Posted on 02/13/2024 11:42:03 AM PST by Red Badger
A rare artifact has been discovered by archaeologists at an ancient mammoth kill site near Douglas, Wyoming, which they say is the oldest of its kind ever found in the Americas.
The discovery, a tube-shaped piece of bone, is likely to have been a bead dating to around 12,940 years old, potentially making it the oldest known instance of American perforated jewelry.
The discovery was made by University of Wyoming archaeology Professor Todd Surovell and his team at the La Prele Mammoth site, a location first revealed to archaeologists in 1986 when mammoth remains were found eroding out of a nearby cutbank. Initial tests at the site the following year revealed the remains of a young Columbian mammoth and a single tool resembling a hammerstone, along with several associated stone flakes.
Later excavations at the site beginning in 2014 revealed additional information about the site, which included the discovery of an additional chopping tool 12 meters away.
Now, Surovell and his team of collaborators have published their findings in Scientific Reports, detailing the use of a fragment of hare bone in the creation of the artifact by some of North America’s earliest residents.
“This is the oldest known bead from the Western Hemisphere,” the team writes in their study. Through the extraction of collagen samples, subsequent analysis revealed the bead had likely been derived from a metapodial or proximal phalanx of a hare.
“This find represents the first secure evidence for the use of hares during the Clovis period,” the paper’s authors state. Acknowledging that the use of bone from this species in the production of beads was a common practice during later periods by cultural groups in western North America, Surovell and the team argue that their findings at the La Prele Mammoth site help trace the practice as far back as the end of the Ice Age.
At just 7 millimeters in length, the team considered whether the hollowed-out bone fragment could have resulted from processes that might include consumption by carnivores, although they say there is little evidence that links the discovery to animal predation.
By contrast, the artifact’s proximity to other cultural materials lends weight to the theory that it was intentionally crafted by humans, as well as grooves observed on the bead’s exterior, which suggest the bone was tooled either using stones, or possibly even by the teeth of its ancient creator.
Surovell and the team’s study, “Use of hare bone for the manufacture of a Clovis bead,” appeared in Scientific Reports on February 5, 2024.
Thanks Red Badger.
“It was given to him as a birthday present from his son Beau, before Beau was killed at the battle of Bannockburn where he sacrificed himself to save Robert the Bruce.”
THAT was the same battle where Hillary came under crossbow fire but was heroically saved by Joe Biden in his 18-wheeler .. .
So the moral to this story is hare today, gone tomorrow.
“They’ll make flutes of our bones and blow a hymn to the memory of the Orphans of God”
~ Mark Heard
“THAT was the same battle where Hillary came under crossbow fire but was heroically saved by Joe Biden in his 18-wheeler .. .”
And John Kerry won a Bronze Star
Sure looking that way as more and more evidence is unearthed.
Imagine the shockwaves that truth would cause!
I met Leakey, his wife and son when he came to DC. Had carved stone tools from Africa estimated to be around 2 million years old (Olduvi Gorge). Got to handle them.
Really cool.
I was a working archaeologist on a Dig related to the Maryland Academy of Sciences, SW chapter.
“I met Leakey, his wife and son when he came to DC. Had carved stone tools from Africa estimated to be around 2 million years old (Olduvi Gorge). Got to handle them”
Very cool. I believe tools built by hominids go back around 6 million years.
On the east coast around 30 years ago, I met an anthropologist who had come from California. She also spoke about finds about 130,000 years old and how those professionals who believed this were nuts. Just like the nothing before Clovis boys; boy have they gotten a surprise. At any rate that kind of date makes logical sense. I have no information about the forensic sense. The last great cooling started around 120,000 years ago. Thus the suggested age for the finding(s) would fit into the warm period that preceded the more recent long cooling period we have now left to enjoy a few warm millenia.
So this mastodon bone find was around 2017, but the lady I spoke to was 30 years ago or more, so there is probably other information about such disputed finds out there. At any rate the date given was also given almost another 10,000 years earlier or later, so 120,000 to 140,000 years ago. Perhaps a find from closer to the earlier date as less melting of vast ice sheets would have occurred, and a wide Bering Strait land bridge would still have been available for a time.
Several other thoughts. Could similar ancient genetic traces be found in north Asian peoples and some of the older, more primative western North American peoples. It is believed our recognized early Americans followed the mammoth herds over the Bering landbridge from Asia into North America. Not unreasonable that earlier Mastodon herds might have been followed. In this case a young one, easier to kill. Also, there is the still unsatisfied question of possible Sasquatch(sp?) hominids in our northwest regions. Could they be a somewhat primativized remnant of a more developed group of people who barely survived the trip(s) and regressed to a less cultured remnant.
I decided to see if I could find anything about findings of human remains over 100,000 years old on our west coast. Most of the Google articles were about or in reaction to the 2017 study on Mastadon bones. However I checked out one 2008 article which was about Human Origins, and had 10 references some of which were from more than 30 years ago. Happy searching if you care to.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3327540/
They were from China and China is going to declare themselves to be rightful owners of America.
I’ve been sitting on another possible post about how older tribes followed the mammoth herds.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2024/01/240117141002.htm
The 130K old Calico site is probably the one you’re thinking of.
https://freerepublic.com/tag/calico/index
DNA wise, anecdotally, I have a trace of Precolumbian DNA, but it comes from the other direction, i.e., from Siberia into Europe. It just happened to drop through to me. :^)
The Clovis-first-and-only is a ridiculous construct. It’s obvious that there have been multiple movements into the Americas (and maybe out as well), and within the Americas, just as there have been everywhere else in the world.
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2024/02/ancient-megalithic-plaza-found-in-the-andes/150564..
Ancient megalithic plaza found in the Andes
Mark Milligan
February 15, 2024
Thanks!
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