Approximately 998,000 BC: MAJOR CATASTROPHE: Ten percent of the island of Oahu Hawaii suddenly plunges into the ocean during an earthquake, creating a gigantic tidal wave for much of the Pacific Rim
This may be among the biggest tsunamis ever to strike many Pacific coastal areas.
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-- Landslide By Jonathan Knight, From New Scientist, 7 August 1999
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 878,000 BC to 798,000 BC: Some factions of humanity may be managing to successfully traverse the oceans now, at least in part due to the organizational power of rudimentary speech skills
The most advanced hominids may have possessed robust imitative speech skills for over four million years by now. They've used hand tools for at least one and a half million years, and fire for over a million.
The secret of fire is sufficiently powerful to have greatly rewarded those able to learn and pass along the best possible information on the subject to friends and family-- and dangerous enough to kill and injure or leave defenseless those who couldn't. Inadequate ventilation in fire warmed caves in the winter alone has surely suffocated and/or brain damaged thousands over the millennia-- a substantial portion of the global human population. This die off/dumbing down has likely helped a lot to accelerate human evolution-- especially where the use of fire is concerned. Similar long term costs/benefits may be associated with the manufacture and use of hand tools as well.
The enhancement that their imitative speech skills could give to hand signs and motions and physical demonstrations in the teaching and communication of these ideas must have been crucial to the welfare of untold generations. Thus, it would seem safe to assume that some crude form of spoken language now exists (possibly a hybrid of speech and sign language)-- at least among some factions of humanity.
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-- "Ancient mariners"By Tim Thwaites, Melbourne, From New Scientist, 14 March 1998
Some archeologists believe Homo erectus navigated the seas 800,000 years ago-- at least across 15 mile stretches at a time, between islands, and utilizing watercraft more substantial and functional than a crude raft or log-- something like a steerable raft with working sails or paddles at minimum. A workable power of speech (language) also seems evident and necessary to support such a task.
-- ERECTUS AFLOAT By Robert Kunzig, Human Origins 1998, Section: THE YEAR IN SCIENCE, DISCOVER magazine; JANUARY 1999
Thor Heyerdahl undertook several ocean voyages during the 20th century utilizing sea-going craft and equipment as near identical to that estimated for ancient peoples as possible, in order to prove such expeditions were achievable for the ancients.
Among the journeys were:
1947: A 101 day long trip between South America and Polynesia across the Pacific, using a balsa raft named Kon Tiki, with a total of seven men onboard.
1969/1970: The Ra trips using Egyptian reed boats to cross the Atlantic
-- "Heyerdahl Defeats Oceans, Battles Scholars" By Alister Doyle, Reuters/http://dailynews.yahoo.com/ News, Science Headlines, September 13 1999
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Keep in mind that humanity at this time still cannot start a fire from scratch, and so must obtain it however they can and then maintain it perpetually over generations or else risk becoming subservient to other groups, or more easily falling prey to predators or other threats from the environment.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 400,000 BC: The Earth warms up considerably and stays that way for at least 30,000 years; Titanus may be going extinct in the Americas
Global sea levels stabilize at 7.5 meters above 1999 AD levels for millennia, then rapidly rise to about 20 meters higher than 1999 levels, remain there for thousands of years, and finally decline back to 1999 levels over a period of a couple millennia.
Note that any long term hominid settlements in low lying coastal areas are being flooded and erased during this time worldwide, thereby forcing many potential innovations leading to agriculture or other characteristics of civilization to be postponed or forgotten as populations are repeatedly forced to move elsewhere to start again from scratch.
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-- "In Ancient Ice Ages, Clues to Climate" By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, 2-16-99, The New York Times
-- "The big thaw"by Jeff Hecht, Boston, From New Scientist, 17 April 1999
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Titanus (a giant flightless predatory bird) may yet be roaming Florida; in the past it and its kin terrorized South America (24 million BC and later). Around 3 million BC the two American continents were connected by the closure of the Isthmus of Panama, and the predator expanded into the north. Titanus is up to six feet tall and 400 pounds, can likely run at horse galloping speeds (40 mph), and may be nearly as stealthy when hunting as 20th century big cats like lions and tigers.
Titanus is something close to a reincarnated velociraptor from the dinosaur ages-- only with feathers and a stubbier tail. As such, it may hunt in packs.
It may be that Titanus and its ilk mostly prey upon mammals smaller than adult humans-- but still it seems that children would be at high risk, and solitary adults too, where caught in the open by a pack of Titanus.
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-- Decline of the Terror BirdsTitanis, Carl Dennis Buell - Titanus, Coolrox Limited: The Hunt for Titanus, Extinct Birds, WRI Article: "A History of Extinction", Pleistocene Extinctions, Biodiversity and Conservation (book), EXTINCTION AND DEPLETION FROM OVER-EXPLOITATION, UF SCIENTIST'S DISCOVERY CHALLENGES ASSUMPTIONS�, History of Life(book), JOURNAL OF VERTEBRATE PALEONTOLOGY 15(4), Decem�, and NWF - International Wildlife Magazine - Birds, �
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AUTHOR'S NOTE. Yes, I recognize that I mention the possible extinction of Titanus not once but at several different moments in this chronology. The reason is that there remains considerable uncertainty as to just when the terror bird actually kicked the bucket. And this uncertainty covers an enormous range of time-- reaching all the way forward into possible encounters with some of the early humans trodding the American continents! I will narrow the time frame down as more evidence becomes available. END NOTE.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 250,000 BC: Small but significant numbers of human beings may be reaching Valsequillo Mexico from across the Pacific now
Their exact origins are uncertain.
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-- THE HUEYATLACO DILEMMA from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #21, MAY-JUN 1982 by William R. Corliss, citing Virginia Steen-McIntyre, et al; "Geologic Evidence for Age of Deposits at Hueyatlaco Archeological Site, Valsequillo, Mexico," Quaternary Research, 16:1, 1981
The earliest people to enter the Americas to settle in the vicinity of Peru, Mexico, and the southern US are curiously dis-similar to all known Asian lines in the form and measurements of their skulls.
As of early 2000 this study was incomplete, awaiting more data regarding skull types from central Eurasia for comparison.
-- Origins of first Americans, 18 FEBRUARY 2000, EurekAlert!, Contact: Diane Swanbrow, [email protected], 734-647-4416, University of Michigan
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 200,000+ BC: Humans are treating animal skins for use as clothing; people may be living in California
Many humans worldwide are moving in seasonal migrations and making use of a wide variety of plants and animals for food.
The greater exploitation of animal hides for clothing and accessories is substantially increasing humanity's flexibility in terms of climate, terrain, and hunting by providing better protection from the elements and animal attacks, as well as offering improvements in camouflage and storage options.
This invention and use of clothing is a significant technological breakthrough for humanity, and will allow people to greatly expand their exploration and settlement of the Earth.
Humans long ago became masters at imitating animal noises and calls-- now they can imitate animal smells and appearance as well. Humans may be emulating animals in other ways too, wherever they observe a particularly useful survival or hunting technique being practiced by the beasts.
There's a good chance at least some advances in human footwear are also occuring at this time.
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-- page 551, World History, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996, World Almanac Books
-- THE CALICO SITE REVISITED from Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #24, NOV-DEC 1982 by William R. Corliss, citing Ruth D. Simpson; "Updating the Early Man Calico Site, California," Anthropological Journal of Canada, 20:8, no. 2, 1982
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 128,000 BC - 108,000 BC: The Earth enjoys a warm but stormy interglacial span (the Eemian period) and the Bering land bridge is submerged
The Eemian period possesses two phases: the first 12,000 years are relative stable and cozy in terms of climate and temperature while the remainder retains much warmth even as the north american ice sheets gradually grow larger again, presaging the later decline back to much colder temperatures. The second phase may well have been marked by monstrous storms, due to its unusual conditions.
Thus, North America may be suffering terrific storms during the period between 116,000 BC and 108,000 BC. Note that in many cases (especially towards the end of this period, and/or in the more northern regions), these storms are horrific blizzards, laying down snow to form the advancing glaciers of the new Ice Age.
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-- "In Ancient Ice Ages, Clues to Climate" By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, 2-16-99, The New York Times
The last major break between Ice Ages was somewhere around 128,000 BC- 114,000 BC, lasting for roughly 14,000-20,000 years, depending on how you define the conditions (up to twice as long as the current period circa 2000 AD so far). Ice Ages can also begin and end pretty abruptly, and with perhaps little warning.
