The Prehistoric Settlement of North America (A World Chronicles Documentary)

North and South America were not an untouched barely populated wilderness before Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage firmly established contact between what became known as the "New World" and the "Old World" of Africa, Europe and Asia. Instead, the pre-contact (or Pre-Columbian) Americas were once home to an array of cultures as incredibly complex and diverse as any that existed in the Old World at the time. The story behind how the Americas came to be settled by its original inhabitants is no less complex. Most are familiar with the theory that the ancestors of all modern Native Americans migrated out of Siberia by crossing a land bridge that connected Asia to Alaska, a land formation which is called either "Beringia" or the “Bering Land Bridge” by scientists, before migrating into North America through an "ice corridor" situated between two massive glaciers. These early Americans then eventually migrated in a southwardly direction until the whole of North and South America were settled. As with most events of prehistory that are simplified for laymen, this paradigm is actually a hotly debated topic amongst scientists and especially among archaeologists. For example, there are endless debates among scientists over whether or not there was only one migration into the Americas or if there were multiple different migrations. The method of entry into the Americas is also in dispute: was the Bering Land Bridge the only route of entry into the Americas? There are also debates about who exactly the first Americans were. From where did they originate? How much genetic relation do they have to modern Native American populations? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Credits: All sound effects are from Freesound.org and are in the public domain except for the following: selcukartut (https://freesound.org/people/selcukar...) craigsmith (https://freesound.org/people/craigsmi...) kevp888 (https://freesound.org/people/kevp888/...) sonidistapo (https://freesound.org/people/sonidist...) ddaedalus (https://freesound.org/people/ddaedalu...) florianreichelt (  / florianreichelt  ) flood-mix (https://freesound.org/people/flood-mi...) patchen (https://freesound.org/people/patchen/...) flood-mix (https://freesound.org/people/flood-mi...) Soundtrack is all in the public domain and from the YouTube Audio Library except for the Native American flute during the intro by Wood_Flutes (https://freesound.org/people/Wood_Flu...) --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sources: Samuel Stockton White V. The Anzick Artifacts: A High-Technology Forager Tool Assemblage. University of Montana ScholarWorks at University of Montana Sutton, Mark Q. A Prehistory of North America Fagan, Brian. The First North Americans: An Archaeological Journey American Archaeology. Volume 21, No. 2. Summer 2017: (https://sites.utexas.edu/tarl/files/2...) Clovis point: (https://phys.org/news/2017-04-archaeo...) Kennewick Man: (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...)