Archaeologists have found that people lived on the North American continent many years ago--long before all the glaciers had melted from this land. Many archaeologists think these people came to this land by crossing the Bering Strait between Asia and Alaska. Only fifty-six miles lie between the two great land masses. The greatest distance between the tiny islands that lie between the land masses is only twenty-five miles, making a crossing at that point possible. Although no one knows exactly how and when the earliest settlers came to North America, the reason why they came is known--they came to find food. As nomads, the early inhabitants of North America were accustomed to moving from place to place in search of food for their large herds of animals. During the winter these nomads would set up camps and waited for spring before moving on. In the spring and summer they would lead their herds to good grazing land. Eventually, these people crossed over from Asia onto the North American continent. They migrated as far as the east coast and as far south as the tip of South America. Artifacts from this era show that the tools people used were intended for hunting animals, including the mammoth, the ground sloth, the tapir, the caribou, and the bison. The nomads depended upon these animals for both food and clothing.