment are visible. An example of this would be the Cross Creek, which shows the use of marine life for survival, something that is also backed up by many other findings across the

coast.