Gateway to the Americas: Underwater Archeological Survey in Beringia and the North Pacific

Abstract

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014. Understanding the archaeology of the Bering Land Bridge and adjacent regions is essential to reconstruct past cultural relationships and exchanges between Asia and North America. It is in this region the two continents come closest together, and where they were connected in the past by a land bridge. During the last Ice Age when sea level was lower, plants, animals, and people inhabited the continental shelves that are now below sea level. Beneath the cold ocean water is a “lost world” that may contain the tangible evidence of ancient human habitation. However, underwater archaeology in this vast area is preliminary with only three scientific studies conducted in 35 years. Since the first underwater survey was conducted in the Bering Sea in 1976 (Dixon, A predictive model for the distribution of archaeological sites on the Bering Continental Shelf, 1979), there have been significant improvements in technology, geologic data essential for modeling, and navigational aids for underwater archaeological survey.