HOW DID THE FIRST AMERICANS GET HERE?

People from Berengia moved to North America.

Where did the water in the Bering Strait go?

Huge glaciers more than a mile thick

Extended as far South as Illinois and Ohio

Earth’s waters were turned to ice, dropping the oceans to hundreds of feet below current levels

Receding waters created a land bridge

Refuges are formed due to glaciers

Humans first migrate to South America along the Eastern coast.

The Bering Strait reopens.

Debate over Migration

1. One Migration across Bering Strait

2. *Series of migrations and means of arrivalWater travel and “land crossings”

The ancestors of Aleuts, Eskimos, Na-Dene people arrive. Central Canada was populated.

What were the Paleo-Indians like?

Pursued large mammals Known as mega fauna Wholly mammoths Mastodons

Nomads Moved slowly following prey Small groups Goal was survival

Used fire Used tools made of stone

Butchering a Bison

Pembina State Museum exhibit from State of North Dakota @ND.gov

Lack of disease

Stopped hosting communicable diseases Small pox Measles Small incidences of tuberculosis

Physical isolation No contact with domestic animals such

as pigs and cattle Lost inherited immunities

The Wholly Mammoth and Mastodons

Stood 9 to 11 feet at shoulder

Weighed 4 to 6 tons

Long hair covered body

Major Paleo-Indian Sites

How do we know about the Paleo-Indians?

Archeological evidence Long, fluted, chipped,

stone projectiles Used as spears Named Clovis because

the spears were found in Clovis, New Mexico first

Mammoth and mastodon fossils

Burying dead at refuge sites