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What's interesting about this is that this article suggests nobody else from Europe set foot* in North America before Columbus, but the Norse had a settlement i

• s1artibartfast 6y ago
  I don't think it makes that suggestion at all. In fact, it is specifically about evidence of pre-Columbus artifacts >Much of the public imagines Columbus as the only (or first) connection between the old and new worlds, yet there are many instances of cultural connectivity in the Bering Straits region—and this is one The discovery and article highlight a more nuanced discovery: >the first documented instance of the presence of indubitable European materials in prehistoric sites in the Western Hemisphere as the result of overland transport across the Eurasian continent,”
• aksss 6y ago
  What's fascinating to me about this is how often the Brooks Range keeps popping up in the critical archeological record. I used to assume that people who come from Siberia to North America are crossing the land bridge and taking a direct route southeast to more temperate climates and to get back to the coast asap. However, it makes a lot of sense that they'd stick between the major river and the caribou herds to sustain them in travel east and west. Travel would have been easier, food more plentiful, even if somewhat (okay, significantly) colder than the South Central coast line. The South Central and South East coastlines are arguably less hospitable without specialized knowledge of watercraft and saltwater fishing and hunting skills.