<P> The specifics of Paleo - Indians ' migration to and throughout the Americas , including the exact dates and routes traveled , are subject to ongoing research and discussion . For years , the traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present - day Alaska around 40,000 -- 17,000 years ago , when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation . These people are believed to have followed herds of now - extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice - free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets . Another route proposed is that , either on foot or using primitive boats , they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America . Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age . </P>
<P> The specifics of Paleo - Indians ' migration to and throughout the Americas , including the exact dates and routes traveled , are subject to ongoing research and discussion . For years , the traditional theory has been that these early migrants moved into the Beringia land bridge between eastern Siberia and present - day Alaska around 40,000 -- 17,000 years ago , when sea levels were significantly lowered due to the Quaternary glaciation . These people are believed to have followed herds of now - extinct pleistocene megafauna along ice - free corridors that stretched between the Laurentide and Cordilleran ice sheets . Another route proposed is that , either on foot or using primitive boats , they migrated down the Pacific coast to South America . Evidence of the latter would since have been covered by a sea level rise of hundreds of meters following the last ice age . </P>
where did the first societies in north america come from
where did the first societies in north america come from
eastern Siberia
eastern Siberia