Ice Age Migration and Perindia

The push and pull of the climate, human curiosity, and the movement of other animals drove the migration of ice age people.
Alaska belonged to the Old World during the ice age, with ice sheets forming a barrier across much of Canada.
The Bering Sea was dry, allowing people to walk from Siberia to Alaska.

Perindia was a vast conjoined land that was a whole subcontinent, not just a stopping point on the journey to the New World.
It had thousands of years of pre-history that has barely been studied.

Decades of research have not fully understood Beringia due to:
- Small modern populations
- Few archaeologists
- High costs of conducting research
- Low levels of development
Deeply buried sites in frozen contexts and hidden under thick boreal forest and tundra are complicated to discover and reach.

Beringia was dominated by mammoth steppes, vast arid grasslands filled with a menagerie of large mammals.
The collective behavior of millions of competitive herbivores maintained the grasslands.
In the winter, the animals ate the grasses that grew the previous summer, fertilizing the soil with their manure and trampling down moss and shrubs.

Nepa 1 site in Siberia dates to at least 30,000 years ago, with a small assemblage of stone artifacts and associated remains of large mammals.
Iana Rhinohorn site in Siberia has a well-preserved cultural layer with numerous stone and bone artifacts, including a projectile foreshaft carved from the horn of a woolly rhino.
Bluefish Caves in Canada's Yukon territory dates to between 18,000 and 24,000 years old, with cut-marked bones and flaked bones found without other man-made artifacts.
Swan Point site in Alaska dates to 14,400 years ago, with people camping, hunting, and scavenging along a major transportation corridor.

Microblades represent an interesting technological departure from what is seen south of the ice sheets.
Teardrop-shaped points from Baralek and Ushki Layer 7 in Siberia date to as early as 13,500 years ago.
There are only two Beringian burial sites currently known, one in Siberia and one in Alaska.
Ushki-1 site in Siberia contains several burials, including a single adult laid within a rock-lined pit filled with ochre, stone beads, and stone tools.
Upward Sun River in Alaska contains a child burial with two infants, four antler rods, and two bifacial points.

Caves may provide a disproportionate share of the earliest archaeological sites around the world due to their preservation of ancient sediments and ritual and practical value to Paleolithic humans.
Alaska has limestone deposits in which caves could have formed, including in sections of the interior that remained unglaciated during the last ice age.
Surveying for caves may be one of the best bets for finding traces of Beringia.

Human migration during the ice age was driven by climate, human curiosity, and animal movement.
Alaska was part of the Old World during the ice age, separated from the rest of the continent by ice sheets.
The Bering Sea was dry, allowing people to walk from Siberia to Alaska.

Perindia was a vast conjoined land, not just a stopping point on the journey to the New World.
Perindia has thousands of years of pre-history that has barely been studied.

Studying Beringia is challenging due to:
- Small modern populations
- Few archaeologists
- High research costs
- Low levels of development
Sites in Beringia are difficult to discover and reach due to being deeply buried in frozen contexts and hidden under thick boreal forest and tundra.

Beringia was dominated by mammoth steppes, vast arid grasslands filled with large mammals.
The collective behavior of millions of competitive herbivores maintained the grasslands.
In the winter, the animals ate the grasses, fertilizing the soil with their manure and trampling down moss and shrubs.

Nepa 1 site in Siberia dates to at least 30,000 years ago, with stone artifacts and large mammal remains.
Iana Rhinohorn site in Siberia has a well-preserved cultural layer with stone and bone artifacts, including a projectile foreshaft carved from a woolly rhino horn.
Bluefish Caves in Canada's Yukon territory dates to between 18,000 and 24,000 years old, with cut-marked bones and flaked bones.
Swan Point site in Alaska dates to 14,400 years ago, with evidence of camping, hunting, and scavenging along a major transportation corridor.

Microblades represent a technological departure from what is seen south of the ice sheets.
Teardrop-shaped points from Baralek and Ushki Layer 7 in Siberia date to as early as 13,500 years ago.
There are only two Beringian burial sites currently known, one in Siberia and one in Alaska.
Ushki-1 site in Siberia contains several burials, including a single adult laid within a rock-lined pit with ochre, stone beads, and stone tools.
Upward Sun River in Alaska contains a child burial with two infants, four antler rods, and two bifacial points.

Caves may provide a disproportionate share of the earliest archaeological sites due to their preservation of ancient sediments and ritual and practical value to Paleolithic humans.
Alaska has limestone deposits in which caves could have formed, including in sections of the interior that remained unglaciated during the last ice age.
Surveying for caves may be one of the best bets for finding traces of Beringia.