Do Now Record in Agenda: recent picture of you due next class (size 2x3 to 4x6; you shouldn’t be younger than 12 ) Take out 2 clean sheets of notebook paper Title one: The History of Aaron Title the other: The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians

The History of Aaron Using your Important vs. Interesting Chart, draft an academic paragraph explaining what was learned about Aaron. (Academic paragraph = lots of detail) You MUST include the “Important” information. You may CHOOSE to include some of the “Interesting” information as supporting details.

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians

Question Brain Dump What do you wonder about the earliest Americans– the Paleo-Indians?

Human Migration Migration is a movement of people or animals from one region to another The very first humans originated in Africa. Over many thousands of years, the people migrated out of Africa to other parts of the world.

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians The first people to populate the continents now known as North and South America are referred to as the Paleo-Indians The Paleo-Indians are the people of pre- history: they lived in the period of time before written records The Paleo-Indians are the ancestors of modern Native Americans (over thousands of years the P-I evolved to be the NA) Paleo-Indian skull on the left Modern Native American skull on the right

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians Archeologists and scientists are not entirely sure when and how the first people came to the Americas– but they have theories The theories are based on the findings of artifacts and bones Two major theories include: a Land Bridge migration and a Coastal migration

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians The Land Bridge Theory says, during the last Ice Age people migrated from Asia to North America across a land bridge called Beringia (this may have been as long ago as 22,000 years or more)

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians The migration of people across the Beringia land bridge took place over a long period of time Archeologists believe people may have lived on the Beringia land bridge for several thousand years (maybe even 10,000 years!) before actually migrating into modern-day North America It is believed that the people migrated across Beringia along an ice-free path and into North America following herds of animals

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians Over time, these people settled throughout North and South America. About 8,000-10,000 years ago the Earth’s climate grew warmer, ending the Ice Age. Glaciers melted, sea levels rose, and the Beringia land bridge was covered with water.

Land Bridge Theory: evidence The finding of sharpened stone points mixed in with ancient mammoth bones in Clovis, New Mexico support the Land Bridge Theory and date the first Americans around 12,000-13,000 years ago Many “Clovis points” have been found at various sites around North America– not just in New Mexico

The Earliest Americans: Paleo-Indians Another theory about how the first people came to the Americas is the Coastal Migration Theory In some ways, the Coastal Migration theory is a challenge to the Land Bridge theory The Coastal Migration theory says that 1000 years before the ice- free path over land was possible, that people migrated from Asia to the Americas by boat along the Pacific coastline

Coastal Migration theory

Coastal Migration theory: evidence Archeological finds in Monte Verde, Chile (in South America) date the first people in the Americas to at least 14,000 years ago This is at least 1000 years before scientists believe there was an ice-free path for people to walk over land Therefore, people could not have migrated over land and had to migrate another way: by boat.

Challenge to Land Bridge Theory

Mapping the Earliest Americans’ migration routes Label Asia Label North America Label South America Label the Pacific Ocean Use the map at the right to: Choose a color (NOT red or blue) and sketch in the Beringia land bridge Label Beringia Use a light color (NOT red or blue) to sketch the glacier ice caps Use RED to draw arrows for the Land Bridge migration route

 Now, extend your RED migration arrows throughout North and South America  Add in BLUE Coastal Migration route  Finally, create a KEY for your map

Just FYI… there are other theories about possible migration routes: What do they say?