If man crossed over to America during the last ice age, that would be say 10,000 years ago? How much further apart was America from Russia at that time. If man came across much earlier then that, say the ice age before that, how much farther apart would America have been from Russia. Are we talking a few hundred feet, a mile, 5 miles?

The accepted rate of movement between continents is between 1 and 15 cm per year. This would mean that at 1 cm per year the two have moved about 328 feet. At 15 cm per year they would have moved about 4,921 feet, or 9 tenths of a mile. But, this does not mean that the two, did in fact, move at all.

[This message was edited by Minnesota on 08-05-02 at 11:48 AM.]

It was not necessarily between ice ages that humans crossed to America. There's more and more evidence that there were several 'waves' of migration. During an ice age, humans in simple canoes might have followed the 'shore' of ice or land, living from sea mammals, birds and fish, and then, when they passed the southernmost point of the ice cover, moved inland and adapted to the plant and game animals found.

The idea of migration being possible only between ice ages has been around for a long time. It made sense at the time, and could be correct. But the picture doesn't seem to be that simple.

Of course, humans from Europe could have followed a similar route to America, crossing the Atlantic at the verges of the ice cap. That would help explain why not all North American aborigines look equally Asian. But genetic drift can account for that as well.

It really wouldn't have made any difference at all how far apart the land masses were, because in the winter, just like today, people could/can cross over by going over the ice....An ice age was not needed for imigration to occure....