The Peopling of the Americas

Archaeological evidence suggests that between 50,000 and 13,500 years ago people began to arrive in the Americas

Sea levels were much lower than today. The Bering Strait was a low grassy plain which made land travel possible.

Experts disagree whether one migration took place or many migrations occurred

Many Aboriginal People believe that their people have been here since time immemorial

What all Aboriginal creation stories have in common is a connection to the earth and that they come from nowhere else but here

Carbon 14 declines at a steady rate so scientists are able to determine how long an organism has been dead through a process known as Radiocarbon Dating

The analysis of tools, utensils and weapons reveals many things about how people lived

DNA analysis allows scientists to track where groups of people have been based on how closely related they are to other groups of people

Language diversification takes a great deal of time to take place. The more linguistic diversity there is, the more time has likely passed. North America is one of the most diverse language regions in the world therefore the First Peoples have been here a long time

Canada has three major language families: Algonquian, Athapaskan, and Eskaleut

10,000 years ago sea levels were lower between Alaska and Russia then they are today creating a grassy plain called Beringia

But how did they spread throughout North America due to the large ice sheets covering the continent? If they travelled the coast, where is the archaeological evidence to back it up? Land Route

It is only 90 km from Russia to Alaska. Crossings may have taken place by small watercraft. Some sites in South America are older than anything found in North America suggesting people arrived in South America first. Could they have crossed the Pacific by boat? Some South American Aboriginal Peoples share DNA characteristics with people in Polynesia. Pacific Route

North American indigenous people share DNA characteristics with Europeans. Stone technology in North America is similar to that found in Spain. Atlantic Route

None of these routes can be proven OR completely discredited. It is probably most likely that most migration theories are true and that over thousands of years people arrived in the Americas in many different ways.

Aboriginal societies of this prehistoric era had a deep rooted relationship with their environment based on spiritual harmony with the land and all living things.