-- Essay: Climate Future Told Through Mud By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, February 15, 2000
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So far as is known circa March 2000, there are no human predecessors living in northern North America at this time.
Note that global sea levels now are likely near the same as circa 1999 AD (or slightly higher), thereby insuring that land links such as the Bering landbridge (and many islands) are submerged. The greater southeast asian peninsula is also in large part underwater, presenting something a bit smaller than its circa 1999 AD incarnation to surface observation.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR: 118,000 BC to 8,000 BC: the last Ice Age; a third of Earth's surface is sheathed in ice for much of this period-- and world geography undergoes drastic changes
For the 15,000 years preceding this time, world sea levels never rose more than two meters above that of the sea level circa 1999 AD. But now sea levels worldwide drop to 1999 AD levels and significantly below between 118,000 and 8000 BC. This means there are greater chances for landbridges connecting islands and continents, and considerably more land exposed along the coastlines of continents and islands, among other things. All this extra dry land offers places where human civilizations might spend centuries or even millennia building cities and nations, and migrating over to explore new territories-- only to have the sea take them away again in the centuries to follow (and possibily leaving some folks permanently stranded on places like islands afterwards). In 1998 AD archaeologists will be discovering many human works submerged this way during prehistoric times.
Another implication of the great ice sheets are 'ice bridges' essentially offering yet another means of connection between many land masses during this time that would otherwise be inaccessible due to surrounding seas. Note that the Earth's north pole will have little or no exposed land area by 1998 AD; and yet it will be covered by an ice sheet sufficient to support lengthy migrations of human and animal species across the region (assuming the cold and hunger don't kill them along the way). Thus, technically there exist paths allowing exploration of the americas and other regions for ancient hominids as far back as two million years or more as of 1998 AD. Such access ways may be as forbidding as deserts, or as temporary as seasonal sea ice, but they are there none-the-less.
Indeed, early humans could theoretically explore almost every continent on earth now requiring little more than their feet for locomotion, due to ice sheets and lowered sea levels exposing various land bridges. No boats or rafts are required for most excursions. And yet, any humans intelligent enough to use floating constructions may trod the last few percentage points of the Earth's surface remaining out of reach of their land locked peers as well.
Unfortunately, towards the end of this period, when the ice sheets are retreating and the ocean levels rising again, volcanic action tends to increase as the weight of the ice sheets themselves seemed to have restrained them earlier. And the huge cataracts of flood waters released from melting glaciers and overflowing of sea-sized inland lakes during this time also wreak havoc on many regions.
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-- "Surprise: Geologists Find Glaciers Can Suppress Volcanic Eruptions", 12-8-98, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
-- "The big thaw" by Jeff Hecht, Boston, From New Scientist, 17 April 1999
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Sudden large climate changes worldwide occurred during the last Ice Age.
Apparently there were six events where immense numbers of ice bergs were created in Canada, which then flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. These spurred global climate changes.
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-- SIX IMMENSE ARMADAS OF ICEBERGS INVADED THE NORTH ATLANTIC From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #98, MAR-APR 1995 by William R. Corliss, citing Wallace S. Broecker; "Massive Iceberg Discharges as Triggers for Global Climate Changes," Nature, 372:421, 1994
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In the northern hemisphere at least (and likely true of the rest of the world as well), substantial climate change for vast regions can take place within ten years or less-- well within a single human life time. The so-called Little Ice Age was documented to end in a mere ten years during the 1840s.
Climate changes can happen with little or no warning. Around 8000 BC in Michigan there was around a 145 year window of opportunity for a certain small forest to spring up in the wake of shrinking Ice Age glaciers. A sudden climate change opened the window, while further escalations in that climate change later closed it, when the glaciers rapidly collapsed and flooded the area with silt carrying water, burying and drowning the forest where it stood. The flood was gentle enough not to topple or strip the trees.
From studies of the tree growth rings, it appears that there was no indication beforehand that the climate was going to warm up when it did, in either instance.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
100,000 BC - 10,000 BC: Immensely large and terrifying predators stalk the wilds of the Americas...
...including (but not restricted to) gargantuan, horrifically fast bears and saber tooth tigers, giant jaguars, and colossal wolves. Enormous condors also fly the skies.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 80,500 BC- 38,000 BC: The Bering land bridge connecting Asia to North America (Beringia) may be above sea level now
Beringia may be dry now for roughly 42,000 years (for supporting citations see below).
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Approximately 400,000 BC: The Earth warms up considerably and stays that way for at least 30,000 years; Beringia is definitely closed
Global sea levels stabilize at 7.5 meters above 1999 AD levels for millennia, then rapidly rise to about 20 meters higher than 1999 levels, remain there for thousands of years, and finally decline back to 1999 levels over a period of a couple millennia.
-- "In Ancient Ice Ages, Clues to Climate" By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, 2-16-99, The New York Times
-- "The big thaw"by Jeff Hecht, Boston, From New Scientist, 17 April 1999
From 128,000 BC - 108,000 BC global sea levels are likely near the same as circa 1999 AD (or slightly higher), thereby insuring that land links such as the Bering landbridge (and many islands) are submerged.
-- "In Ancient Ice Ages, Clues to Climate" By WILLIAM K. STEVENS, 2-16-99, The New York Times and Essay: Climate Future Told Through Mud By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery.com News, February 15, 2000
MAJOR ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR: 118,000 BC to 8,000 BC: the last Ice Age; a third of Earth's surface is sheathed in ice for much of this period-- and world geography undergoes drastic changes
For the 15,000 years preceding this time, world sea levels never rose more than two meters above that of the sea level circa 1999 AD. But now sea levels worldwide drop to 1999 AD levels and significantly below between 118,000 and 8000 BC.
-- "Surprise: Geologists Find Glaciers Can Suppress Volcanic Eruptions", 12-8-98, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
-- "The big thaw" by Jeff Hecht, Boston, From New Scientist, 17 April 1999
Sudden large climate changes worldwide occurred during the last Ice Age. Apparently there were six events where immense numbers of ice bergs were created in Canada, which then flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. These spurred global climate changes.
-- SIX IMMENSE ARMADAS OF ICEBERGS INVADED THE NORTH ATLANTIC From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #98, MAR-APR 1995 by William R. Corliss, citing Wallace S. Broecker; "Massive Iceberg Discharges as Triggers for Global Climate Changes," Nature, 372:421, 1994
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A couple of items to note here:
Humanity's numbers may have dwindled to almost nothing by 69,000 BC and before, due to one or several calamities-- ergo, the reason why there's little evidence of migrations across the land bridge until much later. However, there remains the possibility for a few human predecessors (or other primates) to enter the Americas at this very early date via the bridge. It is likely many animal species did so.
There seems to be significant evidence of humans crossing the bridge in relatively large numbers around 38,000 BC-- which appears to be almost a mad dash across the bridge in the years it may have been re-submerging again, after spending millennia as dry land. Were these first bridge crossers fleeing something? Or is it only coincidence that they crossed just prior to the bridge submerging again?
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Mitochondrial DNA analysis indicates most Amerinds (majority of native north americans) arrived in one wave around 38,000 BC- 18,000 BC.
Some early migrations into the Americas possibly came across the Arctic, as well as the Pacific and Atlantic. Artifacts suggesting connections to Iberia and France have been found. The genetic diversity in native Americans strongly implies at minimum 30,000 years of development on the continents (under some reasonably plausible scenarios). The 140 language families of native Americans suggests 40,000+ years of development. The entire Pacific Rim shares ancient commonalities in native languages.
-- ANTHROPOLOGY UNBOUND From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 by William R. Corliss, citing David Lore; "Bering Strait May Not Have Been Only Route to Americas," Columbus Dispatch, February 17, 1998, and Ann Gibbons; "Mother Tongues Trace Steps of Earliest Americans," Science, 279:1306, 1998
Scientists estimate it should have required 7000 years of progressive migrations for people to reach and settle the vicinity of Monte Verde Chile, if they first entered the Americas by way of the Bering land bridge some 9000 miles away. (If Monte Verde was settled by 31,000 BC, which it appears it was, then allowing 7000 years to reach it from Beringia results in a date of 38,000 BC for crossing the land bridge)
-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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Of course, the 7,000 year estimate for arrival cited above may be fatally flawed by way of its assumption that the Monte Verde people came across the land bridge at all; there's mounting evidence that South America received migrations from directly across both the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans as well as through Central America from the north, at perhaps even earlier dates than migrations across Beringia itself.
