The ground is too lazy to die
The extinction of Australia's megafauna may be the first clear sign that Homo sapiens remained on Earth. Then there was an even greater ecological catastrophe in the Americas. Of all the human species, only Homo sapiens set foot on the lands of the Western Hemisphere, about 16,000 years ago, that is, about 14,000 BC. Homo sapiens first reached the Americas on foot, because sea levels were low at the time, and there was a land connection from northeastern Siberia to northwestern Alaska. But the road is not as simple as it sounds, and it is difficult and not easier than crossing the sea to Australia. Along the way, you first have to learn how to fend off the sweltering cold of northern Siberia, where winter is eternal night and temperatures can drop to –50°C.
Never before had a human species been able to pass through such a place as northern Siberia. Even Neanderthals, who were able to resist the cold, stayed in the warmer areas of the south. But for Homo sapiens, although their bodies were accustomed to the savannahs of Africa rather than the polar regions of the ice and snow world, they were able to come up with ingenious solutions. Homo sapiens's collecting tribes migrated around, learning to make snowshoes when they came to colder areas, and also learning to use needles to sew animal skins and animal hairs tightly layer by layer to become warm clothing. They invented new weapons and clever hunting techniques that allowed them to track and hunt mammoths and other large animals in the far north. Thanks to warm clothing and improved hunting techniques, Homo sapiens became more and more adventurous and went deep into frozen areas. As they moved north, clothing, hunting strategies, and other survival skills continued to improve.
But why on earth did they bother to voluntarily exile themselves to Siberia? For some tribes, it may be because of war, demographic pressures or natural disasters that force them to move north. But going north is not without benefits, and being able to obtain animal protein is one of them. The arctic land is full of large and fat animals such as reindeer and gibbers. Each mammoth can provide plenty of fresh meat (and because of the low local temperature, it can even be frozen for later consumption), delicious fat, warm fur, and precious ivory. The results of Songhill's investigation found that the mammoth hunters were not surviving in the polar regions, but were too proud and comfortable.
Over time, these tribes have branched out and expanded, chasing mammoths, mastodons, rhinos and reindeer. Around 14,000 B.C., some tribes came to Alaska from northeastern Siberia. Of course, they don't know they've discovered a new world. For both mammoths and humans, Alaska is just a natural extension of Siberia.
At first, Alaska and the rest of the Americas were separated by glaciers, and it is possible that at most only one or two independent explorers have ever traveled further south. But by about 12,000 B.C., global warming melted ice and a passage was easier to pass. Through this new passage, humanity moved southward towards the entire continent. Although they were initially accustomed to hunting large prey in the polar regions, they quickly adapted to a multitude of different climates and ecosystems.
These descendants from Siberia settled in the present-day eastern United States, the swamps of the Mississippi Delta, the Mexican desert, and the tropical jungles of Central America. Some have taken root in the Amazon Valley, while others have settled in the Andean Valley or the open Pembas steppes of Argentina. Moreover, all this is only a matter of one or two thousand years! By 10,000 B.C., humans had arrived at Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the American continent, and their ability to roam the Americas like a blitzkrieg proves that Homo sapiens have unparalleled intelligence and adaptability. No other animal had been able to move so rapidly to such a different environment without genetic change
。 Homo sapiens who came to america were by no means good men and women, and they caused a scene of blood flowing in rivers, and the victims were numerous. 14,000 years ago, animal species in the Americas were far richer than they are today. When Homo sapiens first traveled south from Alaska to the plains of Canada and the western United States, in addition to encountering mammoths and mastodons, there would be rodents the size of bears, flocks of horses and camels, giant lions, and dozens of other similar megafauna, but now all of them are extinct; Among them, there are terrible saber-toothed tigers, as well as giant ground sloths weighing 8 tons and reaching a height of 6 meters. As for South America, it is even more dazzling, with a variety of large mammals, reptiles and birds, which make people feel as if they are in a strange zoo. The americas as a whole once resembled a vast laboratory of evolution, where all kinds of flora and fauna that had never been seen in Asia and Africa thrived.
