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The Kelp Highway Hypothesis: Marine Ecology, the Coastal Migration
Theory, and the Peopling of the Americas
Jon M. Erlandsona; Michael H. Grahamb; Bruce J. Bourquec; Debra Corbettd; James A. Estese; Robert S.
Steneckf
a
Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon, USA b Moss
Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, USA c Department of Anthropology, Bates
College, Lewiston, Maine, USA d US Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska, USA e US
Geological Survey, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, USA f
School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Darling Marine Center, Walpole, Maine, USA
To cite this Article Erlandson, Jon M. , Graham, Michael H. , Bourque, Bruce J. , Corbett, Debra , Estes, James A. and
Steneck, Robert S.(2007) 'The Kelp Highway Hypothesis: Marine Ecology, the Coastal Migration Theory, and the
Peopling of the Americas', The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2: 2, 161 — 174
To link to this Article: DOI: 10.1080/15564890701628612
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/15564890701628612
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or indirectly in connection with or arising out of the use of this material.Journal of Island & Coastal Archaeology, 2:161–174, 2007
Copyright © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1556-4894 print / 1556-1828 online
DOI:10.1080/15564890701628612
The Kelp Highway
Hypothesis: Marine
Ecology, the Coastal
Migration Theory, and the
Peopling of the Americas
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Jon M. Erlandson,1 Michael H. Graham,2 Bruce J. Bourque,3
Debra Corbett,4 James A. Estes,5 and Robert S. Steneck6
1
Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene,
Oregon, USA
2
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California, USA
3
Department of Anthropology, Bates College, Lewiston, Maine, USA
4
US Fish and Wildlife Service, Anchorage, Alaska, USA
5
US Geological Survey, Long Marine Laboratory, University of California,
Santa Cruz, California, USA
6
School of Marine Sciences, University of Maine, Darling Marine Center,
Walpole, Maine, USA
ABSTRACT
In this article, a collaborative effort between archaeologists and
marine ecologists, we discuss the role kelp forest ecosystems may
have played in facilitating the movement of maritime peoples
from Asia to the Americas near the end of the Pleistocene.
Growing in cool nearshore waters along rocky coastlines, kelp
forests offer some of the most productive habitats on earth, with
high primary productivity, magnified secondary productivity,
and three-dimensional habitat supporting a diverse array of
marine organisms. Today, extensive kelp forests are found
Received 8 January 2007; accepted 29 June 2007.
Address correspondence to Jon M. Erlandson, Department of Anthropology and Museum of Natural and
Cultural History, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1224, USA. E-mail: jerland@uoregon.edu
161Jon M. Erlandson et al.
around the North Pacific from Japan to Baja California. After
a break in the tropics—where nearshore mangrove forests
and coral reefs are highly productive—kelp forests are also
found along the Andean Coast of South America. These Pacific
Rim kelp forests support or shelter a wealth of shellfish, fish,
marine mammals, seabirds, and seaweeds, resources heavily
used historically by coastal peoples. By about 16,000 years
ago, the North Pacific Coast offered a linear migration route,
essentially unobstructed and entirely at sea level, from northeast
Asia into the Americas. Recent reconstructions suggest that
rising sea levels early in the postglacial created a highly
convoluted and island-rich coast along Beringia’s southern
shore, conditions highly favorable to maritime hunter-gatherers.
Along with the terrestrial resources available in adjacent
landscapes, kelp forests and other nearshore habitats sheltered
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similar suites of food resources that required minimal adap-
tive adjustments for migrating coastal peoples. With reduced
wave energy, holdfasts for boats, and productive fishing, these
linear kelp forest ecosystems may have provided a kind of
“kelp highway” for early maritime peoples colonizing the New
World.
