Fossilized feces found in Oregon suggest earliest human presence in North America

Seattle Times ^ | 02 Apr 2008 | Sandi Doughton

[BGHater]

Hold the potty humor, please, but archaeologists digging in a dusty cave in Oregon have unearthed fossilized feces that appear to be oldest biological evidence of humans in North America.

The ancient poop dates back 14,300 years. If the results hold up, that means the continent was populated more than 1,000 years before the so-called Clovis culture, long believed to be the first Americans.

"This adds to a growing body of evidence that the human presence in the Americas predates Clovis," said Michael Waters, an anthropologist at Texas A&M University who was not involved in the project.

DNA analysis of the dried excrement shows the people who lived in the caves were closely related to modern Native Americans. Their genetic roots reach across the Bering Strait to Siberia and eastern Asia.

"These are probably the ancestors of some of the Native Americans living in America now," said Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for Ancient Genetics at the University of Copenhagen. He co-authored the report that appears in today's online Science Express.

The age of the finding also calls into question the theory that people who crossed the Bering Land Bridge to Alaska migrated south through ice-free corridors as glaciers began to break up. Geological evidence suggests the corridors weren't open 14,300 years ago, though the glaciers had pulled back from the coasts.

"People probably came either by boat or maybe even walking along the West Coast," Willerslev said.

Before the Oregon discovery, the oldest human remains in North America were two sets of bones about 13,000 years old from California and Nevada. Kennewick Man, the skeleton found on the banks of the Columbia River in Eastern Washington, dates to 9,400 years ago.

[BGHater]

Pre-Clovis Poo Ping

[Thrownatbirth]

They became extinct waiting for the plumber.

[Vaquero]

14,300

Wow the sh!ts really gonna hit the fan amongst antrhopologists now.

[ASA Vet]

Ping

[Gorzaloon]

DNA analysis of the dried excrement

OK Folks. They are using DNA on it now.

No more mailings to Code Pink, HCI, and the AARP!

[Right Wing Assault]

Wow the sh!ts really gonna hit the fan amongst antrhopologists now.

And it's going to do some serious damage to the fan blade.

[ARE SOLE]

[mylife]

Speaking of old turds....

[E Rocc]

Beat me to it....

[E Rocc]

Beat me to it....

[mylife]

GMTA!

[Leftism is Mentally Deranged]

Each new discovery shows that science really doesn’t know a heck of a lot.

[wolfcreek]

Preserving Poo at this moment for future relevance.

[mtbopfuyn]

Each new discovery shows that science really doesn’t know a heck of a lot.

Yep.

[catman67]

You can always trace the path of humanity by the $h!t we leave behind!!

[TheWasteLand]

Pre-Clovis Poo Ping

Now that's a niche pinglist.

[Williams]

Same old crap.

[martin_fierro]

Tough gig.

[elder5]

I always knew Oregon was full of poo. Just didn’t know it was old poo.