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Prehistoric Alaska begins with Paleolithic people moving into northwestern North America sometime between 40,000 and 15,000 years ago across the Bering Land Bridge in western Alaska; a date less than 20,000 years ago is most likely.[1] They found their passage blocked by a huge sheet of ice until a temporary recession in the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age) opened up an ice-free corridor through northwestern Canada, possibly allowing bands to fan out throughout the rest of the continent. Eventually, Alaska became populated by the Inuit and a variety of Native American groups. Trade with both Asia and southern tribes was active even before the advent of Europeans.[2][3][4]
Today, early Alaskans are divided into several main groups: the Southeastern Coastal Native Americans (the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian), the Athabascans, the Aleut, the two groups of Eskimos, and Inupiat and Yup'ik.[1]
- ^ "National Geographic, "The Genographic Project: Bridge to the New World". Accessed 2014-05-10". Archived from the original on 2015-04-25. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
- ^ Cooper, H. Kory; Mason, Owen K.; Mair, Victor; Hoffecker, John F.; Speakman, Robert J. (2016). "Evidence of Eurasian Metal Alloys on the Alaskan Coast in Prehistory". Journal of Archaeological Science. 74: 176–183. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2016.04.021.
- ^ "Recovered Artifacts Indicate Prehistoric Trade Across Bering Strait". ARCUS (Arctic Research Consortium of the United States). 2013. Archived from the original on 13 April 2013.
- ^ Schaaf, Jeanne (1996). "Before Our Fathers Time". In Schaaf, Jeanne; Smith, Thetus H. (eds.). Ublasaun - First Light: Inupiaq Hunters and Herders in the Early Twentieth Century, Northern Seward Peninsula, Alaska. Anchorage, Alaska: Government Printing Office for Alaska System Support Office, U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. pp. 43–62, page 47. ISBN 978-0-941555-02-9.