The Bering Transitory Archipelago: stepping stones for the first Americans

Retrospective sea-level mapping advances a promising geographic solution to the long-standing mystery about when, where, and how the first Americans crossed over from Asia. A paleotopographic reconstruction accounting for Glacial lsostatic Adjustment digitally explores an archipelago about 1400 km long that likely existed from >30,000 BP to 8000 BR Here the authors examine this Bering Transitory Archipelago in regard to established hypotheses-Clovis-first, Ice-free (deglaciation) Corridor, Kelp Highway, and Beringian Standstill hypotheses-and a new Stepping-Stones hypothesis. Scores of islands at that time would meet all requirements previously proposed for a viable hypothesis: a source population in Asia. a pathway with abundant sustenance, settlements in North America soon after but not before, and an isolated sanctuary where Beringians could have become genetically distinct.