Synopses & Reviews
The intriguing theory of a land bridge periodically linking Siberia and Alaska during the coldest pulsations of the Ice Ages had been much debated since Jose de Acosta, a Spanish missionary working in Mexico and Peru, first proposed the idea of a connection between the continents in 1589. But proof of the land bridge--now named Beringia after eighteenth-century Danish explorer Vitus Bering--eluded scientists until an inquiring geologist named Dave Hopkins emerged from rural New England and set himself to the task of solving the mystery. Through the life story of Hopkins, The Last Giant of Beringia reveals the fascinating science detective story that at last confirmed the existence of the land bridge that served as the intercontinental migration route for such massive Ice Age beasts as woolly mammoths, steppe bison, giant stag-moose, dire wolves, short-faced bears, and saber-toothed cats--and for the first humans to enter the New World from Asia. In proving irrefutably that the land bridge existed, Hopkins also demonstrated conclusively that, far from the "polar desert" that many argued it must have been, Beringia provided ample forage for even the teeming herds of Ice Age behemoths that traversed it. On a Clear Summer Day, He Boarded a little boat that chugged out into Icy Strait, where humpback whales leaped from the water, rolled in mid air and smashed down with tremendous splashes. In Glacier Bay, Hopkins thrilled to see sparkling white icebergs dotting the emerald green fjords, and massive glaciers coursing down from snowy peaks 10,000 feet high to terminate at salt water. That night he crawled into his tent under a clear, still-bright sky and slept to the rumble of distant thunder.The next morning, with the sky still cloudless, he realized the rumbling hadn't come from the collision of clouds of vaporized water, but from the collision of masses of solid and liquid water. Skyscraper-sized pinnacles of ice were calving off the floating face of Muir Glacier and crashing into the bay below.
Synopsis
The captivating story of how geologist Dave Hopkins led the scientific world in proving the existence of the vanished land bridge that once connected Siberia to the New World during the Ice Ages
Synopsis
The intriguing theory of a land bridge periodically linking Siberia and Alaska during the coldest pulsations of the Ice Ages had been much debated since José de Acosta, a Spanish missionary working in Mexico and Peru, first proposed the idea of a connection between the continents in 1589. But proof of the land bridge - now named Beringia after eighteenth-century Danish explorer Vitus Bering - eluded scientists until an inquiring geologist named Dave Hopkins emerged from rural New England and set himself to the task of solving the mystery. Through the life story of Hopkins, The Last Giant of Beringia reveals the fascinating science detective story that at last confirmed the existence of the land bridge that served as the intercontinental migration route for such massive Ice Age beasts as woolly mammoths, steppe bison, giant stag-moose, dire wolves, short-faced bears, and saber-toothed cats - and for the first humans to enter the New World from Asia. After proving unambiguously that the land bridge existed, Hopkins went on to show that the Beringian landscape cannot have been the "polar desert" that many had claimed, but provided forage enough to sustain a diverse menagerie of Ice Age behemoths.
About the Author
Dan ONeill is the author of A Land Gone Lonesomeand The Last Giant of Beringia. He was named Alaska Historian of the Year by the Alaska Historical Society for The Firecracker Boys. He lives in Fairbanks, Alaska.