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Humans seem to be living in New Mexico between 38,000 BC and 28,000 BC
-- LONG BEFORE THE VIKINGS AND POLYNESIANS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #81, MAY-JUN 1992 by William R. Corliss, citing Tim Appenzeller; " A High Five from the First New World Settlers?" Science, 255:920, 1992 and Roger Lewin; "Mitochondria Tell the Tale of Migrations to America," New Scientist, p. 16, February 22, 1992
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
48,000 BC: Human population numbers begin to expand now beyond a long-time plateau
The plateau in population numbers may have existed for more than 100,000 years. The plateau may have been as low as 11,000 to 18,000 during that time.
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-- "Study Alters Time Line for the Splitting of Human Populations" By NICHOLAS WADE, March 16, 1999, The New York Times
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Or, the plateau may have been as high as 40,000.
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-- "Ancient 'volcanic winter' tied to rapid genetic divergence in humans", News From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, September 1998, News Bureau
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
807 S. Wright St., Suite 520 East
Champaign, IL 61820-6219, found on or about 9-10-98
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
48,000 BC-38,000 BC; The fauna of western North America include terrifyingly fast and huge bears...
...and cheetahs, as well as less fearsome animals like camels, llamas, bison, and giant deer...
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-- "40,000-year-old cheetah, camel bones found in Nevada cave", May 24, 1999 , The Associated Press/CNN Interactive
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 43,000 BC- 30,000 BC: People are apparently living in some rock shelters in the region someday to be called Brazil
Pedra Furada is the name of one place, which sports cave art and more.
Could these be Africans who have crossed the Atlantic? Or some of the earliest Australians from across the Pacific, who then went on to explore deep into the interior of South America? Or could they be Iberians (Europeans)?
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-- BREAKING THE 12,000-BP BARRIER From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #65, SEP-OCT 1989 by William R. Corliss, citing John Noble Wilford; "Findings Plunge Archeology of the Americas into Turmoil," New York Times, May 30, 1989. Cr. J. Covey, and Roger Lewin; "Skepticism Fades over Pre-Clovis Man," Science, 244:1140, 1989
-- HUMANS IN THE AMERICAS 32,000 YEARS AGO? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #47, SEP-OCT 1986 by William R. Corliss, citing N. Guidon and G. Delibrias; "Carbon-14 Dates Point to Man in the Americas 32,000 Years Ago," Nature, 321: 769, 1986
-- THE 50,000-YEAR-OLD AMERICANS OF PEDRA FURADA From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #87, MAY-JUN 1993 by William R. Corliss, citing Paul G. Bahn; "50,000-Year-Old Americans of Pedra Furada," Nature, 362:114, 1993
Some early migrations into the Americas possibly came across the Arctic, as well as the Pacific and Atlantic. Artifacts suggesting connections to Iberia and France have been found. The genetic diversity in native Americans strongly implies at minimum 30,000 years of development on the continents (under some reasonably plausible scenarios). The 140 language families of native Americans suggests 40,000+ years of development. The entire Pacific Rim shares ancient commonalities in native languages.
-- ANTHROPOLOGY UNBOUND From Science Frontiers #119, SEP-OCT 1998 by William R. Corliss, citing David Lore; "Bering Strait May Not Have Been Only Route to Americas," Columbus Dispatch, February 17, 1998, and Ann Gibbons; "Mother Tongues Trace Steps of Earliest Americans," Science, 279:1306, 1998
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 40,000 BC - 36,000 BC: Australians reach the Americas
A tiny number of Australian explorers are managing to reach South American shores, typically with tens of miles or more distance (and years of time) separating different landfalls. Once they realize the land is no mere island, they soon settle to make a life for themselves there.
A heavy dependence by the Australians upon fire continues in the new land, due to often harsh weather as well as new threats discovered from megafauna and animal predators on the new continent.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
38,000 BC - 23,000 BC: The Bolivian altiplano plateau in South America is a high altitude (12,000 feet) inland sea during this time
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
33,000 BC - 30,000 BC: The extremely dangerous large predators of North America are encouraging some pioneers of the region to become specialists in maritime matters and living at sea
The furthest reaching North American explorers originating from northeast Asia are encountering new land and ice predators for which their present weapons and technologies are no match. Bears of unbelievable size and speed feast upon tribal explorers now almost at will, in the alien North American landscape.
This new threat poses a formidable obstacle to further eastward movement via land. And yet, the further east the tribe has moved, the more it has prospered. The tribe decides to greatly expand the use of rafts and boats to limit their exposure to the terrifying new predators on land. They begin traveling mostly by boat down the coastline of the the new land, going ashore as needed to hunt and resupply themselves, or take refuge from inclement weather-- or build new boats. For the most part these people begin to live typically onboard watercraft, until they may either find a region devoid of the great bears, or else their numbers, weaponry, or knowledge advances sufficiently to overcome the beasts.
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Travelers using skin-covered boats or primitive canoes could have journeyed from the eastern Aleutian islands to the area of Chile in less than five years by following the coastline and paddling at least six hours a day.
(Of course, such a single-minded and rapid migration likely did not take place-- this is simply an illustration of the magnitude of the distance and effort involved. In actuality the migration likely was made at a much more leisurely pace, such as over a period of decades or centuries perhaps).
-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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During this maritime existence the tribe is forced to learn more about sea-going life and navigation, as well as to further hone their fishing skills.
It's also worth noting that the great glaciers of North America serve as formidable obstacles to deep inland progress at this time.
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Sources include information from the Discovery channel/the Learning Channel, on or about 10-1-98
-- page 436, "Peopling of the Earth", National Geographic, October 1988
-- "Ancient Woman's Bones May Rewrite History", 4-11-99, http://dailynews.yahoo.com//Reuters
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It seems safe to assume that by now at least a smattering of people is passing through or near the region of Central America/Panama. Why is this possibly significant? Because of a rare, tiny animal which lives in the area, offering anyone who cares to notice an excellent idea for an invention which will someday change the world-- the wheel.
The beach animal is similar to a one-inch long shrimp. It lives on the Pacific side of Panama. It often moves by looping its body into a circle and rolling along like a wheel.
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-- WHEELY INTERESTING, Strange Days - Fortean Times, found on or about 1-16-2000 (http://www.forteantimes.com/)
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Note too that the Pacific side of Central America is also the one most likely being traveled by coast huggers coming across from Asia and moving down the western coasts of the Americas.
If just one human traveler found inspiration for the wheel at this place, in this time, and the concept spread significantly, humanity could find itself accelerated invention-wise by perhaps 30,000 years or so.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 31,000 BC- 8,000 BC: The Bering land bridge may be dry
Here may be where the biggest human migrations across the bridge take place. There may have been a 7,000 year interruption in migrations crossing the bridge-- since it was submerged.
The relatively small numbers of people who made it across 7,000 years before have multiplied and settled in along the northwestern coast of North America by now. And they are not too happy with the new influx of visitors now, despite the fact that genetically the strangers are near identical to themselves. There's plenty of conflict to go around now.
The 7,000 year separation may have been sufficient time for new disease strains to spawn on the asian side, which afflict the north american natives now.
Another sore point between 31,000 BC and 12,000 BC is the fact that the Ice Age glaciers remain present in force on the continent, funneling most all newcomers down the more hospitable coastline-- and directly into and through the home territories of the 7000 year natives. Over and over again.
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It appears the earliest migrations into North America via the Bering land bridge (before 13,000 BC) take place along the western coast rather than inland. At this time glaciers cover much of North America, with inland routes perhaps almost as difficult to traverse as crossings of the North Pole. The coasts by contrast offer some respites from the ice for travelers.
Around 13,000 BC to 12,000 BC the continental glaciers have sufficiently retreated to offer more hospitable inland routes south through the continent than before. This allows perhaps larger mass migrations to proceed inland compared to the traveling possible along the coast, for both people and animals.
There appears to be frequent and intense conflict occurring among these early migratory peoples.
-- Mystery of the First Americans, NOVA, PBS, 2-15-2000
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
31,000 BC - 12,000 BC: Substantial fluctuations in global climate afflict humanity and other lifeforms
These fluctuations may be helping humanity more than they are hurting them, by reducing the populations of large dangerous inland predators with which humanity must compete in both North and South America.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
31,000 BC:
Humans are apparently living in the vicinity of Monte Verde, Chile
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-- "Chilean Field Yields New Clues to Peopling of Americas" By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, August 25, 1998, The New York Times
-- "Aborigines were the first Americans"
By Sarah Toyne, August 22 1999, THE SUNDAY TIMES: FOREIGN NEWS, Times Newspapers Ltd.
