Ancient Beringian facts for kids

The Ancient Beringians are the earliest known population of North America. They migrated from Beringia into Alaska  sometime before 11,500 years ago. They separated from other Paleo-Indians about 20,000 years ago. The discovery of an "Ancient Beringian" genome from the remains of two infants dated to 11,500 years ago was announced in January 2018. The Ancient Beringians remained in the Arctic until they either became extinct or amalgamated with the Dene about five to six thousand years ago.

The Ancient Beringian were hunter-gatherers.  They ate wild plants and wild animals. Some of the animals they ate were salmon, ptarmigan, and ground squirrels.

Images for kids

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  Figure 2. Schematic illustration of maternal (mtDNA) gene-flow in and out of Beringia (long chronology, single source model).