Shortcut Navigation:

Steppes into Asia

Big game hunters

Although humans reached the coast of southern Asia by around 60,000 years ago, the first arrivals to inland Asia made a separate journey from the Middle East. Perhaps following mammoth and bison herds over the Asian steppes, or grassy plains, humans arrived in southern Siberia by 43,000 years ago, as revealed by discoveries of ancient tools. These people later spread farther east and south, mingling with more recent arrivals. And some of their descendants made the first trip to the Americas more than 20,000 years later.