A 37,000-year-old mammoth carnage site discovered in New Mexico may be the first evidence of human presence in North America, according to moot research. Some of the bones at the site show symptoms of having been manipulated by humans or even used as tools. , which is “one of the most conclusive evidence” so far that humans settled in North America much earlier than experts thought, according to the new study.
If the team is right about human activity at the site, it would nearly double the time humans have occupied North America. However, figuring out the precise date other people first made their impression in North America has been a moot topic in recent decades. , and similar studies have been dismissed as inconclusive. Some experts are also skeptical about the conclusions the team drew from the mammoth’s remains.
The new site was discovered on the Colorado Plateau in northern New Mexico after hiker Gary Hartley spotted a piece of defense protruding from the surface. The researchers named the site “Hartley Mammoth Locality” in his honor.
An excavation at the Hartley revealed the incomplete remains of two mammoths, which were believed to be an adult female and a juvenile. Most of the bones were grouped in a giant pile, with the skull of the adult female mendacity on top. in the bones, the researchers estimated that the remains may date from between 36,250 and 38,900 years ago.
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Some of the bones gave the impression of having been turned into makeshift knives, most likely used to slaughter mammoths, the researchers said. Other bones showed symptoms of fracture from blunt trauma, most likely due to the use of stones, which were also discovered in the pile of bones. There were also puncture marks on some of the mammoths’ ribs, most likely as a result of attempts through humans to collect the valuable nutrients inside.
The small remains discovered in the sediment surrounding the bones also included crystallized ash from what researchers suspect is a fire, most likely used to cook mammoth meat and other small animals.
“What we have is incredible,” study lead author Timothy Rowe, a paleontologist at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a (Opens in a new tab).
Until the early 2000s, archaeological evidence suggested that the other Clovis, an organization of early humans who can be recognized through firearms in various ways, were the first humans in North America, arriving about 13,000 years ago. But more recent discoveries have revealed that there is most likely an organization of genetically separated humans, known as the others before Clovis, who lived in North America before the arrival of the other Clovis.
It is now firmly established that the peoples before Clovis were the first humans to live in North America, and can be reliably traced back about 16,000 years, Justin Tackney, an anthropologist at the University of Kansas who specializes in the human arrangement of the Americas and are not involved in the study, Live Science said in an email.
This era suggests that the other pre-Clovis arrived in North America after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), the most recent era when ice sheet cover on Earth peaked, between 26,500 and 20,000 years ago. The melting of most of the polar ice caps likely allowed pre-Clovis peoples to cross the Bering Land Bridge, a piece of land that once linked North America and Asia.
However, a number of recent moot studies have claimed that before Clovis, other people may go back even further, potentially before LGM. But that concept has been “a much bigger tablet to swallow” for top experts because the evidence from those studies is inconclusive, Tackney said.
A 2017 study that investigated a similar pile of mammoth bones at a site near San Diego found that the bones could possibly have been manipulated by humans and can also date back about 130,000 years, suggesting that humans may also have existed more than 10 times. more than was believed in the past. However, critics have argued that the orientation and “wear” of bones can also be explained through herbal processes and were not definitely of human origin.
Related: Woolly mammoths survived on the North American continent until 5,000 years ago, DNA reveals
In 2020, an organization of researchers claimed to have discovered rocks of unusual shapes in a Mexican cave that may have been used as stone equipment and date back about 30,000 years. as to whether the shape of the rocks indicated that they were of human origin.
These types of studies can be problematic because the evidence doesn’t definitively point to humans. Instead, humans are just an imaginable explanation. This means that researchers occasionally create a narrative tailored to the evidence, rather than evidence that obviously establishes what really happened.
“The people in our box get the precautionary aspect wrong, and the simplest explanations are preferred,” Tackney said. “In that sense, I’m still incredibly skeptical about reports from sites like these. “
So far, the most conclusive evidence of a pre-LGM deal for people before Clovis comes from a 2021 study, which uncovered a set of 60 human footprints discovered in White Sands National Park in New Mexico. The date between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago was discovered in biological matter trapped within the footprints, suggesting that before Clovis other people would probably have settled in North America before or the LGM. But this discovery was not enough to resolve the debate.
In the new study, the researchers analyzed bones discovered at the Hartley site with a number of techniques, adding high-resolution CT scans and scanning electron microscopy.
These analyses revealed that a handful of bones showed symptoms of blunt trauma fracture, including, in particular, the adult’s skull. Most of the ribs showed symptoms of ruptured vertebrae and some had puncture marks that, according to the researchers, could have been made by humans. to remove bone marrow from inside the bone, according to the study. At least one rib also shows symptoms of cut marks that may have been left by humans.
“There are only a few effective tactics for skinning a cat, so to speak,” Rowe said. “The butcher bosses are quite characteristic. “
The team also learned of a dozen bone fragments, smaller bone fragments with sharp edges, which, according to the researchers, could have been used as knives to cut the mammoths’ flesh. they have been created as a by-product when the bones were turned into makeshift knives. Not all of those scales and microscales can be attributed to individual bones, however, there is evidence that they were carved perpendicular or parallel to some of the bones, suggesting they were randomly created through herbal processes, according to the study.
A giant rock and several fist-sized rocks were also discovered between the mammoth bones, which the researchers say could have been used to fracture and break bones.
The team also uncovered prospective evidence of a controlled chimney at the site. In the sediments, there were small remnants of crystallized ash, similar to those discovered in ancient chimneys in earlier studies. Chemical investigation of the remains suggests that they formed in a controlled manner. Chimney and not from a more resistant forest or an old lightning bolt. There were also bone fragments from smaller animals and probably even fish scales, suggesting that humans might have cooked more than mammoths at the site.
However, some experts are skeptical.
“Researchers have an exact date for the mammoths’ deaths, but they lack definitive evidence of human activity,” said Lauriane Bourgeon, an archaeologist at the University of Kansas who specializes in the bones of ancient animals, adding mammoths, and not concerned in the study. the study, Live Science said in an email. “Nor can the role of herbal points be definitively excluded. “
It can be very complicated to relate human activity to ancient bones, as herbal processes, such as alteration, trampling and stratification of sediment, can cause bone damage, Bourgeon said.
Without a transparent and unambiguous use of human equipment or remains, it is almost conclusive that the damage was caused by human activity, Bourgeon said. The stones discovered inside the gigantic pile and bone fragments are not enough to verify the use of equipment. , she added.
“I think this will still be a moot site,” Bourgeon said.
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The researchers claimed that some experts might be skeptical of their findings, especially when analyzed individually, however, the combination of all the evidence discovered at the Hartley site paints a transparent picture of human activity.
“This is not a charismatic with a beautiful skeleton on the side,” Rowe said. “It’s all screwed up, but that’s what it’s all about. “
The review was published online July 7 in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution (opens in a new tab).
Originally on Live Science.
Harry works in the UK at Live Science. He studied marine biology at the University of Exeter (Penryn campus) and, after graduating, started his own blog site “Marine Madness”, which he continues to manage with other ocean enthusiasts. He is also interested in evolution, climate change, robots, area exploration, environmental conservation, and everything that has been fossilized. When he’s not at work, he can be discovered watching sci-fi movies, betting on old Pokémon games, or running (probably slower than him). I would like to).
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