The questions of when and how human beings entered North America endure as keystone themes of Quaternary science. Although intrinsically archaeological questions, addressing them has spurred significant advances in many social and natural science disciplines for over a century, inquiry of human dispersal into and within the North American landscape also provides a space where Indigenous ways of knowing and scientific principles can intertwine, although this remains a developing practice.

These epistemological connections mirror the geographic, cultural, and biological connections observed in the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene archaeological record. What appeared to be a simple story of ice age journeys between two ice sheets has turned into a complex web that ties Asia to America, coast to interior, and most importantly, humans to each other. These bonds also resonate through time, ranging from scientific, narrative, and spiritual pasts into the studies and stories of today.

The aim of this session is to examine the entry of humans into North America and the legacy of that arrival. Studies from archaeological, Indigenous, anthropological, geoscientific, paleoenvironmental, genomic, historic, and any other relevant perspectives are welcome.