Chronology of American Indian History

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ca. 25,000 to 12,000 B.C.

Ancient humans migrate from Asia to
North America.
According to archaeologists, during the ice ages,
Beringia—a 60-mile land bridge between Siberia
and Alaska—is periodically exposed as the formation
of glaciers lowers the waters of the Bering Sea. An-
cient Asian hunters following herds of mammoths,
bison, and reindeer easily transverse Beringia in a
series of migrations and become the first residents
of the North American continent. The ancestors
of modern Indians, these people head south over
time, eventually populating areas throughout the
Americas.
Archaeologists disagree about when the first of
these migrations took place. While some hold they
began as long as 40,000 years ago, most place the
earliest date of human habitation in North America
between 27,000 and 14,000 years ago, with the ma-
jority favoring the later dates.
Many Indians dispute the Bering Strait Theory
as a whole. Although it is supported by geological and
biological evidence, the theory contradicts the cre-
ation stories of many Indian tribes maintaining that
the first humans were created in their homelands.

“There are immense contem-

porary political implications

to [the Bering Strait] theory

which makes it difficult for

many people to surrender.

Considerable residual guilt

remains over the manner in

which the Western Hemi-

sphere was invaded and settled

by Europeans.... People want

to believe that the Western

Hemisphere... was a vacant,

unexploited, fertile land....

[and] that American Indians

were not original inhabitants of

the Western Hemisphere but

latecomers who had barely un-

packed before Columbus came

knocking on the door. If Indians

had arrived only a few centuries

earlier, they had no real claim to

land that could not be swept

away by European discovery.”

—Vine Deloria Jr. in Red Earth,

White Lies (1995)

ca. 17,600 or 10,000 B.C.

Early Indians begin occupying the

Meadowcroft site.

Meadowcroft, south of what is now Pittsburgh,

Pennsylvania, is one of the earliest known settle-

ments of ancient humans in North America.

Meadowcroft features an enormous rock shelter

that covers nearly one thousand square feet of land.

The natural structure provides protection for its in-

habitants, while the large animal population in the

area offers ample food sources. Archaeologists agree

that the site was definitely occupied by 10,000 B.C.

Radiocarbon dates for some objects excavated from

the site in the 1970s lead some scientists to believe

humans lived at Meadowcroft as early as 17,

B.C.—a theory that challenges the consensus view

that the first Indians arrived in North Americans

about 14,000 years ago (see entry for CA. 25,

TO 12,000 B.C.).

ca. 12,000 B.C.

The Bering land bridge is engulfed in water.

As the last ice age draws to an end, warming

global temperatures begin to melt the great gla-

ciers that cover much of the earth. The melting

ca. 12,000 B.C.