Description

How and when did the first people arrive in North America? Two new studies report a stunningly early date indicating people may have been living on the continent at least 33,000 years ago when ice sheets covered much of what is now northern United States and Canada. According to the oral histories of many of the Indigenous peoples, they have been living on this continent since their genesis, described by a wide range of traditional creation stories. Other tribes recount migrations across long tracts of land and a great river. Genetic and archeological data connect some of the Indigenous people of this continent with ancient people from the Siberian steppes and from Western Europe to explain migrations to and within North America.