An Aboriginal Presence

Our Origins

Archaeology - At the Edge of the Ice

Beringia - During the last Ice Age, Beringia was a vast expanse of unglaciated terrain stretching from eastern Siberia to the Yukon. At its heart lay the Bering Land Bridge.

When sea levels dropped during the last Ice Age, the shallow seabed west of Alaska was exposed, connecting North America and Asia.

It is not yet known when people first reached Beringia and settled there permanently. What is known is that Beringia was the gateway to North America, the region through which the ancestors of modern First Peoples passed, before the world took its present form.

 Land   Ice   Water

Beringia
Courtesy of Richard Morlan, Canadian Museum of Civilization

Beringia

Full Glacial: 18,000 years ago

Late Glacial: 11,000 years ago

Early Postglacial: 8,000 years ago

Middle Postglacial: 5,000 years ago

Late Postglacial: 1,000 years ago