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HIGH-TECH DATING of mastodon remains found in southern California has shattered the timeline of human migration to America, pushing the presence of hominins back to 130,000 years ago rather than just 15,000 years, researchers have said.
Teeth and bones of the elephant-like creature unmistakably modified by human hands, along with stone hammers and anvils, leave no doubt that some species of early human feasted on its carcass, they reported in the journal Nature.
Discovered in 1992 during construction work to expand an expressway, the bone fragments “show clear signs of having been deliberately broken by humans with manual dexterity,” said lead author Steve Holen, director of research at the Center for American Paleolithic Research.
Up to now, the earliest confirmed passage of our ancestors into North America took place about 15,000 years ago. These were modern humans – Homo sapiens – that probably crossed from Siberia into what is today Alaska, by land or along the coast.
There have been several other claims of an even earlier bipedal footprint on the continent, but none would take that timeline back further than 50,000 years, and all remain sharply contested.
The absence of human remains at the California site throws wide open the question of who these mysterious hunters were, as well as when – and how – they arrived on American shores.
A genetic link
One possibility that can be excluded with high confidence is that they were like us. Homo sapiens, experts say, did not exit Africa until about 80,000 to 100,000 years ago.
But that still leaves a wide range of candidates, including several other hominin species that roamed Eurasia 130,000 years ago, the authors said.
They include Homo erectus, whose earliest traces date back nearly two million years; Neanderthals, who fought and co-mingled with modern humans across Europe before dying out some 40,000 years ago; and an enigmatic species called Denisovans, whose DNA survives today in Australian aboriginals.
In a companion analysis, Holen and his team argue that – despite rising seas 130,000 years ago due to an inter-glacial period of warming – the overseas distances to the Americas were within the capacity of human populations at the time.
Intriguingly, in light of the new find, recent studies have also shown a genetic link between present-day Amazonian native Americans and some Asian and Australian peoples.
The picture that emerges “indicates a diverse set of founding populations of the Americas,” said Erella Hovers, an anthropologist at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who did not take part in the new study.
As for the early humans who carved up the bones at the Cerutti Mastodon site in San Diego, named for the paleontologist who discovered it, they likely died out, leaving no genetic trace in modern North Americans, the authors conjectured.
Previous attempts to accurately date artefacts at the site fell short.
Then, in 2014, co-author James Paces, a researcher with the US Geological Survey, used state-of-the-art radiometric methods to measure traces of natural uranium and its decaying by-products in the mastodon bones, which were still fresh when broken by precise blows from stone hammers.
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Its quite a standard sized residence for central london . most people live in flats in london which are well designed and kitted out , but to live in london, be near tube and work etc.. is expensive. Its only in ireland people want to build big ugly houses in middle of nowhere and then expect the government to supply services free of charge. … bungalow bliss
@Loretta stiletto: boo
@Loretta stiletto: can there not be a middle ground though? Yes, this is not a bad sized place all told however the price is astronomical and I really hate this tendency to fetishise the “tiny house” thing just because they look cute and we can marvel of how ingenious the designers were to get everything in. We need a certain amount of space to live comfortably, we deserve to have a certain amount of space and light and outdoor space etc etc however in cities we do need a lot of the living to be apartments but they can and should be larger apartments with larger balcony spaces, hallways and communal spaces/gardens (see the apartments beside Kilmainham, the Heuston South Quarter for an example of this).
@Loretta stiletto: God forbid we expect our Government to provide any service for the tax we pay!
@Loretta stiletto: Any householders that I know from the middle of nowhere neither expect nor get anything free from the government. They supply their own water and dispose of their own waste and keep their environment clean and tidy.
@Loretta stiletto: I live in a bungalow in the middle of nowhere, what services am I getting free of charge,??
@James Darby:
There is no such place as the middle of nowhere. Wherever one chooses to live is the right place for them. I live in a rural area and I love it even though I was brought up in a large town. My husbands work brought us here so we set up home and decided to stay. Rural communities are very supportive and the quality of life is great. I also have EIR Fibre Broadband. People who live on rural areas also use the internet extensively for Banking, online shopping, booking holidays and tickets , reading newspapers, most importantly working from home etc, etc, so what makes you think that we should be denied broadband services.
@Aine O Connor:
Sorry to James Darby my reply was meant for Loretta Stilleto .
@Rachael Ball: im really referring to flats not apartments , in london flats are mainly converted houses with small front and back gardens large rooms, high ceilings and original features. There are plenty of large parks and playgrounds, sports and recreation areas, good public transport to take you out of city. It cannot really be compared to Dublin. Irish people do like large houses and large gardens outside the cities and expect services to be supplied as in free buses to bring their children to their choice of school for example.
@Loretta stiletto: there’s nothing free about the €350 school bus ticket I buy each year!
@Loretta stiletto: Eh you do realise that school transport isn’t a free service right? Most school buses in Ireland are ran by Bus Eireann and there was a fee even 15 years ago.
@Shane McGettrick: a lot of people get it for free anyone with a medical card as one example
@Loretta stiletto: Ah seriously? What planet are you on? All of us who live outside of Dublin live in detached houses and get our kids to school for free? You sound like a moron who was born with a silver spoon in her mouth and protected from all walks of life, culture etc by your paid nanny! In the country we do pay our rates, property tax etc and we don’t live in palatial mansions and send our kids to schools of our choosing. You really should take a trip around your country some day, pass by your local Avoca and forego your latte with and extra shot and see exactly how your fellow country men and women live.
@Loretta stiletto: so we should all be happy to live in a converted alleyway? That’s what you’re saying oh and don’t give people medical cards. I’m quite pleased our citizens don’t have to live like that not that they’d have 1.1 million for the privilege!
@Valerie Fitzsimons: for your information i live in the country i do not shop in avoca ever i hate lattes and never had a nanny. I work for a living i holiday in ireland never said people live in palatial mansions . By the way rates were abolished years ago , id claim a refund if i was you.
“A really rare find”… for good bloody reason
@Stephen Delaney: it’s a former alleyway ffs!
Imagine the house you could buy out the county with 1.1 million.. plus you don’t have to wade past all those tourists and foreigners..
You can wash your feet in the shower ,cook your breakfast and open the halldoor all while lying in bed .
Worth every penny.
Compact and bijou.
It won’t go for that. The London property market is in melt down at the moment.
Jaysus just wait until our estate agents see this snd start creating buzz words such as “regional comparisons” and “brexit balancing”
At least you cant fall out of the bed
i think i’ll talk to my bank manager @ the credit union.
a ‘steal’
You can’t polish a turd, but you can roll it in glitter.
My couch or TV wont even fit in there.
Well worth the money given its location and how unusual it is most of us live in Lego houses & APTS .
What a dump. Think God I don’t live in that hell hole.
Thats mad Ted
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