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The First Americans
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Vocabulary
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ancestors
Bering Strait
climate
glaciers
Ice Age
land bridge
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Key Concepts
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Over the Land Bridge
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mammoth
migrate
prehistoric
Siberia
topography
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The last Ice
Age
ended about 10,000 years ago. During that time, prehistoric
people
were living on the earth. Prehistoric people were hunters and gathers.
They hunted animals
and they gathered plants
for food. Climate changes effected the topography
or shape of the land. When the glaciers
were growing, the oceans became smaller and land
bridges appeared. When the glaciers were melting, land
paths across continents appeared, and the oceans became larger and covered
more of the land . Climate changes allowed prehistoric people to
migrate out of Africa
into
Europe. All people of the world have their roots
in Africa. All our
prehistoric ancestors
came from Africa. Over time, Prehistoric people continued to migrate
into southern Asia, and eventually into Siberia
and the Americas. years ago)
,
the Ancient Native Americans were able to migrate from
Asia into Alaska. Then the Ancient Native Americans migrated
south through North America and into South America . |
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Additional Information
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Beringia
- During the ice age,
the Bering Sea climate was mild. The 18 mile wide Bering Strait
was dry and formed the Beringia Land Bridge .
Beringia was 1,000 miles long, from north to south. Beringia was a good
place to live during prehistoric times. It had open grasslands, and
clear lakes for fishing. It also had forests for hunting animals and
gathering berries. glaciers
- Glaciers formed during the ice age. Glaciers are like huge
blankets of snow. During the ice age, much of the earth's water was
frozen in
glaciers. So the oceans were smaller and low. Glaciers covered much of the land in the north .
Some of the glaciers were more than one mile high. Surprisingly during
the ice age, the climate was warm around the Bering Sea. Much
of Alaska and Siberia did not have ice and glaciers. ice age
- A time when much of the earth was covered with glaciers.
land bridges
- Beringia was not the only land bridge. There was also a land bridge
from Asia to Australia, and a wide land bridge between North
and South America.
mammoth
- Mammoths
were bigger than today's elephants. Their tusks were as long as 16 feet.
Scientists think mammoths may have used their tusks like snowplows to
dig for grass in the ice and snow. migrate
- Some Prehistoric people walked across the Beringia Land Bridge.
They followed and hunted the giant mammoths. Some prehistoric people
used boats like kayaks nomads
- Before there were farmers, early peoples did not have a settled
home. They traveled from place to place. They followed herds
Siberia
-A region in north central Asia, mostly in today's Russia tools
- Prehistoric people made most of their tools out of stone.
That is why prehistoric times are often called the Stone Age.
Stones were used to |
