New Theories on First Americans; Michigan Maritime Heritage Driving Tours

Several news outlets, including the Scripps Howard News Service, have reported on new theories that shed light on how the first Americans might have arrived in North America. While many came via a land bridge between Alaska and Siberia during the last Ice Age, many may have come by boat or canoe, hugging the ice-free shores of northwestern North America. This could be important for understanding the origins of native peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, who were (and are) skilled and accomplished seafarers, creating large ocean-going canoes to hunt whales and other sea creatures until the early 20th century. In Seattle, Carving Cultural Connections practices many of these skills and passes them on to young people. Could these habits of the sea be traced to the earliest Americans?

The Michigan Department of History, Arts and Libraries has unveiled “The Lights of Northern Lake Huron,” a new maritime heritage driving tour available on the Travel Michigan Web site at www.michigan.org.