The Bering Strait, which separates the two continents by approximately 55 miles at its narrowest point, is one of the most geographically significant bodies of water in the world — not because of its own size or depth, but because of what it represents in the history of human migration.

During the Last Glacial Maximum, when sea levels were approximately 120 to 130 meters lower than today, the area now covered by the Bering Strait was dry land.

The Seward Peninsula was not a peninsula jutting into the sea — it was an elevated portion of the Beringian landmass, rising above the surrounding grasslands and marshes of the broad land connection between the continents.

The caves in its limestone outcrops were natural shelters above the Beringian plain.