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Unit 1_ Lesson 2: Introduction to First Peoples'

Last updated about 5 years ago
5 questions
Make a Prediction: Using the map below, DRAW how you think the first people arrived in the Americas.
Geography Check for Understanding:
  1. Shade on the map below ALL of the areas that you think make up the “Americas”.
  2. Label the Atlantic Ocean.
  3. Label the Pacific Ocean.
The First People of the Americas
Article Source: excerpt from BCC by Melissa Hogenboom, March, 2017.

How could they have got here?
Many thousands of years ago, not a single human being lived in the Americas.This only changed during the last Ice Age. It was a time when most of North America was covered with a thick sheet of ice, which made the Americas difficult to inhabit.

But at some point during this time, adventurous humans started their journey into a new world. They probably came on foot from Siberia across the Bering Land Bridge, which existed between Alaska and Eurasia from the end of the last Ice Age until about 10,000 years ago. The area is now submerged by water.

There is still debate about when these first Americans actually arrived and where they came from. But we are now getting closer to uncovering the original narrative, and finding out who these first Americans really were.
1

Is this a primary or secondary source?

1

Using evidence from the text, how were people able to get to the Americas? 1pt for claim that answers question, 1pt for text evidence.

How did they cross?
During the peak of the last Ice Age, a journey from Asia into the Americas would not have been particularly desirable. North America was covered in icy permafrost and tall glaciers. But, ironically, the fact that there was ice meant that the journey was, in a way, easier than it would be today.
The abundance of ice meant that sea levels were much lower than they are now, and a stretch of land emerged between Siberia (part of modern Russia) and Alaska. Humans and animals could simply walk from Asia to North America. The land bridge was called Beringia. At some point around this time groups of hunter-gatherers moved east from what is now Siberia to set up camp there. Humans and animals were crossing this bridge from at least 18,000 to 10,ooo years ago.
1

What is Beringia?

Why did they stay?
These people did well to seek refuge there. Central Beringia was a much more desirable environment than the icy lands they had left behind. The climate was a bit damper. 📷
Vegetation, in the form of woody shrubs, would have given them access to wood that they could burn to keep warm.

Beringia was also an ideal environment for large grazing mammals, giving early hunter-gatherers something to hunt, says Scott Elias of Royal Holloway, University of London in the UK, who reconstructs past climates.
When humans got to Beringia, they would have had little choice but to set up camp there. The huge sheets of ice further east cut them off from North America.

When the ice finally started to retreat, groups of people then travelled to different pockets of the Americas. There has long been debate over whether these early settlers arrived from several migrations from different areas, or just one.
1

What are TWO reasons why people stayed in Central Beringia (modern Alaska)?

1

Why do you think it is so hard for historians to know exactly when and how the first people arrived in the Americas?