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
28,000 BC -8,000 BC: The great North American ice sheets come and go-- repeatedly
Sea levels also fluctuate somewhat in concert with the changes in the ice sheets-- thereby alternatively widening and narrowing passage bottlenecks between continents, such as the Bering Straits. But the human migrations from Asia into North America continue.
Though these new explorers add to the potential for conflict in the new land, they more importantly strengthen the total numbers of human beings there-- something that is crucial to overcoming the giant super bears and other challenges of the alien continent.
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-- "University of Cincinnati Geologist Finds North American Glacial Advances Coincide with Iceberg Calving Events", Research News Releases, Public Relations Home Page, University of Cincinnati Home Page
Around 28,000 BC to 23,000 BC four genetically differentiated lines of Asians began entering the Americas.
-- Americas Populated in Spurts By Becky Oskin, Discovery.com News, Feb. 22, 2000
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 28,000 BC- 23,000 BC: Four different groups of Asians enter the Americas (probably across the Beringia land bridge)
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Around 28,000 BC to 23,000 BC four genetically differentiated lines of Asians began entering the Americas.
There were at least two separate migrations across the Bering land bridge in prehistoric times, possibly more. The migrating peoples came from varying regions of Asia.
The first peoples came from eastern Asia, in the south of the vicinity of the Sea of Ohkotsk. This wave consisted of five significantly differentiated groups.
Clues in language point to a large variety of migratory groups, with language differentiation, specialization, and consolidation between these groups in the Americas beginning around 28,000 BC.
-- Americas Populated in Spurts By Becky Oskin, Discovery.com News, Feb. 22, 2000
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
23,500+ BC-8,500 BC: There's a wealth of food suitable for human consumption in the form of animal life in the area of the northwestern Yukon (Alaska/Canada)....
...although further east and south enormous glaciers lay upon the land.
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-- "First North Americans Had Chance To Be Avid Birders", 21 APRIL 1999, Canadian Museum of Nature /Museum of Civilization, Jacob Berkowitz
[email protected], Rachael M. Duplisea, [email protected]
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 31,000 BC- 8,000 BC: The near unrecognizable shape of world continents during this period is due to reduced sea levels greatly expanding the areas of dry land
Question: Global sea levels would have been at their lowest during the last global glacial maximum. Just when was that?
Answer: Perhaps as early as 23,000 BC or as late as 19,000 BC. A couple of adjustments have had to be made to the technique of radio carbon dating during the late 20th century, in order to calibrate it for greater accuracy. One adjustment was made utilizing tree ring counts-- but this measure could only help calibrate carbon dating back to 10,000 years in the past. A second correction to increase carbon dating accuracy beyond 10,000 years came from sea coral. Around 1990 the new calibration placed the last global glacial maximum at around 19,000 BC, where previous estimates had placed it at 16,000 BC.
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-- OF TIME AND THE CORAL - AND OTHER THINGS, TOO From Science Frontiers #71, SEP-OCT 1990 by William R. Corliss, citing Richard A. Kerr; "From One Coral Many Findings Blossom," Science, 248: 1314, 1990
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Still later, possibly more accurate estimates came from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation in 1998, to place the global maximum at 23,000 BC.
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-- "OLDEST ICE CORE FROM THE TROPICS RECOVERED, NEW ICE AGE EVIDENCE"
from a project supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the National Science Foundation, 12-3-98
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It seems however that circa 1999/2000 many journalistic and even some scientific sources continued to use the older, likely obsolete estimates of the glacial maximum, of around 18,000 BC to 16,000 BC. It appears the prime reasons are their reliance on outdated references, the relatively recent adjustments to the dates, and the general obscurity of the topic itself. Therefore I am here assuming the maximum to have occured around 23,000 BC- 19,000 BC, unless some new evidence to the contrary comes to light.
Keeping in mind many journalists' and even some scientists' possible continued reliance on outdated estimates for the maximum, I will often compensate for this likely error in my own speculations.
NGDC/WDC A for MGG - Marine Geology & Geophysics Images may be helpful in visualizing vast regions of land submerged circa the 20th century but exposed as dry land around 23,000 BC.
23,000 BC was the last glacial maximum of the most recent Ice Age.
Ice sheets up to 10,000 feet thick reach as far south as near the vicinity of London England. The Earth boasts considerably more dry land now than it will circa 2000 AD, as the Ice Age has lowered the oceans even as it created the great ice sheets. The ice production itself also extends the mobility of land creatures like man via seasonal sea ice (at least in some cases).
In western europe, men can literally walk from France to the British Isles. But much of this area is similar to 20th century arctic tundra.
The land bridge between Asia and Alaska is at minimum around 700 miles wide, complemented by possible seasonal sea ice stretching some 700 miles beyond that in each of the north and south directions (for a potentially walkable bridge between continents ranging from some 700 to 2100 miles wide, depending on the season).
Note that 23,000 BC represents the glacial maximum-- which means although land bridges like the Bering were at their widest and most dry around 23,000 BC, they were likely passable for lengthy periods both before and after this time. How large a timespan are we talking about here? 31,000 BC through 8,500 BC to 7,500 BC. Or around 23,000 years.
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Sources include altitude maps of North America, Europe, and Asia, and depth maps of the Pacific Ocean floor and Atlantic Ocean floor, from the Concise Columbia Encyclopedia, Second Edition, 1989, Columbia University Press, as well as the Bartholomew World Physical map, HarperCollinsPublishers, 1992
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Well, it appears the Bering land bridge was sufficiently submerged by around 8,000 BC to cut off most foot travel between North America and Asia, and perhaps cause a stunningly rapid expansion into South America as a byproduct (the expansion seemed to have occured in 1000 years or less, judging from the sudden extinctions of megafauna on both continents).
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The Bering land bridge may have been dry as recently as 9,000 BC, but its vegetation was inadequate to support grazing animals of substantial size.
-- Beringia Land Bridge Lasted Until 11,000 Years Ago, 11/26/96, Anthropology News Briefs
-- "Traces of our Forebears", National Geographic, October 1988
-- "OLDEST ICE CORE FROM THE TROPICS RECOVERED, NEW ICE AGE EVIDENCE"
from a project supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration and the National Science Foundation, 12-3-98
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The Americas are now accessible via dry land from Asia by way of the exposed Bering land bridge
The great migration of humanity across the land bridge is stymied somewhat on the american side by the fearsome great bears there for a time, for which the migrating land-based peoples have no adequate weapons for defense. Only towards the end of this period do these circumstances change dramatically, as increasing numbers and better cooperation and weapons among the human invaders serve to overcome the physical advantages of the bears and other large north american predators. Climate changes may also be aiding humanity by way of changing the habitats of large predators in ways which reduce their numbers.
Another obstacle to migrations into the heart of North America were the immense ice sheets which acted as vast inhospitable deserts between much of the Yukon/Alaska and the rest of North America. There were likely few willing to brave these icy deserts and the fearsome giant bears, to see what lay beyond. On the flip side, the northwestern Yukon was a pretty nice place to live for quite some time around now (23,500+ BC-8,500 BC), offering a wealth of food for those living there. Thus, the population in the region may have swelled for millennia before any large movements to the south were undertaken (though coastal expeditions likely conitnued unbroken during this time).
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-- "First North Americans Had Chance To Be Avid Birders", 21 APRIL 1999, Canadian Museum of Nature /Museum of Civilization, Jacob Berkowitz
[email protected], Rachael M. Duplisea, [email protected]
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
23,000 BC: Global sea levels of this time are at their lowest point for many millennia both past and future-- making this the most opportune time for many extraordinary migrations of human beings between continents; Clothing, baskets, cords, and hunting nets are being made and used in Europe
The continents of eurasia and the americas are connected via a dry land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. The open sea barriers between Antarctica, Australia, South America, and various intervening islands are the shortest and shallowest they've been in eons-- and may perhaps be gone entirely at times due to the formation of seasonal sea ice during this Ice Age period. In any case, some reasonable seamanship via boat or raft could possibly overcome many of the obstacles that remain. Australia and Tasmania are one land mass now, and Australia began being populated by humanity over 25,000 years ago.
There are already people living in South America too by now-- apparently Australians who had crossed the Pacific.
The appearance of the Bering land bridge, combined with intensifying competition for food and territory in eastern asia, encourages a veritable boom in migration over the bridge and into north america. These vast new numbers of people will help a lot to turn the tide against the great bear predators up to now making it too dangerous for people to spend much time onshore in north america. But they will also spell the doom of the much smaller numbers of Australians already living in South America.
