What did the Bering Strait people eat?

Question

I learned in school that the people who crossed the Bering Strait did so because they were following the Mammoth.
However, since people do not EAT elephants, I assume they are not delicious.
With so many other animals around, wouldn't it be more feasible that they had some other reason for wanting to cross the Bering Strait?
Is there anything else that they could have been following?
Also, why did they ALL cross over?
I mean, Asians are similar to Native Americans, but they are not the same.
Didn't anyone disagree with the "little scheme of marching up and down..." and just stay behind. Did they have such a regimented society that everyone just followed the "leader"?
I BELIEVE that people crossed over--I am not saying that they came from space, or anything like that.
My question is more about being more creative with the COMPELLING REASON and the nature of the relationships in the group(s) that migrated in that direction.

Answer 1

Excellent question, and I like your Python reference! No doubt, many people DID disagree with the idea of "marching" across the Bering Strait, or the Americas would have been settled much more quickly. Though it's almost certain that many proto-Americans did hunt and kill mammoths, it would be absurd to think this was their only food source! However, mammoths DID provide many needed resources in a barren wasteland, such as hides (used in dwellings, clothings and other things), tusks (many dwellings both in the Northern regions of modern day U.S. and Canada, as well as what is now Russia and other Asian countries) made great "tent poles"! The mammoth bones and ivory were also used for spears, knives and even auls and needles.

So, though your point about elephants is a good one, obviously people in Ice Age peri-glacial areas could make better use of mammoth carcasses than modern Africans can of elephants'.

There are also new, different theories about where the earliest Americans came from, including migration by sea, both from the west AND the east (that is, Europe!). There is abundant evidence that Stone age people from what is now Scandinavia took boats over ice and water, to reach Greenland and eventually sites along the Eastern seaboard.

All these people would have had a diet heavily leaning toward fish and mollusks. I'm sure that early humans killed and ate whatever animals were available, not just mammoths, much the same as modern-day hunter-gatherers.

As for social structure, we have no way of determining it to any degree of certainty, since they left no written record. We can GUESS, based (again) on what happens in modern "primitive" societies. In the !Kung ("Bushmen") of the Kalahari, there are no real leaders, but only people who are recognized for their skill and looked up to when decisions are made in those areas. That doesn't mean that we can say that ancient humans acted the same way. Everything was different back then, so there are hundreds of variables that affected them, about which we can never really be sure.

Check out some of the links below to see what animals earliest Americans DID eat and one link (the utexas.edu site) discussing the theory that Europeans migrated from the EAST!

Other sources, various books, courses and programs on PBS, Discovery and History Channel. Major in Anthropology.

Answer 2

There is good evidence that ancient people did indeed hunt the mammoth populations, so it's not impossible that they did follow mammoth herds across the Bering Strait. Moreover, the idea that this was an orderly march from one location to another is not supported. It's more likely nomadic people made their way gradually. They could have been following the coastline, for a variety of reasons. Other human populations may have motivated them to find an area with less competition for resources. There were most likely other animals and plants that they ate, but mammoth kill sites have certainly been uncovered, delicious or not. Mammoths aren't exactly elephants, strictly speaking.

I think that saying "people were following the mammoth" is a representative way of saying that they were following mobile resources. It's kind of a lazy way to say it, and it's not a complete answer. The lesson here is probably "it's not a bad idea double check facts you learn in school if they don't sit well."

Answer 3

They might have been following anything, not just a mammoth. As resources in one area were depleted, they simply moved to the next spot down the path a bit. Good fishing and shellfish, sea mammals, saiga, etc. would have motivated them to keep up a nomadic lifestyle. You have to remember, they were not aware that they were entering anything new or tromping across the Bering Straight, they were just following their noses (and their food).
here is a link that might help- dd
http://www.carc.org/pubs/v15no5/5.htm

Answer 4

Ry is right. They did hunt elephant and other megafauna. I think they may have travelled along the coast which is rich in shell fish and other marine life. Certainly fish and seals are likely as well as the typical terrestrial life like deer and rabbits. They actually did cross over. Asians crossed over in successive waves. There are asians called old orientals which are similar to native americans like sioux and there are new orientals which are similar to tribes like eskimoes and Navaho.

Answer 5

fish

Answer 6

FISH!