From “First North American Hunters 1,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought, Speared Mastodon Fossil Shows” (ScienceDaily, Oct. 20, 2011), we learn:
A new and astonishing chapter has been added to North American prehistory in regards to the first hunters and their hunt for the now extinct giant mammoth-like creatures — the mastodons. Professor Eske Willerslev’s team from the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, has in collaboration with Michael Waters’ team at the Center for the Study of the First Americans, University of Texas A&M, shown that the hunt for large mammals occurred at least 1,000 years before previously assumed.
And, it turns out, …
This new study concludes that the first-known hunters in North America can now be dated back at least 14,000 years.
Which is astonishing for whom?
“I am sure that especially the Native Americans are pleased with the results of the study. It is further proof that humans have been present in North America for longer than previously believed. The “Clovis First” theory, which many scientists swore to just a few years back, has finally been buried with the conclusions of this study,”
Okay. As so often in human evolution studies, theory had partied in the absence of evidence.
Ergo, any time evidence asserts its frail and endangered head is “astonishing.”
We’ve said this before: Given all the earlier-than-thoughts jamming the warehouse around here, tt’s pretty much what we would have expected. Next time, wake us up when you’ve found the same artifacts from 50,000 years ago.
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