PowerPoint Notes, page 1
1. What do you think the people in the photograph are doing? What do you think they
are looking for?
2. What kinds of new evidence might cause historians to question the land bridge
theory or parts of it?
3. How does evidence from the Topper site conflict with the Land Bridge Theory?
4. Draw a possible alternative migration route people may have taken into the
Americas:
PowerPoint Notes, page 2
5. What kind of evidence could be used to ‘prove’ the Pacific Coastal theory of
migration into the Americas?
6.
Points of Disagreement among
Historians
The First Americans
Points of Agreement among Historians
7. Read the following origin story. Then, describe how it conflicts with the Land Bridge
theory:
Hopi Origin Story
In the beginning, the Earth was covered with water. There were no animals or birds. Only spirits,
gods, and goddesses lived inside the dark Earth. One day, the goddesses of the East and West
decided to create a living creature. They made a bird from clay. The bird flew all around the
Earth but could find no other life. Seeing how lonesome the bird was, the goddesses made
humans to keep it company.
At first, the people lived happily inside the Earth.
After a while, however, the rains stopped, and the crops failed. People began to argue with one
another. The worried chiefs decided the people needed to leave the Earth’s dark inside. One
leader found a ladder that led to a hole in the Earth’s crust. The chiefs guided their people up
the ladder to the Earth’s surface.
Once there, the people did not know where they should settle, so each chief set out in a
different direction with his followers. They traveled east, west, north, and south until they found
good land upon which they could grow crops and build villages. This is how it all began for the
Hopis.
How does this story conflict with the Land Bridge theory?
Discovery Cards
Discovery Card #1
The Monte Verde Site
 An ancient site was discovered along a river in south central
Chile in 1993.
 The site contained remains of shelters, stone tools, and
preserved plants.
 Scientific tests showed the site was at least 12,500 years old
and perhaps older.
 This site is located 10,000 miles south of Alaska and the
Bering Strait.
Discovery Card #2
The Bluefish Caves Site
 An ancient site was discovered in Bluefish Caves in
Canada’s Yukon territory.
 The caves are in an area that people from Siberia could
have reached by crossing the land bridge.
 Stone and bone artifacts were found that indicate it was
used as a campsite by early Americans.
 These artifacts were dated as being around 24,000 years
ago.
Discovery Cards
Discovery Card #3
The Santa Rosa Island Site
 The bones of a woman were discovered 40 years ago on
Santa Rosa Island off the coast of California.
 New tests that were not available when the bones were first
found have dated the bones as being about 13,000 years
old.
 Historians believe this woman belonged to a group that
probably did not hunt mammoths, but fished and gathered
shellfish instead.
Discovery Card #4
The Meadowcroft Site
 An Ice Age campsite called the Meadowcroft Rock Shelter
was discovered in Pennsylvania.
 It included a number of objects that early people had left
behind.
 Scientific tests showed the artifacts were 14,000 to 15,000
years old. A few were dated at being more than 19,000
years old.
Discovery Cards - Group Activity Sheet
Directions: Review the information on the discovery cards. Compare it to
what you have learned about the Land Bridge Theory. Then, complete the
chart below.
Site
Monte Verde
Bluefish
Caves
Santa Rosa
Island
Meadowcroft
How does the evidence found at this site challenge
the Land Bridge Theory?