As sea levels rose after the Last Glacial Maximum — as the ice sheets melted and returned their water to the world’s oceans — the Beringian lowlands flooded.

The rising sea moved progressively eastward and westward, eating away at the margins of the Beringian landmass, until approximately 10,000 years ago the Bering Strait was re-established and the two continents were separated by water once again.

The Seward Peninsula, because of its elevated position, remained above water as the surrounding lowlands flooded.

This means that people living on the Seward Peninsula during the period of sea level rise were witnesses to the transformation of their world — the gradual submergence of the landscape they or their ancestors had known as continuous, connected land.

Within a few generations, the land bridge was gone.