Ice Age and Beringia


Let's skip ahead in time from Pangea about 225 million years

 

Beringia

     After we learn about Pangea we will skip in time a few million years to an era when much of the earth was covered in ice.  Around 20,000 years ago the continents of the world were in almost the exact same places as they are today. Although the continents were in a familiar place, the world looked a lot different than it does today!  A giant blanket of snow and ice had covered much of North America and there were giant animals roaming the face of the planet.  This was the time of the Ice Age.

     During the Ice Age a lot of the earth's water was trapped in giant blankets of ice.  In some places, glaciers were more than a mile high and could extend for thousands of miles.  (These were some big ice cubes)!  There was so much ice on earth that even the oceans began to go lower.  The oceans became so low that some of the islands and continents we are used to seeing were actually connected by land!

     When we learn about the Ice Age, we will learn that people crossed a land bridge that once connected Asia and North America (a land bridge we now call Beringia).  We will also learn that people traveled throughout North America and began to start tribes in different climates.  Check out the websites below the map for some more good info:

 

Beringia 

Animals of the Ice Age

 

Assessment for Beringia Unit

 

Social Studies