How the discovery of an ancient mastodon ignited debate over humans’ arrival in North America

LA TIMES ^ | Dec. 22, 2017 | Thomas Curwen

[PIF]

Accidental find that could revolutionize North America Archeology

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"Jim Paces, a geochronologist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Denver, took dozens of slices from a rib and two femurs. Each slice, no wider than a millimeter, was dissolved in nitric acid.

"The resulting solution contained trace amounts of uranium and thorium, which Paces extracted. After measuring those concentrates in a mass spectrometer, Paces concluded that the bones were 130,700 years old, plus or minus 9,400 years."

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"The conclusion seemed clear: Hominids, wandering through Southern California, had found a mastodon carcass and gone to work. They hauled cobblestones to the site and pounded the bones, cut out the marrow for food and broke off splinters for tools."

[TexasTransplant]

Wonder if in the Old West that is why they said that they saw the “Elephant”

[snooter55]

Got buffalo bone grips on my Colt M1991 .45 .

Puuuuurty !

[piasa]

No shortage of pictures of buffalo bone piles/hide piles out there. Bison bone sold for up to $15 a ton and was useful for many purposes.

http://scribol.com/anthropology-and-history/history/the-near-annihilation-of-americas-buffalo-in-pictures/