New archaeological discoveries at Shég’ Xdaltth’í’, a 13,800-year-old base camp site in interior Alaska, may provide evidence for a trans-Beringian cultural link with other sites to the west, according to Kelly Graf and colleagues. Their research helps to clarify how and when people traveled across the Bering Land Bridge from Asia to the Americas, as New World archeologists continue to debate the details of this dispersal. Graf et al. provide a first description of the stratigraphy, radiocarbon dating, animal and plant remains, and more than 80,000 artifacts from the oldest layer at Shég’ Xdaltth’í, a name that means “they were there” in Alaska Native Athabascan. The evidence demonstrates how the site became a settled base camp that saw more than two centuries of sustained use. Its tools, including a distinct hafted-biface form, resemble those from Beringian sites further to the west, possibly suggesting a trans-Beringian cultural connection. Other artifacts at Shég’ Xdaltth’í resemble those found at pre-Clovis, Clovis, Folsom, and Late Paleoindian sites further south in temperate North America. In a related Focus, Spencer Pelton discusses why sites like Shég’ Xdaltth’í are bringing back an old idea in New World archaeology: that Beringian explorers who entered the North American continent between 20,000-15,000 years ago were halted until the retreat of the ice sheets allowed them to continue journeying to the south.

At GSA Connects 2026, the “Riverscapes in Transition” theme brings together research on floods, drought, and the future of people and water.

A new technique significantly improves weather forecasting beyond two weeks. Researchers developed a machine-learning model that learns to correct errors in existing forecasting models to make their output more accurate over the two-to-six-week time frame, a key window for emergency planning.

A network of drifting buoys is collecting atmospheric and ocean data in parts of the Mediterranean where hard-to-forecast storms develop. A new study of the destructive storm Harry in January 2026 provides the first evidence that these observations can help improve weather forecasts by filling critical gaps in atmospheric measurements at sea. “A better atmospheric forecast also means a better forecast of the sea,” says CMCC’s Emanuela Clementi.