An arrowhead, found near the skeleton of a mastodon, led the experts to say that the first settlers arrived in North America more than 14,000 years ago denying the long accepted theory, that this continent was colonized later in time. The dating arrowhead, found near the skeleton of a mastodon, a giant mammal from the glacial era, proved that people hunted on this continent at least 1,000 years earlier than previously thought, Danes scientists said, whose study was published Thursday in the Science magazine, informs AFP.
“I’m sure this discovery will delight the Native Americans because it is further proof that people lived in North America much earlier than previously thought”, said Professor Eske Willerslev, director of the Geogenetics Centre affiliated to the Natural History Museum at the University of Copenhagen, who led the study. “The theory of the first peoples of America, called <<Clovis culture>>, which many scientists still swore a few years ago that it was the first wave of colonization of America, is now definitively refuted by the conclusions of this study”, same researcher said.
According to that theory, by now seriously called into question, the people of Clovis culture – characterized by a very special technique of grinding tools of flint – had arrived in America from Asia about 13,000 years ago, through Strait Bering, during the glacial time. People belonging to this culture would then be spread on the American continent to southern South America.
The arrowhead found, measuring at least one foot, made from a mammoth bone, was discovered at the archaeological site of Washington State Manis after archaeologists excavated the skeleton of a mastodon, in the late 1970s.
But it took 30 years for scientists to be able to identify and date the arrowhead, stuck in one of the ribs of the animal. To do this, scientists have used DNA analysis of proteins found in bone, a scanner, the process of carbon-14 dating, and various comparisons with other mammoth fossils discovered in Wisconsin and other sites in North America.
The first evidence of hunting mastodons in North America were assigned, before this study, to members of the Clovis culture, considered to be the common ancestors of all American Indian tribes, after the discovery in 1932 of several sites containing numerous artifacts belonging to this culture. Professor Willerslev and his colleagues have established three years ago that the first evidence of human presence in America dates from 14,340 years ago.
Archaeologists have determined also that Native Americans are descendants of populations coming from Asia. These findings were made with carbon-14 dating and DNA analysis of human remains discovered in caves in Oregon. Other sites, such as Debra L. Friedkin of Texas, contain thousands of artifacts dating from the same period. This discovery was widely reported in the Science journal on March 25, 2011.
Scientists have noted a different site in Wisconsin dated 14,200-14,800 years ago, Paisley Caves in Oregon (dating from 14,100 years ago), and Monte Verde site in South America, dating back to 14,500 years ago.