After all, humans will have arrived in the Americas later than thought

Bering’s land bridge will have emerged much later than we thought. This reduces the time window in which humans could have crossed North America.

According to a study in the September edition of Quaternary Science AdvancesBering’s land bridge, which once turned on Russia and Alaska, will have emerged much later during the last ice age of what was thought.

The study concluded that the land bridge probably existed about 35,000 yearsbefore the colder height of the last ice age, known as the last Glacial Maximum (LGM).

Previous investigations found that in the LGM, the Bering Ground Bridge allowed animals such as mammoths and horses to wander between Asia and the Americas; But the greatest curiosity rests on when and how humans migrated for the first time to the Americas.

In an article of 2023 in PNASthe same team had already revealed that the Bering Bridge could have been flooded between 46,000 and 35,700 yearsmeaning that I would not be exposed to land passages until after this period.

The findings suggested that the Earth Bridge of Bering could only have reopened about 10,000 years before the height of the last ice age – significantly Later than previously thought.

“This late appearance would support the idea that were fully modern humans made her first the trip to the American continent“He said, to, Ian Buvitarchaeologist who did not participate in this investigation.

“Neanderthals and denisovansthe other two hominids known for occupying parts of Siberia, were already extinguished or about to extinguishThroughout Asia Northeast at that time, ”he added.

Fossil analysis of old animals up to 46,000 years old, both in Eurasia and in the Americas, such as mammoths, bison, lions and bears, also support the possibility that the beering land bridge would be open later than previously thought – much closer to LGM.

Computational models of the migrations of these creatures, based on fossil deposits, suggested that the earth’s bridge was even closed during the interval indicated by the 2023 article.

The conclusion: “We have two completely different data sets telling the same story,” he admits to Live Science, Jesse Farmerone of the research leaders of the University of Massachusetts Boston (USA).

Farmer acknowledges that the knowledge of maritime navigation demonstrated by the ancestors of the modern Inuit suggests that it was possible for old humans to have arrived in the Americas for barcosuch as ancient humans migrated through the sea to Australia and New Guinea.

“Any human migration to the Americas before 40,000 to 35,000 years ago would have required vessels and the ability to navigate open sea”He said, in turn, buvit.

“And as far as we know, it was only achieved by anatomically modern”He added.