Keywords archaeology, marine ecology, kelp forests, maritime migrations, Pacific Rim
I can only compare these great INTRODUCTION
aquatic forests . . . with the ter-
restrial ones in the intertropical Despite some important discussions
forests. Yet if in any country, about the feasibility of a coastal migra-
a forest was destroyed, I do tion route (e.g., Fladmark 1979; Mason
not believe nearly so many 1894), theories about the human col-
species of animals would per- onization of the Americas were dom-
ish as would here, from the inated by terrestrial models for most
destruction of the kelp. Amidst of the twentieth century. These terres-
the leaves of this plant, numer- trial models generally involved hunting
ous species of fish live, which peoples walking from northeast Asia
nowhere else could find food across Beringia near the end of the
or shelter; with their destruc- Pleistocene, passing through the fabled
tion the numerous cormorants “ice-free corridor” and into the heartland
and fishing birds, the otters, of North America. Only considerably
seals, and porpoise, would soon later, according to these models, did the
perish also; and lastly, the descendants of land-based Paleoindians
Fuegian[s] . . . would . . . de- settle in coastal habitats and gradually
crease in numbers and perhaps adapt to life by the sea. Some scholars
cease to exist. (Charles Darwin warned that the dearth of early coastal
[1909:256–257]; 1 June 1834, sites might be due to rising post-glacial
Tierra del Fuego, Chile) sea levels, but numerous ∼13,000 year
162 VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 2 • 2007The Kelp Highway
old (cal BP; all dates in this article are and 30,000 years ago (see Erlandson
expressed in calibrated calendar years 2002; Fedje et al. 2004; with references).
before present) sites in interior regions By the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM)
and a lack of coastal shell middens these colonizing voyages placed mar-
older than about 10,000 years left the itime peoples near the base of the Kurile
Pacific Coast relatively peripheral to Islands, which could have provided a
debate about how people got to the New series of staging points for a maritime mi-
World. gration to the Kamchatka Peninsula and
During the last decade or so, despite the south coast of Beringia (Erlandson
the effects of rising seas and marine ero- 1994:269).
sion on the archaeological record, the While the feasibility of a coastal
coastal migration theory has emerged migration route into the New World
as an increasingly viable alternative for has grown, recent geological and ar-
the peopling of the Americas (see Dixon chaeological evidence has clouded the
1999, 2001; Erlandson 1994, 2002; Fedje potential of an interior route to account
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et al. 2004; Gruhn 1994; Jones et al. for the earliest human colonization of
2002; Mandryk et al. 2001). The transfor- the Americas. Recent geological studies
mation of the coastal migration theory suggest that the ice-free corridor be-
from marginal to mainstream is the tween the Laurentide and Cordilleran
result of the gradual accumulation of ice sheets only became passable about
geological and archaeological evidence 13,000 years ago (Burns 1996; Dixon
from both coastal and interior regions 1999:30; Jackson and Duk-Rodkin 1996;
around the Pacific Rim. Fluted Clovis- Mandryk et al. 2001), for instance, and
like points have now been found from there is increasing interest in the hypoth-
coast to coast in North America, for esis that humans colonized the Americas
instance, and terminal Pleistocene sites before that time (Madsen 2004; Mandryk
have been identified in several areas et al. 2001; Meltzer 2004). Although the
along the Pacific Coast of North and site remains controversial (see Fiedel
South America (see Erlandson et al. 1999), widespread scholarly acceptance
1996; Keefer et al. 1998; Richardson of debate about a 14,500 year old occu-
1998; Sandweiss et al. 1998). These pation of the Monte Verde site near the
include shell middens or human skeletal coast of Chile (Dillehay 1997; Meltzer
remains found on islands in Alta and et al. 1997) has also contributed to a
Baja California, sites that demonstrate broader interest in the coastal migration
that coastal Paleoindians had seaworthy theory by American archaeologists.
boats and other maritime capabilities If a variety of evidence now sug-
between about 13,000 and 11,500 cal gests that a coastal migration around
BP (Des Lauriers 2006; Erlandson 2007; the North Pacific may have contributed
Johnson et al. 2002; Rick et al. 2005). significantly to the peopling of the
Evidence for even earlier maritime Americas, relatively little is known about
voyaging by anatomically modern hu- the paleogeography and paleoecology of
mans (Homo sapiens sapiens) has North Pacific coastlines or their feasibil-
emerged from islands of the western ity as a late Pleistocene migration route.
Pacific Rim, including the colonization Our primary goal in this article is to help
of Australia roughly 50,000 years ago fill that gap by discussing the nature
and additional ocean voyaging to the and productivity of nearshore habitats
islands of western Melanesia, the Ryukyu around those portions of the Pacific Rim
Archipelago, and Japan between 40,000 that may have served as a migration
JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 163Jon M. Erlandson et al.
route for early maritime peoples moving tive in lower latitudes, with numerous
from East Asia into the Americas. Our biological consequences. Anadromous
focus is on the ecology and history of fish are found primarily in high latitudes,
kelp forests, which are present today for instance, but catadromous species
around much of the Pacific Rim from dominate at low latitudes, reflecting the
Japan to Baja California. selective advantage of adult life in food-
rich environments (Gross et al. 1988).
