American History Hit What Was the American Ice Age?
Dec 1, 2025
Dr. David J. Meltzer, an archaeologist and expert on Ice Age America, shares insights on how the first people arrived in North America. He explains the significance of the Pleistocene Ice Age, the role of the Beringia land bridge, and the environmental shifts that allowed migration. Meltzer discusses genetic evidence of ancestral diverging, the importance of climate cycles, and argues that climate more than human activity drove the extinction of megafauna. He also highlights how these early migrations influenced long-term cultural developments.
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Ice Sheets Reshaped Continents
- Massive ice sheets covered much of North America during the Pleistocene and lowered global sea levels by ~134 meters.
- That exposed vast coastal plains and a land bridge enabling human migration from Siberia into Alaska.
Beringia Was A Grassland Bridge
- The exposed land between Siberia and Alaska (Beringia) formed a broad habitable grassland, not an icy corridor.
- People could walk across this Bering land bridge but then faced ice blocking the route south into the rest of North America.
Coastal Route Opened First
- The coastal route down the Pacific opened earlier than the interior ice-free corridor.
- Archaeology now indicates the first people likely used the coastal pathway into the lower 48.
