Settlement patterns are important when studying the past, present, and future of human beings. The origins of a people (their ethnic heritage), where they settled, their movement patterns, their interrelationships, their cultural development,  and their political and economic structures will be affected by the geographic location of those peoples. 

More and more evidence from research efforts such as the examination of tools, human remains, linguistics, soil samples, and DNA suggests that the first original native people of America were the only ones to exclusively inhabit the "New World" for 1000's of years. These theories are just that - theories. They are being challenged and changed as newer scientific methods refute or validate existing theories. Click on the 'And the People Came' lesson icon link to investigate the 'Theories of Migration'. 

Over the Ice Bridge - Beringia - The Role of Archaeology

This video explains the Beringia Ice Bridge Theory. It provides a well developed, unbiased explanation of the belief that migration began over one 'Ice Bridge'. It is a bit fuzzy, but the content justifies the use of this video. 

The science of Linguistics plays a role in supporting specific theories. Click here to read the article by Joseph Stromberg (Smithsonian.com, March 12, 2014) provided by the Smithsonian Institute that uses linguistics to support the 'Beringia Theory' of migration. 


A time lapse shows how glaciers (white) blocked the path to North America until about 17,000 years ago, and rising sea levels cut off the land bridge about 10,000 years ago. (Image via NOAA)

Scientific Theories - the Role of Linguistics

As you move through this course, you will examine some of the migration patterns, settlement patterns, and interactions of the First Nations and Inuit Peoples in North America, Canada and in Alberta. You will note that a number of sciences are involved in the efforts to unravel the mystery of the past. Linguistics is still being explored as being a crucial piece of the puzzle.

An article in the Smithsonian.com suggests that Ancient Migration Patterns to North America Are Hidden in Languages Spoken Today. (Click on the link to learn more.)

languagesIn reconstructing the ancient Beringian environment, the researchers provided a new clue that could help explain this discrepancy. They drilled into the Bering Sea between Siberia and Alaska and recovered sediment cores, and found that they contained plant fossils and pollen from a wooded ecosystem. Such an ecosystem, the authors argue, would have been an ideal place for humans to live. And with ice covering much of Alaska, the ancestors of Native Americans needn't have just strolled through Beringia, they suggested—they could have lived there for about 10,000 years before moving on.

Now, more evidence for the idea comes from a seemingly unlikely source: languages still spoken in Asia and North America today. A pair of linguistics researchers, Mark Sicoli and Gary Holton, recently analyzed languages from North American Na-Dene family (traditionally spoken in Alaska, Canada and parts of the present-day U.S.) and the Asian Yeneseian family (spoken thousands of miles away, in central Siberia), using similarities and differences between the languages to construct a language family tree. 

As they note in an article published today in PLOS ONE, they found that the two language families are indeed related—and both appear to descend from an ancestral language that can be traced to the Beringia region. Both Siberia and North America, it seems, were settled by the descendants of a community that lived in Beringia for some time. In other words, Sicoli says, "this makes it look like Beringia wasn't simply a bridge, but actually a homeland—a refuge, where people could build a life."

The key, though, will be the work of linguists who are documenting quickly-disappearing indigenous languages before their final native speakers vanish. "A lot of the languages that can be used to answer these questions of ancient migrations are in the process of going extinct," Sicoli says. "So to address these questions in the future, we need people to document these languages right now—otherwise, we're losing our data faster than we can collect it."


Three Key Migrations - DNA - The Role of Genetics

We have looked at archaeology and linguistics as scientific fields that are providing clues to the Migration of the First Peoples to the Americas. The field of Biology, specifically, DNA testing has progressed in sophistication to the point where scientists are theorizing about migration patterns based on DNA testing. This DNA testing supports the '3 Avenues of Migration over different time periods' theories. 

Read this article: Native American populations descend from three key migrations 

 


 This video challenges the current theories and, as the science of DNA progresses and improves, may provide a more definitive answer to the Migration Patterns of the First Peoples.


Last modified: Wednesday, 4 May 2022, 9:56 AM