Given the recent discovery of 15th-century Venetian beads in Alaska, is there any evidence of other Asian or European artifacts crossing the Bering Strait before Columbus?

by Wonderful_Project_56
Fijure96

There are a few. A Chinese bronze buckle related to horseriding, probably dating as far back as the Song Dynasty, has previously been found at Cape Espenberg in Alaska.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/bronze-buckle-shows-trade-between-asia-and-north-america-180959378/

Furthermore, it is known that certain Native American tribes living in the Pacific Northwest region used iron materials, that were likely transferred there by Japanese (and potentially some Chinese) shipwrecks that drifted across the Pacific along the Kuroshio current. THat part is scarcely documented, but in colonial times there are several documented isntances of Japanese ships drifting to Alaska and as far south as Washington and then coming into contact with Native Americans; and there is no real reason to believe that didn't also happen before 1492. Furthermore, iron tools have been found in connection with the Ozette Site, an archeological site that predates European arrival in the region, and no signs have been found that these Native AMericans possessed the technical abilities to use iron by themselves. So Japanese drifts to the area between Washington and Alaska before Columbus seems highly likely, although a smoking gun hasn't yet been found.

In short, it is likely that a sort of intermittent contact across the Bering Strait / Pacific from Asia did exist, although it seems to ahve been largely by chance, and largely one way.

For the Japanese drifts, see:

Human History Japanese Shipwrecks in British Columbia - Myths and Facts The Question of Cultural Exchanges with the Northwest Coast of America. by Grant Keddie

And

Japanese Wrecks, Iron Tools, and Prehistoric Indians of the Northwest Coast

By GI Quimby.

Gigante_Coug

Here is a question from a few months that has some answers you may find useful. https://reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/rtjx83/some_historians_suggest_that_the_chinese_mayve/