New Clues Suggest People Reached The Americas Around 30,000 Years Ago

Science News ^ | 7-9-2021 | Bruce Bower

[blam]

New radiocarbon dates for rabbit bones excavated in the 1960s at Mexico’s Coxcatlan Cave (shown here) raise the possibility that humans lived there roughly 30,000 years ago.
Andrew D. Somerville

Humans may have inhabited what’s now southern Mexico surprisingly early, between 33,448 and 28,279 years ago, researchers say.

If so, those people arrived more than 10,000 years before folks often tagged as the first Americans (SN: 7/11/18). Other preliminary evidence puts humans in central Mexico as early as around 33,000 years ago (SN: 7/22/20).

The latest evidence comes from animal bones that biological anthropologist and archaeologist Andrew Somerville and two Mexican colleagues found stored in a Mexico City lab. The bones had been excavated in the 1960s at a rock-shelter called Coxcatlan Cave.

Radiocarbon analyses of six rabbit bones from the site’s deepest sediment yielded unexpectedly old ages, the researchers report online May 19 in Latin American Antiquity. That sediment also contained chipped and sharp-edged stones regarded as tools by the site’s lead excavator.

Higher sediment layers yielded clearer examples of stone tools and other remnants of human activity dating to nearly 9,900 years ago. Somerville, of Iowa State University in Ames, initially suspected that rabbit bones from the deepest sediment were perhaps around 12,000 years old. But analyses revealed they were much older, hinting humans were living in the cave roughly 30,000 years ago.

Somerville will next determine whether other animal bones from the ancient sediment display butchery marks, breaks where marrow was removed or burned patches from cooking. He also wants to locate and study possible stone tools from that same sediment that may be stored in the same lab.

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[centurion316]

So imho its not beyond the pale to think that 30k years ago—people may have walked across the bearing land bridge. But later migrations may have boated along the shore.

Certainly, the most likely time and mode of migrations to the Americas is not the simple tale that the text books tell us. Multiple migrations, using boat and feet, are the most likely. However, since the Bering land bridge was not open 30K YA, we can eliminate that option. If migrations occurred 30K years ago, they probably came by boat, and probably using both Atlantic and Pacific/Bering Sea. I think that we have the evidence in hand, but as always, scientific acceptance lags the discoveries.

[centurion316]

Yep, both articles are very good and have stood the test of time. They both helped kill the Clovis First notion.

[Red Badger]

There were probably different migrations into different areas via different methods..

[Red Badger]

The bones could have been from a 30,000 year old rabbit...................

[SunkenCiv]

Of course there is evidence of ancient Europeans in the Americas, and it isn’t even surprising that they got here.

The DNA studies have been almost entirely of living populations and show multiple waves of settlement from Asia, which matches with the linguistic differences.

The main problem with figuring out origins for various sites (there’s been more kerfluffle about the Serpent Mound just recently) is that, just as in every other corner of the Earth, no one group has existed there for the duration.

[Reily]

So far they haven’t found any. Lots potential sites, lots of places to look.

[Varda]

I’ve not seen it. All I’ve seen is speculation about the Solutreans.
There have been DNA studies of ancient remains. The oldest include corprolites found in Paisley Caves is dated to 11 kya. The oldest DNA from burials include Kennewick (8.5 kya) and Anzick-1 (12 kya). These all have their closest affinity to present day Native Americans.
There are never enough ancient remains but the east is tougher because remains are less likely to be preserved. The Windover burials in Florida dated to 8-7 kya are not different genetically than the others.
Don’t know about the Serpent Mound. Are they saying it wasn’t created by the Adena culture again?

[Varda]

As they say “absence of evidence isn’t evidence of absence”. I say it isn’t evidence of anything but it’s always fun to look.

[Reily]

Exactly !