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How the discovery of an ancient mastodon ignited debate over humans’ arrival in North America
LA TIMES ^
| Dec. 22, 2017
| Thomas Curwen
Posted on 12/22/2017 10:34:31 AM PST by PIF
Accidental find that could revolutionize North America Archeology
"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."
"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."
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
TOPICS: Education; History; Society
KEYWORDS: dna; mastadon; pleistocene
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To: Ruy Dias de Bivar
Wonder if in the Old West that is why they said that they saw the “Elephant”
41
posted on
12/22/2017 5:03:02 PM PST
by
TexasTransplant
(Did You Screw up your Life? You get a “Second Chance” every second.)
To: Wissa
Got buffalo bone grips on my Colt M1991 .45 .
Puuuuurty !
42
posted on
12/22/2017 7:33:46 PM PST
by
snooter55
(People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do)
To: shotgun
43
posted on
12/23/2017 1:20:31 AM PST
by
piasa
(Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge)
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