1. Beringia: the “Land Bridge” between Asia and America

2. The Big Question… Question:
Where did the “Native Americans” come from?
Answer:
Asia.

3. The Big Boo-Boo… Question: Why are Native Americans called “Indians?”
Answer:
Christopher Columbus made a big mistake...but that’s another story for another day…

4. a definition: Migration
Migration: when people or animals move from one place to live in another place…
Notice:
Migrate is the root word of immigrate
Migration is the root word of immigration

5. 5 Migration Theories
Two migration theories suggest humans crossed the Pacific Ocean to get to America.
Two migration theories suggest humans crossed the Atlantic Ocean to get to America.
One migration theory suggests humans crossed dry land or ice-covered land to get to America.

7. BERINGIA
Based on the work of anthropologists and by examining the artifacts found by archaeologists…the most widely accepted migration theory is the Beringia land crossing theory.

8. three definitions:
Anthropologist: someone who studies people and their culture (the way they live their lives)
Archaeologist: someone who searches for the artifacts of the people of the past
Artifact: anything that was made by a human (tools, weapons, clothes, etc.)

9. BERINGIA
Beringia is the term used to describe the area between Siberia (in Asia) and Alaska (in North America).
The Bering Strait (water) lies between Siberia and Alaska today.
Anything named “Bering” is named in honor of the Russian explorer, Vitus Bering.

12. The Last Ice Age c. 35,000 years ago – the last ice age began
Earth’s temperatures fell
glacier ice grew larger and thicker
sea levels fell because water was sucked up and frozen into the glaciers

14. Migration
c. 30,000 years ago – people began to travel back and forth between Asia and America
probably following animal herds for food
large numbers of people moving to new places is called migration
people who move from place to place are called nomads

15. Animals of North America at the time of the arrival of humans.

16. Migration, con’t
c. 15,000 years ago – people began shifting further to the south and east
moved into what is the present-day USA
moved through present-day Mexico
settled as far south as present-day Chile

18. End of the Last Ice Age
c. 10,000 years ago – the last Ice Age began to end
Earth’s temperature began to rise
climates warmed, vegetation and animals began to change
glaciers melted and sea levels rose; Beringia was covered with water

20. A big discovery…
c. 9,000 years ago – people living in Central America discovered how to cultivate maize
Maize – corn…

21. The effects of Maize
people who cultivated maize provided an abundant food supply for their family group
encouraged permanent communities
encouraged the growth in population

22. Native American Cultures
people changed…
from hunting and gathering to farming and herding
from Asian style culture to “Native American” culture

23. Native American Cultures
“empires” grew…Maya, Aztec, Inca, etc.

24. Beringia: the“Bridge” between Asia and America