Blue beads in the tundra: The first U.S. import from Europe?

[wnylib]

1. My guess on the route by which

the beads ended up in Alaska.

Venice and other Mediterranean port cities traded with China via Middle East countries, the Silk Road, and by water, with India.

I'm guessing they reached the Middle East by ship, then to China by the overland Silk Road, or by water via India. In China they were traded to northern regions, maybe in exchange for fur, hides, or walrus tusks from tribal groups. We know from DNA and archaeology that there was a back and forth movement of people between Alaska and northeastern Asia across the Bering Straight. So someone in Northeastern Asia would have carried them on a trip to Alaska.

Another thought occurred to me on how the beads might have reached China, but it would have been a couple centuries earlier, in the 1200s. Could Marco Polo have carried them with him?