Similar patterns are seen in evolutionary
ECOLOGICAL CONTEXTS FOR THE radiations among many aquatic mam-
COASTAL MIGRATION THEORY mals. Despite their nearly ubiquitous
distribution in freshwater habitats, for
In this section we examine some issues instance, otters radiated into the sea only
related to coastal productivity, kelp for- at higher latitudes, while small cetaceans
est ecology, and the paleoecology of radiated into freshwater habitats (river
North Pacific coastlines since the Last dolphins) only at lower latitudes. Other
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Glacial Maximum (LGM). These discus- biological manifestations of high-latitude
sions provide a broader ecological con- marine productivity are seen in rainbow
text for understanding the habitats and trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) that grow
resources early coastal peoples may have slowly in fresh water while anadromous
encountered during a gradual migration conspecifics (steelhead) grow rapidly in
from Northeast Asia into the Americas. the sea. Coastal grizzly bears (Ursus
arctos) also achieve a maximum adult
Latitudinal Variation in Coastal body mass two to three times greater
Productivity than those in inland regions. These pat-
terns suggest that the high productivity
Anthropological characterizations of of northern coastal ecosystems—where
marine or aquatic productivity have resources of both land and sea were
often been relatively negative (e.g., accessible—would have been powerful
Osborn 1977; Washburn and Lancaster magnets for early coastal or maritime
1968; Wilson 1981), but many coastal peoples migrating around the North
ecosystems offer a diverse array of Pacific.
both marine and terrestrial resources for
human foragers, especially those with Marine Ecology of the Coastal
efficient boats (Ames 2002; Bailey and Migration Route
Milner 2003; Erlandson 2001; Yesner
1980). Not all coastal ecosystems are During the Last Glacial Maximum,
equally productive or accessible for between about 25,000 and 20,000 years
maritime peoples, of course, and latitu- ago, global sea levels were more than
dinal variations in coastal productivity 100 meters lower than today, exposing
around the Pacific Rim are significant, large expanses of the now submerged
especially in considering the potential continental shelves around the Pacific
for human migrations around the North Rim, including the broad and low-
Pacific. If such migrations occurred, lying plains of Beringia that once con-
they took place primarily in higher nected Northeast Asia and Northwest
latitudes (35–70◦ N), where the coastal North America. Since the 1980s, sev-
oceans are relatively productive and eral authors (e.g., Colinvaux and West
large-bodied prey species tend to be 1984; Elias et al. 1997; Guthrie 1989;
concentrated. Freshwater ecosystems, Hopkins et al. 1982) have published ex-
in contrast, are generally more produc- tensively on the nature and productivity
164 VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 2 • 2007The Kelp Highway
of Beringia’s terrestrial environments, webs in coastal ecosystems (see Dayton
but descriptions of the potential pro- 1985; Duggins et al. 1989; Graham 2004;
ductivity of coastal resources and their Maron et al. 2006; Polis et al. 1997;
possible role in facilitating or inhibiting Steneck et al. 2002).
coastal migrations around the North
Pacific have been comparatively vague Modern Kelp Forest Ecology
(e.g., Hopkins et al. 1982; Mason 1894)
and little was known about the specific Around the Pacific Rim today, kelp
nature of nearshore ecosystems. forests dominate shallow rocky coasts in
Recent reconstructions of the post- cool and cold-water marine habitats. The
glacial flooding of Beringia, however, distribution of kelp forests is physiolog-
suggest that its south coast was geo- ically constrained by water temperature
morphically complex (Figure 1; Manley (generallyJon M. Erlandson et al.
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Figure 1. Manley’s reconstruction of the geography of the Bering Sea area and Beringia’s south
coast about 15,000 years ago (coastal conformation is approximate, not corrected for
tectonic adjustments, offshore sediments, etc.; glaciers not depicted; adapted from Manley
2002).
