Aleutian Arc

 

Flying back from Japan, I spent some time appreciating the above image.  understand that until 12,900 BP. the sea level was at least three hundred feet lower and all the light blue ocean shelf was mostly above water.

At the same time and even back to 20,000 BP kayak based seamen existed within this island arc.  Thus sea borne mobility was a given.

yet we look at the island arc and we find it mostly above sea level the entire length nicely stopping ice from breaking out into the open ocean south.  The whole of the interior sea should have been an ice sheet, at least during the winter.

what does become abundently clear though is that you could walk the entire arc all the way to Vancouver Island with occasional application of even canoes, let alone kayaks.  At worst, a short strip may well have seen ice flowing into the sea, but with the direction of travel already southward, that would have stopped no one.

Understand    that back in the day that no one ever went too far, but certainly far enough to create a new village.and that sufficed to allow another band to leap frog ahead on their heels.  Better yet, excellent food resource information would also pass back, suggesting that it was quick once started.

The bottom line is that we had sea kayak men 20,000 BP and there was nothing stopping them from following the coast all the way to Tierra Del fuego and rather quickly as well as  further hunting bands would have simply passed through or wintered at best.  Easy enough with ample mussels to eat..

Even only one band per year works out to several centuries to have a presence on the entire coast.  It means we will find folks at the 20, 000 BP level potentially all over.  We need to at least look.