In what might be one of the most significant discoveries ever in archeology in the Americas, researchers on Wednesday said stone tools and broken mastodon bones unearthed in California show humans had reached the Americas by about 130,000 years ago, far earlier than previously known.
The researchers called five rudimentary tools — hammerstones and anvils — that were discovered in San Diego County alongside fossilized mastodon bones compelling evidence, though circumstantial, for the presence of either our species or an extinct cousin like Neanderthals.
San Diego Natural History Museum paleontologist Tom Demere said until now, the oldest widely accepted date for human presence in the Americas was 14,000 to 15,000 years ago, making the San Diego site nearly 10 times older.
Photo: San Diego Natural History Museum via EPA
The finding would radically rewrite the understanding of when humans reached the Americas, through some scientists not involved in the study voiced skepticism.
“If the date of 130,000 years old is genuine, then this is one of the biggest discoveries in American archeology,” said University of Southampton paleolithic archeologist John McNabb, who was not involved in the research and called himself “still a little skeptical.”
No human skeletal remains were found, but the stone tools’ wear and impact marks, and the way in which mastodon limb bones and molars were broken — apparently in a deliberate manner shortly after the animal’s death — convinced the researchers humans were responsible. They performed experiments using comparable tools on elephant bones and produced similar fracture patterns.
US Geological Survey geologist James Paces used state-of-the-art dating methods to determine the mastodon bones, tooth enamel and tusks were 131,000 years old, plus or minus about 9,000 years.
Some skeptics suggested alternative explanations about the material excavated beginning in 1992 at a freeway construction site, suggesting the bones might have been broken recently by heavy construction equipment rather than by ancient humans.
The researchers defended their conclusions, published in the journal Nature.
“It’s hard to argue with the clear and remarkable evidence that we can see in all of this material,” University of Wollongong archeologist Richard Fullagar said, calling the conclusions “truly incontrovertible.”
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