Bering Land Bridge (at home)

In this lesson we will learn how the first people came to North America and try to figure out when they arrived.  You will need to analyze the following maps from the Nystrom Atlas of American History  to help with the assignment.

World Map

Ice Age in 16,000 B.C.

Ice Age in 10,000 B.C.

Changing Sea Levels

The first thing we have to do is identify the location of several places using the World Map.  The Bering Strait is a shallow body of water that separates Asia (Russia) from North America (Alaska).  It is just 50 miles wide.  When sea levels dropped during the last Ice Age, a vast area of land ... called a land bridge... was exposed.  It connected the two continents.  Open the world map and answer questions 1-3 on the quiz.

We want to compare the land bridge during different times of the Ice Age.  Open the Ice Age in 16,000 B.C. map and locate the Bering Land Bridge (it is the green piece of land between modern Russia and Alaska).  Note the size (width) of the land bridge.  Now open the map of the Ice Age in 10,000 B.C. and do the same.  Compare the size of the land bridge in 10,000 B.C. to the land bridge in 16,000 B.C.  Answer question #4 on the quiz.

The Bering Land Bridge was similar to modern-day Alaskan tundra.  There were grasses, sage, trees and dwarf shrubs.  Mammoths, bison, deer and bears migrated across the land bridge from Asia to North America.  Many scientists believe hunters followed these animals from one continent to the other.

After people crossed the Bering Land Bridge, they had to find routes past the remaining ice and glaciers.  During some periods of the Ice Age, an ice-free corridor about 2,000 miles long extended along the east side of the Rocky Mountains.  This corridor was known as the Mackenzie Corridor because it followed  a river now known as the Mackenzie River. 

Look at the map of the Ice Age in 10,000 B.C. and locate the Mackenzie Corridor (it is the green strip of land that goes from Alaska to the modern U.S. along the east side of the Rocky Mountains ... notice how it would take early people through the glaciers.) Answer question #5 on the quiz.

Open the Changing Sea Level diagram and look at the information shown.  Note the  dates when the land bridge was exposed.  Use the information to answer questions 6- 9.

Now compare the two Ice Age maps.  Notice that sometimes the Mackenzie Corridor was blocked by ice and at other times it was exposed.  Using the information from the maps, answer questions 10 -13 about the Mackenzie Corridor.

No one is really sure when the first humans arrived in North America or the exact route they took to get here.  Most scientists believe they walked across the land bridge.  Some think the first humans arrived by boat, sailing along the coast.  

Using what you've learned so far, answer questions 14 -16.