North Pacific kelp forests from Japan and and growing from carbohydrate stores
northeast Asia to coastal Alaska and the during ice-packed winters. As Dayton
Pacific Northwest (Druehl 1970). (1985:235) noted, some North Pacific
Most Pacific kelps thrive along rocky kelps also exhibit considerable morpho-
shorelines in conditions of ample light, logical and ecological diversity depend-
high nutrients, and moderate water ing on local conditions, ranging from
temperatures, but some varieties have perennial to annual and from floating
adapted to subarctic conditions with canopies to short prostrate turfs. Under
strong seasonal fluctuations in light the right conditions, however, kelps
levels, nutrient availability, and water tend to grow relatively rapidly, enriching
temperatures—even surviving beneath coastal ecosystems with organic produc-
winter sea ice and blooming during a tion derived from their spores and plant
limited growing season (Dunton and detritus (Graham et al. 2007).
Dayton 1995). In the Sea of Okhotsk, Around the North Pacific, kelp
for instance, kelp forests form an almost forests historically supported or shel-
continuous belt along the coastline, pho- tered a similar suite of animal and
tosynthesizing during ice-free summers plant resources heavily exploited by
166 VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 2 • 2007The Kelp Highway
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Figure 2. General distribution of kelp forest ecosystems (hatched areas in white) of the Pacific
Rim region today. Inset: shell midden on San Miguel Island, California, with high
concentration of abalone shells, sea urchin tests, and the remains of other kelp forest
organisms (figure drafted by M. Graham; inset photo by M. Moss).
coastal and maritime peoples with food resources, kelp forests also reduce
relatively high population densities. nearshore wave energy and provide
These include sea mammals (sea otters, holdfasts for boats.
pinnipeds, etc.), a variety of marine
shellfish (abalones, sea urchins, mus- Reconstructing Late Pleistocene Kelp
sels, chitons, etc.) and fish, sea birds, Distributions
and edible seaweeds. Many of these
resources—including numerous mem- For the broader Pacific Rim, the
bers of the same genus or species (e.g., geographic distribution and ecological
the sea otter, Enhydra lutris) found in productivity of kelp forests near the
nearshore habitats around much of the end of the LGM are not well under-
northern Pacific Rim—were harvested stood. Due to the clear parameters that
historically with relatively simple tech- govern their growth today, the distri-
nologies. Some species were available bution of kelp forests in the past can
in aggregations of highly vulnerable be roughly approximated (see Kinlan et
or behaviorally naive fauna (pinniped al. 2005), but direct evidence for their
rookeries, seabird colonies, and salmon geographic distribution or productivity
runs, etc.) that could be captured in is limited (Graham et al. 2003). Based
large numbers. For maritime peoples, on the diversity of North Pacific kelp
along with providing a diverse array of species, as well as the organisms strongly
JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 167Jon M. Erlandson et al.
associated with kelp communities, Estes much of the Pacific Coast at the time
and Steinberg (1988; see also Estes et of European contact. Moreover, the gen-
al. 1989) argued for a deep antiquity erally cooler sea-surface temperatures
of kelp forests in the area. During the that characterized the LGM in the North
Pleistocene, for instance, the massive Pacific may have shifted the boundaries
sea cow ranged from Japan around of kelp forest ecosystems into somewhat
the North Pacific to central California, lower latitudes than they are found in
where it almost certainly fed primarily today, possibly narrowing the tropical
on kelp (Clementz 2002). Kelp itself gap in kelp forests in the eastern Pacific.
does not preserve well in the fossil Today, the survival of productive
record (Estes et al. 2005:591; Graham et kelp forests in the Sea of Okhotsk
al. 2003) and virtually all late Pleistocene also suggests that kelp forests existed
shorelines where such fossils might be along much of the North Pacific Coast
found have been submerged by rising through the LGM (Steneck et al. 2002).
postglacial seas or lost to coastal erosion. Kelps also survive under the coastal sea
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The same can be said for most coastal ice of the arctic Beaufort Sea, where
archaeological sites (see below) dating they have probably persisted since the
to the late Pleistocene, where we might beginning of the Pleistocene (Vermeij
hope to find the remains of organ- 1991). Given the apparent abundance
isms such as large abalones (Haliotis of complex rocky shorelines, sea sur-
spp.) and sea urchins (Strongylocentro- face temperatures consistent with kelp
tus spp.) strongly associated with kelp growth, seasonal sea ice cover, and the
forests (see Graham 2004). In the future, dearth of sediment-producing glaciers
indirect evidence for the presence and along most of Beringia’s south coast,
productivity of kelp may come from there is no reason to think productive
isotopic or trace element studies of the kelp forests were not present. For much
organic fractions of fossil organisms or of the period between about 18,200 and
even seafloor sediments, but the base- 14,700 years ago, moreover, late-spring
line research to determine the feasibility to early-fall sea surface temperatures
of such methods has not yet been done. appear to have warmed to 8–11◦ C in the
For now, we are left with estimating far northwestern Pacific, when sea ice
the distribution of ancient kelp forests cover may have been limited to about
through the use of bathymetric maps, six months per year (Sarnthein et al.
sea level curves, and sea-surface temper- 2006:142–43) and kelp forests may have
ature data. been even more productive.
