Assessment Questions 7.10

The SK Mammoth site in central Siberian Arctic holds the oldest archaeological evidence of human presence in easternmost and northernmost Siberia. Approximately 45,000 years ago, hunters at this site killed an adult woolly mammoth, indicating early human activities in the region.

The stone-tool industry at Ushki Lake on the Kamchatka Peninsula in far eastern Siberia, dated to about 11,300 B.P., shows similarities to the Clovis culture in the New World. The presence of small, finely made, stemmed, bifacially flaked spearpoints suggests a potential ancestral connection between the stone-tool technologies in Siberia and those seen in the initial human settlements in the New World.

Beringia, the land connection between northeast Asia and northwest North America, was crucial during the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) between 26,500 and 19,000 years ago. It served as an ecological refuge with a rich shrub tundra habitat, offering resources like horse, elk, mammoth, and caribou. People from Siberia likely began moving into the New World around 28,000 years ago, utilizing Beringia, which remained exposed until shortly after 11,000 years ago.