At least some europeans are producing baskets, textiles, hunting and fishing nets, and cords from plant fibers by now.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
22,000 BC: Humans may be fashioning tools of bone in the northern Yukon
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-- LONG BEFORE THE VIKINGS AND POLYNESIANS From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #81, MAY-JUN 1992 by William R. Corliss, citing Charles Petit; "24,000-Year-Old Tools Found in Yukon," San Francisco Chronicle, February 10, 1992. Cr. D.H. Palmer
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
20,000 BC: Temperatures in the northern hemisphere are quite frigid
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-- Greenland's Ice Yields Further Clues About Climate Change, October 9, 1998 News Release
U.S. Department of the Interior
U.S. Geological Survey
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
18,000 BC- 12,500 BC: People are apparently living in the vicinity one day to be known as South Carolina USA
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-- Bonanza of ice-age artifacts redefine America's pre-history
July 2, 1999, Marsha Walton contributing, CNN
Solutrean Europeans may be crossing the Atlantic Ocean to North America from the Iberian Peninsula (the 20th century's Spain, Portugal, and France) around 16,000 BC, colonizing the eastern seaboard. In the millennia to come this group may expand to meet and overlap with the other groups arriving via the Bering land bridge and Pacific Ocean crossings.
Such Atlantic crossings might be made in skin boats, and require as little as three weeks to make.
-- First Americans from Europe?
By Joseph B. Verrengia
The Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M., Nov. 1, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/
North America's eastern seacoast may have been settled by people (Solutreans) from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe (Portugal, Spain, southern France) around 16,000 BC. Elements of their culture may have then expanded into western America, as well as Canada and South America. The Solutreans may have been the first actual members of the Clovis culture to arrive in the Americas.
-- New View of 1st Americans Emerges, Discovery Online, Discovery News Brief/Associated Press, http://www.discovery.com/, found on or about 11-1-99
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NOTE THAT THE CLOVIS WEAPONS AND TACTICS (SIGNIFICANT IMPROVEMENTS OVER PREVIOUS HUMAN RESOURCES) HAVE ENTERED NORTH AMERICA BY NOW (IF NOT EARLIER)
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South America received an influx of peoples from Asia around 18,000 BC, according to viruses contained in South American mummies. The viruses are related to adult T-cell leukaemia. Some living peoples of the 1999 AD Caribbean also show infection by these same virii.
-- Viral clue to American settlers, Sci/Tech, BBC news, http://www.bbc.co.uk/, 29 November, 1999
Boats were being used in Japan around 18,000 BC.
-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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Until around 18,000 BC/16,000 BC, the most significant migration routes in terms of human beings entering North America seemed to exist along the western coastlines. After that the center of migration gravity seems to shift to inland routes, taking people to the center and eastern coasts of North America.
Note that the dangerous large megafauna predators of North America may have strongly encouraged many migrating peoples to stick to the coastlines (and boats) until as late as 11,000 BC-10,000 BC.
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Global sea level during the last global glacial maximum was 300-400 feet lower than 2000 AD. About 18,000 BC inland passages from Alaska into the lower latitudes of North America were highly arduous-- while various coastal routes would have been less challenging and dangerous. Therefore it would seem the earlier migrations followed the coasts down the continent.
There may have been several different migrations down the coast prior to around 18,000 BC-- with more groups taking an inland route after that.
-- Americas Populated in Spurts By Becky Oskin, Discovery.com News, Feb. 22, 2000
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 18,000 BC- 12,000 BC: Earth is bombarded five times by heavier than usual cosmic dust concentrations from space
Earth's climate may well be effected. Some of this same dust traveling through the solar system may be spawning a new dust ring between Mars and Jupiter.
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-- OF DUST CLOUDS AND ICE AGES, From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #44, MAR-APR 1986 by William R. Corliss citing Paul A. LaViolette; "Evidence of High Cosmic Dust Concentrations in Late Pleistocene Polar Ice (20,000-14,000 Years BP)," Meteoritics, 20:545, 1985
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
15,000 BC to 3,000 BC: The Great Global Erasure of Much Evidence of Ancient Human Civilizations: World sea levels rise at least 325 feet over 12,000 years, erasing virtually all traces of 30,000+ years worth of possible civilizations and technology use (as well as robbing humanity of the bulk of its collective knowledge and history) along many low lying continental and island coastlines, while glacial melt transforms many fertile inland valleys into new rivers and lakes; as if this wasn't enough, volcanic activity increases dramatically as well, ruining with fire and lava many works which may have escaped the flood waters
Rising global sea levels and catastrophic continental glacier meltdowns submerge the coasts and rich inland valleys where much of prehistoric human civilization has been developing up to now, leaving little more behind than a handful of isolated higher altitude inland settlements exhibiting technologies and practices often significantly inferior to those drowned by the rising water and flooding.
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-- "ANCIENT SEAFARERS"BY PETER BELLWOOD, SPECIAL REPORT, Volume 50 Number 2 March/April 1997, the Archaeological Institute of America, http://www.archaeology.org/9703/etc/specialreport.html
-- "Evidence For Earliest Maritime-Based Societies In The Americas Reported"
In Science Magazine, 17 SEPTEMBER 1998, American Association for the Advancement of Science
-- Rise in Sea Levels To Double, Discovery News Brief , http://www.discovery.com/, found on or about 9-15-99
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Vast regions of what had been dry and inviting land, riversides, and coastal areas around the planet gradually disappear beneath the rising oceans during this time, as the immense glaciers of the Ice Age retreat at last.
Any and all settlements, villages, cities, harbors, trading centers, fortesses, roads, canals, and other traces of civilization built up in these areas during the past 33,000 years or so are now submerged and/or washed away.
Note that all this destruction, damage, and general flux must also be having catastrophic and traumatic effects on the cultures forced to give up their greatest monuments and works of many lifetimes, often faced with no choice but to move to higher ground with only what can be carried on their back.
The thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of people the world over forced to leave the comfort of well established communities to start again in less hospitable locales, often facing new competition from entrenched long term natives and the hazards of unfamiliar flora and fauna and climate, must surely have suffered a high rate of attrition among their numbers. Such a population would have suffered from increased vulnerability to disease, malnutrition, and predation. This period may well mark another significant die off worldwide, in a larger scale and longer spanned version of the early settlements of North America, participants of which left a much more civilized nation for an unfamiliar wilderness, and often suffered enormous mortality rates for their reward.
The histories of several early European settlements in North America after Columbus include accounts of very high death tolls due to starvation and other causes in the new land. And keep in mind these were peoples with techology and tools significantly advanced over those commonly expected of the peoples of 15,000 BC to 3,000 BC.
There's scientific evidence for the possibility that this global rise in sea level is also interfering with the development of agriculture-- perhaps even spoiling/erasing entirely millennia of already established farming methods, and forcing the practice to virtually be re-invented again later on, after sea levels have more or less stabilized once more. Similar impacts may be occuring in other fields of technological innovation as well.
The vast expanse of super Australia is broken up into the several considerably smaller landmasses which will be known in 1999 AD as Australia, New Guinea, and Tasmania. Enormous chunks of previously dry Southeast Asia disappear beneath the waves, leaving only the remnants later to be known as Java, Indonesia, Borneo, India, Vietnam, China, and Korea to mark their passing.
The tundras spanning what someday will be known as the English Channel and Bering Strait are also inundated.
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-- page 446, "Traces of our Forebears", National Geographic, October 1988
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Around 10,500 BC (12,500 years ago) global temperatures suddenly rose about 20 degrees Fahrenheit in only 50 years.
This sudden warming-- as well as much of the other temperature increases before and after-- may have been spurred in part by explosive eruptions of green house gases from the icy methane hydrates which normally lie dormant on the sea bottom throughout the world.
Some speculate that the decrease in the weight of the oceans above the deposits (caused by all that water being tied up on land in glaciers) may have caused spontaneous collapses of the icy materials into its constituent gases, which then erupted out of the oceans to add to the warming of the Earth.
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Substantial and highly flammable gas desposits line the ocean floor in many areas in a frozen, pressurized form, which might be on occasion released by meteor impacts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, warm gaseous or liquid emissions from still deeper in the sea floor, warming of the oceans, or a reduction in sea levels (lower sea levels reduce the confining pressure, while warming thaws the icy deposits). Releases of gas from these deposits can be either highly localized or global in nature. Wherever sufficient quantities of this gas are released, the atmosphere itself may catch fire, sparked by events like natural lightning strikes.
