The First Highways · Episode 1 of 12 · 22 min
The Land Bridge Was Never a Waiting Room
The familiar picture has people wandering across a land bridge and waiting for the rest of the world to find them. Fossil footprints at White Sands, the settlement at Monte Verde, and a proposed coastal migration route show people living across the Americas far earlier than once believed. The episode treats the exact dates as an open debate.
Who's who
- Matthew Bennettled the 2021 team that dated the White Sands footprints
- Jeffrey Pigatico-led the USGS team that reconfirmed the White Sands age in 2023
- Tom Dillehayexcavated Monte Verde and argued for its age of about 14,500 years
- Jon Erlandsonarchaeologist and lead advocate of the kelp highway migration model
- Todd Surovellled a 2026 study challenging the Monte Verde dates
Where it happens
- White Sands National Park, New Mexicodry lakebed preserving fossil human footprints
- Monte Verde, Chilewaterlogged settlement site long seen as pre-Clovis
- Beringiaexposed plain linking Siberia and Alaska in the Ice Age
Timeline
- c. 23,000-21,000 years agopeople leave footprints at White Sands during the Last Glacial Maximum
- c. 16,000 years agoa coastal kelp-highway route becomes viable as ice retreats
- c. 14,500 years agosettled community occupies Monte Verde, Chile
- c. 13,000 years agoClovis horizon spreads across North America
- 1997panel of archaeologists endorses Monte Verde's pre-Clovis age
- 2026new study challenges the Monte Verde dates
Still debated
Exact arrival dates and routes are not settled. Some proposed older sites are disputed, and a 2026 study argues Monte Verde is far younger, which its excavators contest.