Oregon Archaeologists confirm the intriguing oldest projectile points of America (16,000-year-old)

sarahjay1 (69)memberin Popular STEM • 2 years ago

(Loren Davis et al. / Science Advances, 2022 https://bit.ly/3I0Bqvq)

Archaeologists from the Oregon State University have conducted a radiocarbon analysis of finds made in the Paleolithic site of Coopers Ferry in the US.

The results confirmed past findings that people were present on these lands about 16 thousand years ago: before the opening of the corridor between the Cordillera and Laurentian ice sheets.

According to the researchers, the petiole arrowheads found at this site are reminiscent of artifacts from Asia in terms of manufacturing technology.

The time and routes of the settlement of America are highly debatable topics.

For a long time, representatives of the Clovis archaeological culture, which existed about 13.5 – 10.8 thousand years ago, were considered the oldest population of the continent.

But subsequent discoveries showed that people ended up in America earlier.

It is safe to say that the first Americans settled south of the ice sheets as early as 16,000 to 15,000 years ago.

At the same time, more ancient evidence of human activity on this continent regularly appears.

For example, last year archaeologists found human footprints about 21-23 thousand years old in the United States.

Also, this year researchers found mammoth bones with traces of butchering that were about 37 thousand years old.

The Coopers Ferry Paleolithic site is located in western Idaho and it was first excavated in 1997.

The place received wide popularity in 2019, when archaeologists presented the results of many years of research.

Combining the data obtained with the help of Bayesian modeling, they came to the conclusion that a person could have first appeared at this site about 16560-15280 years ago.

This testified in favor of the coastal route of migration of the first settlers.

THE NEW STUDY
An international team of archaeologists led by Loren Davis presented the results of the 2012-2017 archaeological survey at Coopers Ferry Site B.

In the layer with the oldest traces of human presence, scientists discovered three household or garbage pits.

The first of them received the symbol F78 and was an object with a diameter of about 105 centimeters and a depth of about 50 centimeters.

Among other things, the filling of this pit contained:

4 intact and fragmented points
numerous chips
7 thermally deformed stones
2 pieces of charcoal
226 fragments of animal bones

The second pit (F108) had about 90 centimeters in diameter and about 40 centimeters deep, and it contained

7 intact and fragmented arrowheads
debitage
21 fragments of animal bones

In the third pit (F151), approximately 75×60 centimeters in size and about 50 centimeters deep, the researchers found chips that appeared during the splitting of the stone and 16 animal bones.

The scientists selected 2 fragments of animal bones from pits F78 and F108, and 3 more from pit F151 for radiocarbon analysis.

The obtained calibrated dates indicate that the age of the finds

from pit F78 is about 15719–15914 years
from pit F108 about 15590–15975 years
from pit F151 about 15617–16675 years.

This allowed archaeologists to assume that all 3 objects belong to approximately the same time.

However, the finds made in excavation B were not limited to these three pits.

Outside, the researchers found ten more stone chips, 6 fragments of animal bones and 2 arrowheads.

In addition, some finds date back to later times (approximately 11610–10595 years ago).

Among them were the bones of a wolverine, numerous stone tools, thermally deformed stones, debitage and bone remains of other animals.

The archaeologists determined the chronology for Site A at the Coopers Ferry site using Bayesian modeling.

It showed that people appeared at this site between 16500-15250 and 13450-11800 years ago.

For excavation B, the time of the first appearance of man was determined between 16,045 and 15,725 years ago.

This is comparable to the previous assessment, and the time frame in the second case is significantly narrower.

OTHER CONCLUSIONS
The study of stone artifacts from the Coopers Ferry site also led to some conclusions regarding the origin of the early population of America.

In their opinion, the tool-making technology of these people was similar to that used by the Upper Paleolithic populations living in South Siberia and East Asia.

They see the closest analogue to the tips from Cooper's Ferry in the artifacts of the late stage of the Upper Paleolithic, found in Hokkaido.

At the same time, the researchers noted that this does not at all indicate the origin of Paleo-Americans from the ancient population of Japan.

The latter, in particular, is contradicted by the data of paleogenetics and odontology.

The findings are still intriguing.

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