-- METHANE HYDRATE: PAST FRIEND OR FUTURE FOE? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #77, SEP-OCT 1991 by William R. Corliss, citing "Did Methane Curb Ice Ages," New Scientist, p. 24, May 25, 1991, and Tim Appenzeller; "Fire and Ice under the Deep-Sea Floor," Science, 252:1790, 1991
Unexpected releases of this sea-bottom gas may explain many unexplained phenomena at or around the sea, such as ship sinkings, unusual light sightings, and even lost aircraft.
-- GAS HYDRATES AND THE BERMUDA TRIANGLE From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #25, JAN-FEB 1983 by William R. Corliss, citing Richard D. McIver; "Role of Naturally Occurring Gas Hydrates in Sediment Transport," American Association of Petroleum Geologists, Bulletin, 66:789, 1982
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We're talking serious global climate change here folks. At this point the mostly slow and gradual loss of most of humanity's best works along sea and river coastlines worldwide suddenly accelerates enormously. And this time even many inland areas previously insulated from the catastrophic inundation of the coasts are drowned as well-- as this sudden thaw melts vast glacial ice sheets much faster than during the previous 5000 years, creating vast new inland seas and causing previously existing pools to overflow their banks in floods of such magnitude that they would be unimaginable 1999 AD humanity. We're talking destruction of inland cities and settlements here comparable to the worst tidal wave damage inflicted by the sea on coastal towns.
So to recap, here we have evidence of 5000 years of gradual creeping washing away of most all human works of civilization existing along coastlines and river ways. Then there comes a 50 year long period of surprise flash floods from the great inland ice sheets, that decimate inland areas which may previously have been protected from coastal flooding-- and as all this water washes into the ocean the sea level rises more too, accelerating the ongoing loss of coastal settlements there. People lose their cities, and rebuild them, only to lose them again and again. Such catastrophic repeated losses of wealth and organization would have sapped the strength and vitality of any civilization.
It seems likely that most historical records could have been repeatedly moved to higher ground during the slow rise of sea levels over the first 5000 years. But it also seems likely that the sudden catastrophic releases of glacial melt over the next 50 years would have caught many inland repositories unaware-- resulting in disasterous losses of recorded knowledge worldwide.
Be sure to take note of the likely sudden worldwide loss of historical and technological records and works here folks-- over a period of just 50 cataclysmic years.
After this though the inland and coastal floodings subside once more to the 'normal' long term rates of this era of global drowning (except for continued occasional catastrophic natural dam bursts of enormous inland seas and lakes created by bottled up glacier melt), and humanity faces once more the slow creeping watery end of ever more settlements as coastlines and river borders expand inland, pushed via the relentless rising seas.
Oh yes-- there's also significantly increased volcanic activity worldwide too. For it seems that as the weight of the melting glaciers is removed from the land masses, many dormant volcanoes re-awaken. We'll never be able to know how many prehistoric Pompeiis were created during this great eruptive event-- but these too help steal away large chunks of human history as they occur.
So here is strong evidence for the possibility of not only prehistoric human works like major cities and ports being wiped off the face of the Earth on a global scale, but also many important stores of knowledge and history that may have been held in such places. Any information stores which survived such inundation would likely have suffered a great dispersion/degradation of their contents, being broken up and moved to random locations of varying stability and safety in an attempt at preservation in the face of seemingly unpredictable changes in sea levels, inland flooding, volcanic eruptions, and climate during the period. And even where libraries somehow found a home safe from the ongoing disasters, the likely higher-than-normal death rates and relatively short generational spans among those aware of the prized locations could easily have caused the knowledge to be lost within only a century or two. It could be there are quite a few well hidden and preserved stores of knowledge from these days still in existence by the 20th century, hidden in places of high ground and possibly deserts; but they may only be found by random discovery. And, of course, the ravages of time will also have reduced all but the very sturdiest or well placed records to dust by 1999 AD.
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-- "Antarctic Ice Core Hints Abrupt Warming Some 12,500 Years Ago May Have
Been Global", 1 OCTOBER 1998,
University of Colorado at Boulder
-- "Surprise: Geologists Find Glaciers Can Suppress Volcanic Eruptions", 12-8-98, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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This steady encroachment of the sea affects most all the world's coastlines and low altitude inland waterways. But it especially decimates the communities of Australians built up over thousands of years along the western coastline of South America. The long term calamity severely weakens the culture, making it much more vulnerable to the invading Asians from the north after 11,000 BC or so.
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Megafloods followed the end of the Ice Age in North America and Eurasia around 13,000 BC. Refuse from one such flood indicates a flood depth of 250 meters.
-- Damburst By Daniel Pendick, From New Scientist, 7 August 1999 (issue 2198)
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 13,000 BC: The very last of the giant 'terror bird' Titanus may be dying in Texas; up to now the vast majority of incursions into North America via the vicinity of the Bering land bridge have proceeded along the coast (as ice rules the inland routes)
If any of these monsters (Titanus) still survive to this late date, they are likely very rare. Also, like late surviving mammoths they may now be stunted in growth to something less than they were a million years or so before (or maybe not). If they survive, they are inhabiting a region very near to one of the earliest concentrations of humanity in North America: a place of flat grasslands someday to be known as the vicinity of Corpus Christi Texas. And if they exist in Texas, there may be a few still stalking the plains of their original haunts in South America as well.
If these beasts are still around in 13,000 BC, there's a good chance human beings are encountering them-- at least on rare occasions.
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-- Terror, Take Two
By
Carl Zimmer
Discover Magazine, found on or about 9-1-99
Apparent remains of "...large flightless
predaceous birds..." from as recently as 8,000 BC have been discovered by Texas A&M; University-Kingsville researchers.
-- TAMUK Scientists Recover Mastodon, Other Species that Once Roamed the
Lower Nueces River Valley, found on or about 9-1-99 (TAMUK stands for Texas A&M; University-Kingsville); An original phone number related to this report included the Connor Museum at (512) 595-2810.
It appears the earliest migrations into North America via the Bering land bridge (before 13,000 BC) take place along the western coast rather than inland. At this time glaciers cover much of North America, with inland routes perhaps almost as difficult to traverse as crossings of the North Pole. The coasts by contrast offer some respites from the ice for travelers.
Around 13,000 BC to 12,000 BC the continental glaciers have sufficiently retreated to offer more hospitable inland routes south through the continent than before. This allows perhaps larger mass migrations to proceed inland compared to the traveling possible along the coast, for both people and animals.
There appears to be frequent and intense conflict occurring among these early migratory peoples.
-- Mystery of the First Americans, NOVA, PBS, 2-15-2000
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The possibly large numbers of people which have piled up in the northwestern Yukon due to migrations from Asia, plentiful food and game, and the obstacles of ice sheets and bears blocking their way south and east up to now, are under growing pressures to expand beyond this region, into the rest of the continent.
The ice sheets are disappearing. Food is getting harder to come by locally. More people keep coming across the bridge from Asia. Things are getting crowded, and people are getting testy. More and more fighting is breaking out. Better quality weapons only add to the carnage. The improved weapons, combined with hardwon experience regarding the enormous bears of the continent, are building up men's confidence to push forward.
Much of the population may soon be on the move.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 13,000 BC- 12,000 BC: Mass migrations into the North American heartland are becoming possible now as the ice retreats
There is fighting and competition within the new migratory waves as well as between them and peoples already living on the continent from previous immigration.
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Around 13,000 BC to 12,000 BC the continental glaciers have sufficiently retreated to offer more hospitable inland routes south through the continent than before. This allows perhaps larger mass migrations to proceed inland compared to the traveling possible along the coast, for both people and animals.
There appears to be frequent and intense conflict occurring among these early migratory peoples.
-- Mystery of the First Americans, NOVA, PBS, 2-15-2000
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
11,000 BC: Many large animals of both North and South America are suddenly driven to extinction by the wave of Asians pouring out of the northwestern Yukon, as well as other peoples...
...those American animals which are now going extinct include the mammoths, saber tooth tigers, horses, and dire wolves.
The speed by which this wave of humanity explodes across both North and South America may be indicated by the rapid mass extinctions of the megafauna of both continents.
Although Beringia continues to be dry, allowing a constant feed of new peoples from Asia, and a large buildup of population in the northwestern Yukon likely preceded this latest wave, still that doesn't seem sufficient to explain the rapid expansion across both continents now.
And clues point to existing South American human populations being pretty small by comparison. Too small to contribute much to this sudden population explosion across tow continents.
