Article about Lost Beringia from Hakai magazine no doubt of interest to some here
A Sunken Bridge the Size of a Continent
A remote Arctic land may hold a vital missing chapter from human history. The only problem? It disappeared at the end of the last ice age.
by Krista Langlois and Heather Pringle.Published September 20, 2016
The planet was cold. Vast sheets of ice extended over the northern half of North America and parts of northeast Asia, forming treacherous frozen barrens. In between, death lurked in many forms. Massive predators—giant short-faced bears, Beringian cave lions, scimitar cats, gray wolves—prowled the steppes and green valleys, hunting for prey. And bands of Homo sapiens traversed the landscape too, searching for food and skirting the white barrens.
It was the height of the last ice age, a time known as the Last Glacial Maximum, which lasted from about 26,500 to 19,000 years ago. The world looked entirely different from today—not only was the flora and fauna rather strange, but its very geography was unrecognizable. So much water was locked up in ice that sea levels were around 120 meters lower than now, laying bare vast stretches of ocean floor along the coasts. Islands became peninsulas. Underwater plains became inland valleys and meadows.
Few places were more transformed than the Bering Strait. As the waters subsided between eastern Siberia and western Alaska, a swath of dry land emerged where wooly mammoths and other animals eventually roamed. For thousands of years, Asia and North America were one continuous expanse—until the world warmed again, and rivers and streams carried meltwater from the ice sheets back to the ocean.
New research suggests that Beringia’s steppe lands and tundra supported an impressive fauna, including mammoths and scimitar cats, both of which are now extinct
Click here for the rest of this fascinating article.
A Sunken Bridge the Size of a Continent
A remote Arctic land may hold a vital missing chapter from human history. The only problem? It disappeared at the end of the last ice age.
by Krista Langlois and Heather Pringle.Published September 20, 2016
The planet was cold. Vast sheets of ice extended over the northern half of North America and parts of northeast Asia, forming treacherous frozen barrens. In between, death lurked in many forms. Massive predators—giant short-faced bears, Beringian cave lions, scimitar cats, gray wolves—prowled the steppes and green valleys, hunting for prey. And bands of Homo sapiens traversed the landscape too, searching for food and skirting the white barrens.
It was the height of the last ice age, a time known as the Last Glacial Maximum, which lasted from about 26,500 to 19,000 years ago. The world looked entirely different from today—not only was the flora and fauna rather strange, but its very geography was unrecognizable. So much water was locked up in ice that sea levels were around 120 meters lower than now, laying bare vast stretches of ocean floor along the coasts. Islands became peninsulas. Underwater plains became inland valleys and meadows.
Few places were more transformed than the Bering Strait. As the waters subsided between eastern Siberia and western Alaska, a swath of dry land emerged where wooly mammoths and other animals eventually roamed. For thousands of years, Asia and North America were one continuous expanse—until the world warmed again, and rivers and streams carried meltwater from the ice sheets back to the ocean.
New research suggests that Beringia’s steppe lands and tundra supported an impressive fauna, including mammoths and scimitar cats, both of which are now extinct
Click here for the rest of this fascinating article.
