 He also was known for his famed excavations at Snaketown, Arizona, in which he accomplished several publications on this topic; his theories on migration to the New World from Asia also gained attention.Born in New York City in 1883, Harold worked in the city as a stockbroker from 1908 to 1922, his first successful career.However, in 1922 Sterling decided to move west to California, and there he began work at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, taking a special interest in the mutations of butterflies.