No, there must be more than one fountainhead of humanity flooding the Americas during this time. At least one other must exist-- and it may be feeding into both North and South America simultaneously. There's scant information available on this point as of mid-2000 AD, but my guess is it's Eurasians for the most part. Coming into both North America and South America, via channels other than Beringia. Some clues to this may be that central and south americans picked up traces of asian disease and DNA around 18,000 BC, while the DNA of Amerinds appears to have gotten an infusion of european peoples around 10,000 BC-8,000 BC.
The northern routes for the Europeans may not be that much different from what Beringia is for the Asians. But the southern routes require ocean crossings. They're not as daunting as the Pacific crossings were for the Australians, but still they are significant challenges.
By 18,000 BC- 12,500 BC people were apparently living in the vicinity of South Carolina USA.
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-- Bonanza of ice-age artifacts redefine America's pre-history
July 2, 1999, Marsha Walton contributing, CNN
Solutrean Europeans may be crossing the Atlantic Ocean to North America from the Iberian Peninsula (the 20th century's Spain, Portugal, and France) around 16,000 BC, colonizing the eastern seaboard. In the millennia to come this group may expand to meet and overlap with the other groups arriving via the Bering land bridge and Pacific Ocean crossings.
Such Atlantic crossings might be made in skin boats, and require as little as three weeks to make.
-- First Americans from Europe?
By Joseph B. Verrengia
The Associated Press
SANTA FE, N.M., Nov. 1, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/
North America's eastern seacoast may have been settled by people (Solutreans) from the Iberian Peninsula of Europe (Portugal, Spain, southern France) around 16,000 BC. Elements of their culture may have then expanded into western America, as well as Canada and South America. The Solutreans may have been the first actual members of the Clovis culture to arrive in the Americas.
-- New View of 1st Americans Emerges, Discovery Online, Discovery News Brief/Associated Press, http://www.discovery.com/, found on or about 11-1-99
South America received an influx of peoples from Asia around 18,000 BC, according to viruses contained in South American mummies. The viruses are related to adult T-cell leukaemia. Some living peoples of the 1999 AD Caribbean also show infection by these same virii.
-- Viral clue to American settlers, Sci/Tech, BBC news, http://www.bbc.co.uk/, 29 November, 1999
Boats were being used in Japan around 18,000 BC.
-- The Diffusionists Have Landed by Marc K. Stengel, The Atlantic Monthly, J A N U A R Y 2 0 0 0, http://www.theatlantic.com
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Until around 18,000 BC/16,000 BC, the most significant migration routes in terms of human beings entering North America from Beringia seemed to exist along the western coastlines. After that the center of migration gravity seems to shift to inland routes, taking people to the center and eastern coasts of North America.
Note that the dangerous large megafauna predators of North America may have strongly encouraged many migrating peoples to stick to the coastlines (and boats) until as late as 11,000 BC-10,000 BC.
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Global sea level during the last global glacial maximum was 300-400 feet lower than 2000 AD. About 18,000 BC inland passages from Alaska into the lower latitudes of North America were highly arduous-- while various coastal routes would have been less challenging and dangerous. Therefore it would seem the earlier migrations followed the coasts down the continent.
There may have been several different migrations down the coast prior to around 18,000 BC-- with more groups taking an inland route after that.
-- Americas Populated in Spurts By Becky Oskin, Discovery.com News, Feb. 22, 2000
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These groups mostly fight amongst themselves rather than one another early on. Otherwise the megafauna would likely last longer, protected by territorial buffer zones between the warring factions.
But once the megafauna are gone, and all the factions have effectively divided up the Americas among themselves-- that is when the consolidation begins. The wars of this time may decimate the newly native populations by way of new diseases from their differing origins about the Earth, as well as the effect of much improved weaponry and tactics.
If even one faction suffered as terribly from foreign disease during this time as native Americans will millennia later when the Europeans invade once more, then perhaps as much as 95% of one third to one half of everyone living in the Americas dies of disease now or soon.
It's possible the death toll from disease goes even higher than the near 50% estimate speculated about above. And the casualties from war would push the total numbers of dead still higher. But as of mid-2000 AD little will be known of these circumstances.
Let us now turn our attention to the megafauna extinctions.
Later 20th century North Americans would be astonished and terrified by the sight of the megafauna existing on the continent prior to the mass extinctions. Condors possessing 16-foot wingspans flew the skies. Pigs similar to antelopes moved swiftly across the landscape. Camels, horses, bison, and llamas grazed on the various environments offered by the continent. Hippopotamus-sized ground sloths chewed on the trees. Eight kinds of big cats similar to but sometimes larger than the African lions of 1999 AD prowled the land. Gargantuan bears, wolves, and armadillos were also present.
The "megafauna" of this period seem to fall prey to a combination of new diseases brought in by human populations and increased predation by same (who may be equipped with improved weapons and tactics, compared to what they previously wielded against the animals). If this is the case, it would seem to imply a substantial increase in human populations in the New World over this time, as compared to before (in order to get the big increase in human-animal interaction implied by the infection and increased predation).
Note that the Americas are undergoing significant climate changes during this time as well, which could also play a part in the extinctions.
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-- "Gone But Not Forgotten: Bring Back
North American Elephants" by Melanie Lenart, http://www.sciencedaily.com//releases/1999/06/990607154315.htm, 6/10/99, ScienceDaily Magazine
-- "Early Human Activity In Australia May Have Led To Animal Extinctions", 1-7-99, University of Colorado at Boulder
-- Resurrecting a Mammoth
By Angela Swafford, Special to ABCNEWS.com, 9-17-99, http://www.abcnews.go.com/
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Since no such large extinctions have been detected prior to this time, it seems that the Australians already present in South America for millennia now were either too few to decimate animal populations, and/or simply less injurious to those populations via their way of life. It may also be that the Australians mostly kept to the western coasts of South America, having little to do with the vast eastern expanse beyond the mountains, for thousands of years. Note that the starting populations for the Australians in the New World were tiny due to their arrival upon boats across the Pacific, rather than the accomodating land bridge to the north. Too, there may have been very few women onboard the Australian boats, further reducing their reproductive potential. Lastly, the rising sea levels of previous millennia may have further weakened their transplanted culture-- making them very vulnerable to invaders, as well as incapable of much affecting the animal populations of South America.
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-- `Eco-noble savages' who never were: Prehistory contains many examples of people driving animal species to extinction, explains James Steele, British Archaeology, no 12, March 1996: Features, British Archaeology homepage
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It may be that the Australian-Americans themselves are also being wiped out and/or subjugated at this time, along with the Megafauna...
However, central and eastern South America may not be wholly unpopulated. Small numbers of Europeans and Africans likely dot the landscape there. Perhaps even a handful of intrepid Australians may live there too. But again, their total numbers are likely too low to affect animal populations.
Note that the giant predators which go extinct now likely do so primarily because of their megafauna prey (herbivores) being snuffed out via over-hunting by humanity.
The giant beaver also goes extinct in North America around this time.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
11,000 BC- 9,000 BC: Native Americans are definitely plying the seas by now, if not before
Sea-going peoples are apparently living in the vicinity of Peru now. Rising global sea levels between 11,000 and 3,000 BC will submerge the coasts where much of this activity is taking place however, so related research in millennia to follow will often be forced to take place under water.
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-- "Evidence For Earliest Maritime-Based Societies In The Americas Reported"
In Science Magazine, 17 SEPTEMBER 1998, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Much evidence of prehistoric peoples and their migrations into the Americas were submerged by rising sea levels after the last Ice Age. The western coastlines of northern North America from that time (in 2000 AD submerged deep undersea) began thawing from the Ice Age around 12,000 BC, and may have been pretty hospitable to both settlers and travelers, beginning around 10,000 BC.
-- Drowned land holds clue to first Americans By R. Monastersky, From Science News Online, Vol. 157, No. 6, February 5,
2000, p. 85, http://www.sciencenews.org/
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 10,500 BC: A sudden 20+ degree F rise in temperatures worldwide is causing substantial climate change
Over a period of 50 years polar temperatures rise close to 60 degrees. There is also a rapid rise in methane levels in the atmosphere.
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-- Ice cores suggest abrupt climate change 12,500 years ago By Paul Recer, Augusta Georgia/Associated Press, 10/02/98, http://www.augustachronicle.com/
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This suggests that the lowered sea levels of the Ice Age (combined with perhaps a few other phenomena such as land slips) has resulted in a large scale release of methane hydrates from the sea floor into the atmosphere. This 'green house' gas would have helped warm the Earth rather suddenly, causing many glaciers to begin a rapid melting collapse, and sea levels to surge in height faster than before.
