For generations, history books have presented a single, widely accepted origin story for the first peoples of North America: that their ancestors migrated from Asia across the frozen expanse of the Bering Strait thousands of years ago. This theory, long upheld by archaeologists, anthropologists, and educators, became the cornerstone of how most of the world understood the peopling of the Americas. It shaped textbooks, museum exhibits, and the narrative of human movement across continents. Children grew up learning about ancient peoples trekking across ice and snow, forging a path that would ultimately give rise to the diverse Indigenous communities that inhabit the continent today.
