The First Americans Trivia Quiz

Answer: Beringia

Beringia refers to a natural land formation that is theorized to have emerged towards the end of the last Ice Age. The land bridge connected the continents of Asia and North America allowing humans and animal species to travel between the two continents.

It is believed to have been caused by the simultaneous receding of glaciers combined with low sea levels at the time. Over time, as the glaciers melted and sea levels continued to rise Beringia became submerged and the area was changed into what we know today as the Bering Strait.

The area was named after Danish explorer Vitus Bering who explored the region in the early 1700s.

Answer: Yukon Territory

The Bluefish Caves as well as the Old Crow Flats are two archeological sites located in northern Yukon Territory, Canada. Artifacts unearthed at these locations seem to suggest that human migration across Beringia may have occurred earlier that what scientists had previously anticipated.

While human remains have yet to be discovered at these locations, archaeologists have found the remains of animals such as mastodons and horses which show evidence that they were hunted by human civilizations that may have existed in the area more than 20,000 years ago.

Answer: greater than 12,000 years old

The Paisley Caves are located in southern Oregon. The area has been under archeological investigation since the late 1930s. A team of researchers from colleges and universities in Oregon began studying the area more closely in 2002. Archaeologists soon began to unearth evidence that humans from Pleistocene era may have existed in the region.

Some of the artifacts that were analyzed via radiocarbon dating methods were estimated to be greater than 12,000 years old, which makes them some of the oldest specimens in the United States.

Answer: Buhl Woman

The Buhl Woman was discovered by a team of quarry workers in January, 1989. She was named Buhla or the Buhl Woman after the town of Buhl, Idaho, which was the closest town to the location where she had been found. The town of Buhl is located in southern Idaho, about 15-20 miles west of the city of Twin Falls. Radiocarbon dating has estimated that the remains of the Buhl Woman are more than 10,000 years old. Scientists also believe that the woman died at an early age, between 17 and 21 years old.

Answer: Kennewick Man

In 1996, two men named Will Thomas and David Deacy accidentally discovered the skeleton of a prehistoric man along the banks of the Columbia River in the city of Kennewick, Washington. The specimen was aptly named the Kennewick Man. Radiocarbon dating performed on the Kennewick Man have estimated him to be approximately 9,000 years old.

There are some researchers that believe that both the Buhl Woman and Kennewick Man show evidence that they are genetically connected to prehistoric humans who migrated from Asia via Beringia.

However, there are others who are still skeptical about this theory.

Answer: bison

In 2002, researchers in northwestern Oklahoma at what is known as the Cooper Site, unearthed a skull belonging to an extinct species of bison that was given the scientific name of Bison antiquus. What was interesting about this skull was that it had been painted with a red zigzag on it, indicating that it may have been hunted by a prehistoric human civilization that lived in the area.

The skull was estimated to be over 10,000 years old.

Answer: Clovis

In 1929, several artifacts from the Pleistocene era were discovered near the town of Clovis, New Mexico. Some of the most notable artifacts to come from Clovis were the remains of prehistoric animals that showed signs of being hunted by early humans in the area.

In addition, several stone arrowheads were discovered at the site, which were named Clovis points. Archeological sites have been unearthed across both North and South America have revealed many commonalities with the artifacts found at Clovis, especially the arrowheads.

Answer: El Abra

El Abra is an archeological site located in the mountains of central Colombia. Archaeologists have studied the site since 1967 and have discovered artifacts that are dated at more than 12,000 years old that show evidence that an early human civilization once lived in the area.

In addition, numerous petroglyphs (cave paintings) were discovered at this site as well as at Chiribiquete National Park, located in southern Colombia.

Answer: Chile

Monte Verde is located near the city of Puerto Montt in southern Chile. Artifacts in the area were first discovered in 1975. Many of the artifacts collected from Monte Verde have been estimated to be over 14,000 years old, an age that has made some scientists skeptical about the Beringia land bridge theory, most notably the time frame in which the migrations are believed to have occurred.

In addition, there have been several artifacts collected that have been dated to be more than 30,000 years old, which would mean that humans could have inhabited the Americas much earlier than what was previously theorized.

Answer: Luzia

The skeletal remains of a human woman were discovered in a cave near the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil in 1975. These remains were estimated to be over 11,000 years old making it one of the earliest human skeletons to be discovered in the Americas. She was given the name Luzia Woman as she was found shortly after the discovery of Lucy in Ethiopia in 1974. Lucy was the name given to the skeleton of an early humanoid species that is estimated to have existed more than three million years ago.