Early Human Migration
MOVING TO AMERICA?
The least you should know
1. What is the debate over time?
2. What are the pros and cons of each major
theory?
When did we come to be here?
 There are two possible answers to this question:
The short chronology theory: the first movement
beyond Alaska into the New World occurring no
earlier than 15,000 – 17,000 years ago, followed by
successive waves of immigrants
2. The long chronology theory: the first group of
people entered the hemisphere at a much earlier
date, possibly 21,000–40,000 years ago, with a much
later mass secondary wave of immigrants
1.

Beyond the question of when we also have the
question of how.
Beringina
The Long Walk
 First proposed in 1590 and
has been widely accepted
since 1930.
 Sometime during the last ice
age, roughly 17 000 years
ago the sea levels dropped.
 There are scientists who
argue that this could have
occurred earlier (40 000
years ago) in a previous ice
age.
 Humans then crossed over
the exposed land following
herds of game animals.
 Humans then crossed
over the exposed land
following herds of game
animals.
 They then followed the
ice free corridor that ran
roughly where the Rocky
Mountains are to warmer
southern areas.
 Eventually these hunters
worked their way all the
way to the tip of South
Africa.
 Having populated South
America the people began
to move back north as the
glaciers retreated at the
end of the last age
 Primary support for this
theory can be seen by
tracing mitochondrial DNA
 The primary issue with this
theory is that we have
evidence of people in the
South earlier than some
scientist believe can be
explained by this theory
Watercraft theories
The Long Boat Ride
 There are a number of different watercraft
theories this is due to the fact that early man
tended to settle near coastlines.
 Coastal areas were popular because of:
Ease of transportation
2. Abundance of life supporting materials
1.
Pacific Coastal Theory
 Very similar to the land bridge theory except in
this case transportation was by boat.
 One particular advantage of this theory is that it
helps to explain the arrival of people further
south than where they could have walked to in
the time allowed
 One anthropologist points out that there were
boats in Japan 20 000 years ago and that the
Kurile Islands (north of Japan) are like stepping
stones to Beringia from which they could have
then followed the land bridge and continued all
the way south
Atlantic Coastal Theory
 The most common is the Solutrean theory in
which people migrated from Europe instead of
Asia
 The Solutrean people could have used skills
similar to the traditional Inuit and followed the
glaciers to Greenland and then down to the
mainland
 Issues with this theory include the mtDNA for
North America is tied to Asia, also the tools used
to make the connection are not seen as being
very closely related
Australia / Oceania Theory
 This is the least accepted of the watercraft theories.
 In this case people used boats to first migrate from
Asia to Australia and other islands in the area.
 Then from these locations and again likely following
glaciers or using islands that existed due to lower
water levels worked their way to the southern tip of
South America and then migrated north.
 There is no DNA evidence to support this theory and
it would have been the longest trek of all the
migration theories
Oral traditions
We have always been here
 This theory is based on the
large number of First
Nations oral traditions
stating that they have
always been here.
 Further support comes
from the debate over
whether human life began
in one general area or
several.
 What we do know for sure
was that there was a great
deal of migration in both
directions.
Other theories
Thinking outside of the box
 Lesser theories and particularly less
supported theories include:
 Egyptian – Some evidence indicating that there
could be ties to Egypt or Africa but even its
proponents don’t claim that these people were
anything other than immigrants
 Atlantis – New age believers make claims that
North America is home to the survivors of Atlantis