Recently found Bronze artifacts in Alaska and carbon dated to about 1,000 years ago have provided evidence that suggests that trade routes existed between East Asia and northwestern North America long before the coming of Christopher Columbus.

It has been considered that the first Americans caused a land bridge between Asia and Alaska about 15,000 years ago. According to researchers, the land bridge wiped out 10,000 years ago and it has been suggested that goods and ideas continued to flow back and forth between the two continents after the land route was gone.

The researchers said that the recent artifacts were discovered in a 1,000 year old house at a site called ‘Rising Whale’ at Cape Espenberg. Among the two artifacts, one seems to be a whistle. The other a clasp or fastener was prepared of bronze at a time long before bronze working came to Alaska. It has been believed that they might manufacture in China, Korea or Yakutia.

According to the researchers, the hose has numerous obsidian artifacts that have chemical signature showing that they arrived from Russia’s Anadyr River valley. Evidence going back to the 1930s indicates that a style of bone plate armour that became famous in and around Alaska about 1,000 years ago was also worn by people in eastern Mongolia, China, Korea and Japan.

The researchers said there is a possibility that the inhabitants of the Rising Whale site might have associated to the Birnirk culture. As per the researchers, the Birnirk lived on both sides of the Bearing Strait and also hunted whales in boats created from skin. From the genetic studies, it has been found that the Birnirk are the ancestors of the Thule culture.