Kinlan et al. (2005) modeled the Clearly, the south coast of Beringia
changing distribution of kelp forests would have been highly dynamic dur-
along the California Coast during the ing the early post-glacial period. With
past 20,000 years, for instance, conclud- the possible exception of the Younger
ing that kelp forests were significantly Dryas cold spell (∼13,000–12,000 cal
more extensive and productive during BP), this was a time of rapid sea level
the terminal Pleistocene than they are rise and flooding of the Beringian plat-
today. If this holds true for the broader form. Coastal ecosystems are inherently
Pacific Rim, rocky coastlines along much dynamic, however, and rocky intertidal
of the North Pacific may have been and nearshore kelp forest communi-
even more attractive for early maritime ties are full of organisms capable of
peoples than they were for the dense Na- rapid recruitment and growth, suggest-
tive American populations that occupied ing that nearshore productivity would
168 VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 2 • 2007The Kelp Highway
have continued to support the larger investigated by archaeologists and ge-
and more mobile organisms at higher ologists. This research has provided
trophic levels. Fueled by high primary baseline data that has helped scien-
productivity driven by a combination of tists find increasingly early archaeolog-
summer plankton blooms and nearshore ical sites along the coastlines of the
kelp growth, estuaries with freshwater Pacific Northwest, southern California,
and terrigenous input, Beringia’s south and Baja California. From Alaska to Baja
coast probably attracted a wealth of California some of the earliest coastal
larger animals (marine and terrestrial) archaeological sites in North America
that could have helped early coastal peo- are situated in island or mainland locales
ples expand their range from Northeast adjacent to highly productive kelp forest
Asia into the Americas. Shortly after the habitats. These include terminal Pleis-
LGM, populations of cetaceans and other tocene sites (>11,500 cal BP) at Arling-
sea mammals of the North Pacific may ton Springs, Daisy Cave, and Cardwell
also have been relatively large, making Bluffs on California’s Northern Channel
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coastal scavenging a highly productive Islands, as well as on Cedros Is-
activity. land off Baja California. The Arling-
ton Springs site (CA-SRI-173), dated
to about 13,000 cal BP (Johnson
KELP FORESTS AND NORTH PACIFIC et al. 2002; Rick et al. 2005) contains
COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES only scattered human remains and no
faunal remains or diagnostic artifacts. At
From the indirect evidence of maritime Daisy Cave (CA-SMI-261) and Cardwell
activity in the Ryukyu Islands and Japan Bluffs (CA-SMI-678), however, compo-
dating to the late Pleistocene, a vast nents dated between about 12,000 and
geographic gap exists in coastal archae- 11,500 cal BP contain the remains of
ological records from Northeast Asia large red abalones (Haliotis rufescens),
and the now submerged south coast black turban snails (Tegula funebralis),
of Beringia. Only future archaeological and other marine shellfish strongly asso-
investigations in the Kurile Islands and ciated with kelp forest habitats. At Daisy
the Kamchatka Peninsula will determine Cave and other Channel Island sites
if evidence for Pleistocene maritime dated between about 10,200 and 9000
activity or coastal settlement is present cal BP, the remains of black abalones (H.
in these areas. Archaeological investiga- cracherodii), black turban, sea urchin
tions on the submerged southern shore (Strongylocentrotus spp.), pinnipeds,
of Beringia itself would be extremely sea otter, California sheephead (Semi-
challenging given the combination of cossyphus pulcher), and other fish com-
late glacial shorelines located far from monly found in nearshore kelp forests
current coastal ports, Holocene sedi- have all been recovered (see Erlandson,
mentation, the expense of ship time, and Braje, et al. 2005; Erlandson, Rick, et al.
the logistics of cold water, deep diving, 2005; Rick et al. 2001, 2005). At two
and high wave energy in the Bering sites on Cedros Island dated between
Sea. about 11,500 and 12,000 cal BP, Des
Reconstructing the late Pleistocene Lauriers (2006) has also documented
coastlines and human history of the evidence for the exploitation of a variety
Pacific Coast of North America is also of marine resources (black abalones,
fraught with difficulties, but much of sea otters, etc.) common in kelp forest
the area has been more intensively communities.
JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 169Jon M. Erlandson et al.
Early coastal sites are rare from San to which their productivity may have
Francisco Bay to Vancouver Island, prob- influenced the antiquity, demography,
ably because of a history of subsidence and migrations of maritime peoples near
earthquakes and tsunamis associated the end of the Pleistocene.
with the Cascadia Subduction Zone (see Current evidence suggests, how-
Atwater 1987; Darienzo and Peterson ever, that anatomically modern hu-
1990; Erlandson et al. 1998), but numer- mans had colonized or explored several
ous sites dated between about 10,700 archipelagos in the eastern Pacific by
and 9000 cal BP have been identified 50,000 to 30,000 years ago, islands that
along the coastlines of British Columbia could only be reached with seaworthy
and Southeast Alaska (see Fedje et boats. During the LGM, maritime peo-
al. 2004). Most of these components ples living in the islands of Japan would
lack well-preserved faunal remains, but have been adapting to relatively cool
the 10,600 year old Kilgi Gwaay site waters, potentially comparable to those
produced the remains of sea otters and in parts of the Gulf of Alaska today.
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other animals common in kelp forest Between about 18,200 and 14,700 years
habitats (Fedje et al. 2005). ago, three extended warming episodes
in the northwestern Pacific may have
reduced seasonal sea ice cover sig-
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS nificantly, increased human access to
intertidal and nearshore habitats, and
In reviewing the evidence for associa- facilitated the migration of maritime
tions between early maritime peoples peoples from northeast Asia to Beringia
and kelp forest communities, we are not (Sarnthein et al. 2006). By about 16,000
suggesting that all early Pacific Coast to 15,000 years ago, a migration route
sites will be found adjacent to kelp following the outer coast of northwest-
forests or contain evidence for their ern North America appears to have
exploitation. Indeed, in many cases, been open and productive, providing
estuaries, large salmon streams, pin- an opportunity for maritime peoples
niped rookeries, and seabird colonies to migrate down the Pacific Coast into
may have been equally attractive to more temperate climates.
early maritime peoples. In other cases, Along with the relatively high pro-
following productive rivers inland from ductivity of kelp forests and other
the coast—or hunting mammoths or coastal habitats, such a coastal migra-
elk in peri-coastal upland areas—may tion route had a number of advantages
have been as tempting as following the over interior routes. Climatically, coast-
coast. lines are generally more equable than
Clearly, there is much to be learned adjacent interior regions, which can
about the antiquity of human settlement be brutally cold or hot. Fresh water
and subsistence in various coastal areas sources tend to be concentrated and
from Japan to the Kurile Islands and easily accessible in coastal zones (Faure
Kamchatka, and from the south coast of et al. 2002) and coastlines also provide
Beringia to the southern tip of Tierra del access to a diverse array of plant and
Fuego. There is also much to be learned animal foods from both marine and ter-
about the distribution and productiv- restrial ecosystems—resources that tend
ity of kelp forests, estuaries, mangrove to be tightly packed in the relatively
forests, and coral reefs around the Pacific mountainous and steep coastlines that
Rim in the past, as well as the degree characterize most of the Pacific Rim.
170 VOLUME 2 • ISSUE 2 • 2007The Kelp Highway
By definition, a coastal route could also predictable aggregations of marine or-
have been traversed by maritime peo- ganisms harvested and eaten by coastal
ples entirely at or near sea level, with peoples for millennia, Pacific Rim kelp
no major geographic barriers after about forests may have provided a linear
15,000 years ago. The linear distribution and relatively homogenous ecological
of similar coastal habitats and resources setting through which early maritime
could have provided expanding human peoples could have migrated to the New
populations with an ecologically similar World.
