The Bering Land Bridge — the exposed continental shelf that connected Asia to North America during the Last Glacial Maximum — is now beneath the Bering Sea.

The sea level rise of approximately 120 to 130 meters since the Last Glacial Maximum has submerged the Beringian landscape that was the gateway to the Americas.

Any archaeological sites that existed on the central Beringian landmass — campsites, butchery sites, any trace of the human groups that crossed from Asia to North America — are now beneath the waters of the Bering Sea, inaccessible to conventional archaeological investigation.

Similarly, the coastlines that would have been relevant for coastal migration scenarios — the shorelines of Alaska, British Columbia, and the Pacific coast of the Americas at the time of the Last Glacial Maximum — are now largely submerged.