holmes] ABORIGIlSrAL AMERICAN ANTTQUITTES — PART I 35 



tian group from Kamchatka without stronger motives for so doing 

 than can no\Y be imagined, and there is no evidence that at any 

 earlier time the people of this coast were more enterprising or skillful 

 in boat making and navigation, or that stronger motives for at- 

 tempting the voyage existed than during the historic period. Trade 

 by such peoples over such a route is not to be thought of. Xeither 

 is there evidence of the bridging of Bering Sea in this latitude by 

 glacial or other ice, nuvking migration feasible. It thus seems safe 

 to conclude that the so-called Aleutian-Commander Island route can 

 not be reckoned on as an intercontinental route of travel for primi- 

 tive peoples. 



Among the possible gatewa3's to America, interest centers chiefly 

 around that of Bering Strait. The distance from 

 Route" ^ ' ^^^ land to land is only 40 miles, and during espe- 

 cially frigid seasons ice forms a bridge so com- 

 plete that crossing becomes a question only of the presence of 

 migrating peoples and warm clothing and food supply for the 

 journe3\ Here, then, supposing no important modification of 

 geographical conditions, there has ever been an open thorough- 

 fare from Asia to America for peoples of a culture sufficiently 

 matured to enable them to withstand the rigors of Arctic climates. 

 The question of complete land connection between the continents in 

 Tertiary and Quat-ernary times, and especially during the warmer 

 interglacial periods, has been much discussed, but the solution, 

 whether for or against the connection, can not materially affect the 

 case, since up to the present time no evidence has been found that 

 man existed in this part of the world before or during the glacial 

 period. 



