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Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: New Land-Bridge Evidence Adds to Mystery of 1st Americans


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During the last ice age (left), much of Earth's water was locked up in glaciers, exposing vast swaths of seafloor, such as the Bering land bridge connecting Siberia and Alaska. Submerged today (right), the bridge may have been the route followed by the first humans to enter the Americas.

A new study suggests that the bridge flooded close to 12,000 years ago, nearly a thousand years earlier than generally believed, adding further support to the idea that humans reached the Americas via an alternate route.

Maps courtesy USGS