Postglacial viability and colonization in North America’s ice-free corridor

Mikkel W. Pedersen, Anthony Ruter, Charles Schweger, Harvey Friebe, Richard A. Staff, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Marie L. Z. Mendoza, Alwynne B. Beaudoin, Cynthia Zutter, Nicolaj K. Larsen, Ben A. Potter, Rasmus Nielsen, Rebecca A. Rainville, Ludovic Orlando, David J. Meltzer, Kurt H. Kjær and Eske Willerslev ()
Additional contact information
Mikkel W. Pedersen: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Anthony Ruter: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Charles Schweger: University of Alberta
Harvey Friebe: University of Alberta
Richard A. Staff: School of Archaeology, University of Oxford
Kristian K. Kjeldsen: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Marie L. Z. Mendoza: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Alwynne B. Beaudoin: Royal Alberta Museum
Cynthia Zutter: MacEwan University
Nicolaj K. Larsen: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Ben A. Potter: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Rasmus Nielsen: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Rebecca A. Rainville: University of Calgary
Ludovic Orlando: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
David J. Meltzer: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Kurt H. Kjær: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen
Eske Willerslev: Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum, University of Copenhagen

Nature, 2016, vol. 537, issue 7618, 45-49

Abstract: Abstract During the Last Glacial Maximum, continental ice sheets isolated Beringia (northeast Siberia and northwest North America) from unglaciated North America. By around 15 to 14 thousand calibrated radiocarbon years before present (cal. kyr bp), glacial retreat opened an approximately 1,500-km-long corridor between the ice sheets. It remains unclear when plants and animals colonized this corridor and it became biologically viable for human migration. We obtained radiocarbon dates, pollen, macrofossils and metagenomic DNA from lake sediment cores in a bottleneck portion of the corridor. We find evidence of steppe vegetation, bison and mammoth by approximately 12.6 cal. kyr bp, followed by open forest, with evidence of moose and elk at about 11.5 cal. kyr bp, and boreal forest approximately 10 cal. kyr bp. Our findings reveal that the first Americans, whether Clovis or earlier groups in unglaciated North America before 12.6 cal. kyr bp , are unlikely to have travelled by this route into the Americas. However, later groups may have used this north–south passageway.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/nature19085

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