The crop marks on the fossils may simply be evidence that humans exploited giant mammals in Argentina more than 20,000 years ago, according to a study published July 17, 2024, in the open-access journal PLOS ONE via Mariano Del Papa of the National University of La Plata. , Argentina and colleagues.
The timing of early human emergence in South America is a topic of intense debate, highly applicable to the study of early human dispersal across the Americas and the possible role of humans in the extinction of giant mammals in the later Pleistocene. . This discussion is hindered. through the general paucity of direct archaeological evidence of early human presence and human-animal interactions.
In this study, researchers provide evidence of carnage in Pleistocene mammal fossils from the banks of the Reconquista River, northeast of the Pampas region of Argentina. The fossils are those of a glyptodont, a giant relative of armadillos, called Neosclerocalyptus.
Statistical research shows that cut marks on parts of the pelvis, tail, and armor are consistent with known stone tool marks, and that the placement of those marks is consistent with a series of butchery directed at spaces of dense flesh. . Radiocarbon dating indicates that these fossils are about 21,000 years old, just about 6,000 years older than other known archaeological evidence from southern South America.
These findings are consistent with other recent findings indicating an early human presence in the Americas more than 20,000 years ago. These fossils are also among the earliest evidence of human interactions with giant mammals, long before many of those mammals became extinct.
The authors recommend that those findings could be supported by additional excavations at this site, additional investigations of the cut marks, and deeper radiocarbon dating of the fossils.
Miguel Delgado, the corresponding author, adds: “The evidence from the study urges the chronology of the first human encounter in the Americas, 16,000 years ago. “
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