and easily followed migration corridor Along the Pacific Coast of North
from northeast Asia to northwest North America, some of the earliest archae-
America and beyond. ological sites are found in island or
In contrast, terrestrial peoples mi- mainland coast settings adjacent to pro-
grating through the interior from ductive kelp forests. Where faunal re-
Beringia to southern South America at mains are preserved, many of these sites
the end of the Pleistocene would have contain evidence for the harvest of shell-
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encountered numerous physical barriers fish, fish, and sea mammals common
(massive glaciers, large rivers, mountain in kelp forests. Between about 18,000
ranges and alpine passes, deserts, etc.) and 13,000 years ago, as glaciers and
and a wide variety of terrestrial ecosys- sea ice retreated from North Pacific
tems: from Arctic tundra, to relatively coastlines, a linear band of productive
sterile periglacial landscapes, boreal and kelp forests may have extended discon-
rain forests, grasslands, deserts, and tinuously from Japan to Baja Califor-
more. As Madsen (2004:20–21) noted, nia, providing a “kelp highway” that
foragers traversing these environmen- could have facilitated the migration of
tal “megapatches” would have encoun- maritime peoples into the New World
tered a wide variety of habitats, plants, (Steneck et al. 2002:453).
and animals, some with very different Showing that a coastal migration
properties or behaviors that required around the North Pacific was possible
new technologies and knowledge to or even highly plausible is obviously
successfully exploit. not the same as demonstrating that
A variety of archaeological, anthro- such a migration took place. Given the
pological, genetic, and geological evi- rising seas, coastal erosion, and dramatic
dence provides growing support that coastal landscape changes that have oc-
one or more coastal migrations con- curred since the end of the LGM, proving
tributed to the peopling of the Ameri- that such a coastal migration took place
cas (Erlandson 2002; Fedje et al. 2004; will be extremely challenging. More ar-
Gruhn 1994; Kemp et al. 2007). Eco- chaeological research is urgently needed
logical data suggest that North Pacific on land and beneath the sea to help
coastlines would have provided early search for late Pleistocene sites along the
maritime peoples numerous opportuni- coastlines of Japan, the Kurile Islands,
ties to hunt, fish, and gather in juxta- Kamchatka, Beringia, and the Pacific
posed marine and terrestrial habitats. Coasts of North and South America.
Some of the most productive of these Additional research on the paleoecology
coastal ecosystems were kelp forests of North Pacific coastal ecosystems is
that are nearly ubiquitous along cool or also needed to provide a better under-
cold-water rocky coastlines of the Pacific standing of the problems and potentials
Rim. Characterized by relatively high posed by a coastal migration route from
primary productivity and supporting Asia to the Americas.
JOURNAL OF ISLAND & COASTAL ARCHAEOLOGY 171Jon M. Erlandson et al.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iological Transitions during the Evolution of
the Orders Sirenia and Desmostylia. Ph.D.
Inspiration for the “Kelp Highway Hy- Dissertation. University of California, Santa
Cruz.
pothesis” emerged during kelp forest Colinvaux, P. A. and F. H. West. 1984. The
working group meetings associated Beringian ecosystem. Quarterly Review of
with the Long-Term Ecological Records Archaeology 5:10–16.
of Marine Environments, Populations, Darienzo, M. E. and C. D. Peterson. 1990. Episodic
and Communities Working Group, tectonic subsidence of late Holocene salt
marshes, northern Oregon, central Cascadia
supported by the National Center for margin. Tectonics 9:1–22.
Ecological Analysis and Synthesis and Darwin, C. 1909. The Voyage of the Beagle. New
chaired by Jeremy Jackson. Our work York: P. F. Collier and Son.
was supported by the National Science Dayton, P. K. 1985. Ecology of kelp communities.
Foundation (Grant# DEB-0072909), Annual Review of Ecology Systems 16:215–
245.
the University of California, and our Des Lauriers, M. R. 2006. Terminal Pleistocene
home institutions. We are indebted to
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and Early Holocene occupations of Isla de
Mark Clementz, Michael Collins, Paul Cedros, Baja California, Mexico. Journal of
Dayton, Jeremy Jackson, Brian Kinlan, Island and Coastal Archaeology 1(2):255–
Kent Lightfoot, Patricia Netherly, and 270.
Dillehay, T. D. 1997. Monte Verde: A Late
an anonymous reviewer for their help- Pleistocene Settlement in Chile. Volume 2: The
ful comments. Finally, we thank Scott Archaeological Context and Interpretation.
Fitzpatrick, Christine Armstrong, and Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
the editorial staff of JICA for help in the Dixon, E. J. 1999. Bones, Boats, and Bison.
revision and production of this article. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico.
Dixon, E. J. 2001. Human colonization of the
Americas: Timing, technology, and process.
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