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Substantial and highly flammable gas desposits line the ocean floor in many areas in a frozen, pressurized form, which might be on occasion released by meteor impacts, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, warm gaseous or liquid emissions from still deeper in the sea floor, warming of the oceans, or a reduction in sea levels (lower sea levels reduce the confining pressure, while warming thaws the icy deposits). Releases of gas from these deposits can be either highly localized or global in nature. Wherever sufficient quantities of this gas are released, the atmosphere itself may catch fire, sparked by events like natural lightning strikes. The gas may also contribute to global warming during releases, being a so-called 'green house' gas, which helps the Earth's atmosphere to retain solar heat.
-- METHANE HYDRATE: PAST FRIEND OR FUTURE FOE? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #77, SEP-OCT 1991 by William R. Corliss, citing "Did Methane Curb Ice Ages," New Scientist, p. 24, May 25, 1991, and Tim Appenzeller; "Fire and Ice under the Deep-Sea Floor," Science, 252:1790, 1991
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 10,000 BC: Total human population of the Americas may number around 10,000-30,000; virtually every human settlement in the world, both temporary and permanent, includes the presence of domesticated dogs
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Source for the universal dog ownership: Man's trash was likely dog's lure by Phil and Nancy Seff, November 10, 1999, Deseret News Science/Technology, http://deseretnews.com/, Man's trash was likely dog's lure (http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/1,1249,125015089,00.html?)
-- Learning about 40,000-year-old mammals by MITZI PERDUE, Nando Media/Scripps Howard News Service, November 30, 1999, http://www.nandotimes.com
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I believe the reporter of the above article made a typographical error in their statement referring to human population for the entire Earth being only 10,000 to 30,000 around 10,000 BC. Instead, I think she was referring to the estimates of population for just the Americas themselves, rather than the world. The context of her statement deals with the numbers of people threatening the megafauna in the Americas with extinction during this period, and cites estimates for both-- but the animal numbers appear to be for only American populations while the human numbers are given as planet-wide. Thus, the statement as typed seems incongruous. It would make better sense if the human number refers to only populations in the Americas, in order to better relate them to animal numbers on the continents of the time. Plus, in another article by the same writer, a figure of under ten million is given for world population in 8,000 BC-- only 2,000 years later from the 10,000 to 30,000 figures given above. ("A positive perspective on population growth" by Mitzi Perdue, Scripps Howard News Service, Nando Media, http://www.nandotimes.com, September 28, 1999). This too would seem to indicate at least one of these numbers is off.
For further comparisons, here is a sequential series of human population estimates over time for various regions:
* 11,000 to 18,000 worldwide around 187,000 BC from "Study Alters Time Line for the Splitting of Human Populations" By NICHOLAS WADE, March 16, 1999, The New York Times
* 15,000 to 40,000 worldwide about 69,000 BC from "Ancient 'volcanic winter' tied to rapid genetic divergence in humans", News From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, September 1998, News Bureau
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
807 S. Wright St., Suite 520 East
Champaign, IL 61820-6219, found on or about 9-10-98, and "History Of Humans And Great Apes Strikingly Different"
University Science, 27-Apr-1999, UniSci Science and Research News, http://unisci.com
* 11,000 to 40,000 worldwide around 48,000 BC from "Study Alters Time Line for the Splitting of Human Populations" By NICHOLAS WADE, March 16, 1999, The New York Times and "Ancient 'volcanic winter' tied to rapid genetic divergence in humans", News From the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, September 1998, News Bureau
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
807 S. Wright St., Suite 520 East
Champaign, IL 61820-6219, found on or about 9-10-98
* Under ten million world-wide in 8,000 BC from "A positive perspective on population growth" by Mitzi Perdue, Scripps Howard News Service, Nando Media, http://www.nandotimes.com, September 28, 1999
* 200 million for the world around 1 AD from page 553, Paleontology: The History of Life, The World Almanac and Book of Facts 1996, World Almanac Books
* One million for the single city of Angkor Cambodia in 1,100 AD from Unraveling History's Mysteries By Joseph B. Verrengia
The Associated Press
Aug. 30, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/
* 15,000 for the single city of Cahokia in the vicinity of Collinsville, Illnois, USA in 1,300 AD from Unraveling History's Mysteries By Joseph B. Verrengia
The Associated Press
Aug. 30, 1999, ABC News Internet Ventures, http://www.abcnews.go.com/
* 30-40 million for the Americas around 1,492 AD from HOW MANY MIGRATIONS WERE THERE? From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #51, MAY-JUN 1987 by William R. Corliss, citing Merritt Ruhlin; "Voices from the Past," Natural History, 96:6, March 1987
* One billion for the world in 1804 AD from 6 billionth Earthling was born today By Margot Higgins, ENN Daily News -- 10/12/1999, Environmental News Network, http://www.enn.com/
Thus, I have taken the liberty of using the 10,000-30,000 figure for only the Americas here, rather than the entire globe, in 10,000 BC. END NOTE
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Keep in mind that rising sea levels worldwide over the past 5000 years may have resulted in such forced dislocations of large populations from established communities (making them more vulnerable to disease, starvation, predation, and stronger inland/higher altitude tribes) as to significantly reduce the world population as one result.
This environment may also have strongly encouraged humanity to drive and expand deeper inland on many continents too-- perhaps laying the groundwork for the mass extinctions of the megafauna in the Americas as one consequence.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 9,000 BC: The Bering land bridge has not yet submerged. Is there trans-Atlantic trade (possibly secretive and/or rare) involving cocaine and tobacco taking place between Africa and South America now? Is it only a coincidence that Plato will later speak of Atlantis existing prior to this time?
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-- "So where in the world is Atlantis?"By Aisling Irwin, International News, Electronic Telegraph, Telegraph Group Limited, 30 December 1997, Issue 949
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Could it be that there is "...only a few million individuals..." on Earth now?
The Bering land bridge connecting North America to Asia remains above water.
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The Bering land bridge may have been dry as recently as 9,000 BC, but its vegetation was inadequate to support grazing animals of substantial size.
-- Beringia Land Bridge Lasted Until 11,000 Years Ago, 11/26/96, Anthropology News Briefs
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 9,000 BC - 3,500 BC: "Exchange of goods" is begun...and a three dimensional combination of an accounting/inventory system and medium of exchange may represent the earliest pseudo-writing technology
Supply is ramping up to meet demand in the new human economic system, as people are developing cereal grasses and raising sheep, as well as creating much improved agricultural implements and constructing villages.
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-- Milestones in Technology, February 26, 1999, The Knoxville News-Sentinel
Tiny sculpted 3D geometric primitives (balls, cones, disks and more) made of baked clay seemed to have been used in the Mideast for records-keeping and inventories related to commerce around 8,500 BC. Similar objects in Europe may have served purposes like these as well.
-- FIRST WRITING MAY HAVE BEEN THREE-DIMENSIONAL From Science Frontiers Digest of Scientific Anomalies #1, September 1977 by William R. Corliss, citing "From Reckoning to Writing," Scientific American, p. 58, August 1977
-- "Graven in Clay", page 14, Feats and Wisdom of the Ancients, Library of Curious and Unusual Facts, Time-Life Books, 1990
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Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
Approximately 8,500 BC - 7,500 BC: The Bering land bridge slips under the sea again, separating the Americas from Asia
Sea voyages once again become the only way to reach the Americas from the rest of the world (unless travelers can survive a crossing of the icy wastes of the Arctic).
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The Bering land bridge may have been dry as recently as 9,000 BC, but its vegetation was inadequate to support grazing animals of substantial size.
-- Beringia Land Bridge Lasted Until 11,000 Years Ago, 11/26/96, Anthropology News Briefs
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In the northern hemisphere at least (and likely true of the rest of the world as well), substantial climate change for vast regions can take place within ten years or less-- well within a single human life time. The so-called Little Ice Age was documented to end in a mere ten years during the 1840s.
Climate changes can happen with little or no warning. Around 8000 BC in Michigan there was around a 145 year window of opportunity for a certain small forest to spring up in the wake of shrinking Ice Age glaciers. A sudden climate change opened the window, while further escalations in that climate change later closed it, when the glaciers rapidly collapsed and flooded the area with silt carrying water, burying and drowning the forest where it stood. The flood was gentle enough not to topple or strip the trees.
From studies of the tree growth rings, it appears that there was no indication beforehand that the climate was going to warm up when it did, in either instance.
Peopling of Americas 1,000,000 BC- 8,001 BC Contents
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