The Solutrean hypothesis, first proposed in 1998, is a hypothesis about the settlement of the Americas that claims that people from Europe may have been among the earliest settlers of the Americas. Its notable proponents include Dennis Stanford of the Smithsonian Institution and Bruce Bradley of the University of Exeter. The Solutrean Hypothesis contrasts with the mainstream archaeological orthodoxy that the North American continent was first populated by people from Asia, either by the Bering land bridge (i.e. Beringia) at least 13,500 years ago, or by maritime travel along the Pacific coast, or by both.