The Chumash: The Seashell First People Of North America
The question of how people first came to North America is as complicated as when they arrived. With new evidence comes new theories and the dates are being revised constantly. While the colonization of the Americas remains a highly debated topic, the truth is that the exact timing of the first arrivals remains unknown. The crossing of the Bering Land Bridge has been the longstanding theory simply because that has always been considered the simplest connection between Asia and North America. It is the only place where people could walk from one side to the other when sea levels dropped and ice formed across the land. It is possible, and more than likely, that people also arrived from elsewhere.
Genetic settlement of Beringia. The initial peopling of Beringia (the region depicted in light yellow) was followed by a standstill after which the ancestors of the Native Americans spread swiftly all over the New World while some of the Beringian maternal lineages (C1a) spread westwards.(CC BY-SA 2.5)
Earlier theories proposed that the first people arrived on the American continent as one large group who braved their way across a frozen and desolate land bridge. Later studies indicate that separate groups, speaking foreign languages, arrived at different times from different directions and brought their own experiences. It is a complex story including many people, with many interesting backgrounds.
