[THS] Paleo-Indians settled North America earlier than thought: study

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Paleo-Indians settled North America earlier than thought: study

March 24th, 2011 in Other Sciences / Archaeology & Fossils

Artifacts in Texas predate Clovis culture by 2,500 years, new s

These are some of the artifacts from the 15,500-year-old horizon. Credit: [Image
courtesy of Michael R. Waters]

New discoveries at a Central Texas archaeological site by a Texas A&M University-led
research team prove that people lived in the region far earlier – as much as 2,500
years earlier – than previously believed, rewriting what anthropologists know about
when the first inhabitants arrived in North America. That pushes the arrival date back
to about 15,500 years ago.

Michael Waters, director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study of First Americans,
along with researchers from Baylor University, the University of Illinois-Chicago, the
University of Minnesota, and Texas State University, have found the oldest
archaeological evidence for human occupation in Texas and North America at the
Debra L.

Friedkin site, located about 40 miles northwest of Austin. Their work is published in
the current issue of Science magazine.

Waters says that buried in deposits next to a small spring-fed stream is a record of
human occupation spanning the last 15,500 years. Near the surface is the record of
the Late Prehistoric and Archaic occupants of the region. Buried deeper in the soil are
layers with Folsom and Clovis occupations going back 12,000 to 13,000 years ago.

"But the kicker was the discovery of nearly 16,000 artifacts below the Clovis horizon
that dated to 15,500 years ago," Waters notes.

"Most of these are chipping debris from the making and resharpening of tools, but
over 50 are tools. There are bifacial artifacts that tell us they were making projectile
points and knives at the site," Waters says. There are expediently made tools and
blades that were used for cutting and scraping."

Multiple studies have shown that the site is undisturbed and that the artifacts are in
place and over 60 "luminescence dates" show that early people arrived at the site by
15,500 years ago, Waters explains. Luminescence dating technique is a method used
to date the sediment surrounding the artifacts. It dates the last time the sediment
was exposed to sunlight.

For more than 80 years, it has been argued that the Clovis people were the first to
enter the Americas, Waters says. He goes on to say that over the last few decades,
there have been several credible sites which date older than Clovis found in North
America -- specifically in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Oregon.

"However, this evidence is not very robust," Waters observes.

"What is special about the Debra L. Friedkin site is that it has the largest number of
artifacts dating to the pre-Clovis time period, that these artifacts show an array of
different technologies, and that these artifacts date to a very early time.

"This discovery challenges us to re-think the early colonization of the Americas.
There's no doubt these tools and weapons are human-made and they date to about
15,500 years ago, making them the oldest artifacts found both in Texas and North
America."

Waters has been working at the site since 2006, and analysis of the artifacts collected
from the site is ongoing. Waters says, "These studies will help us figure out where
these people came from, how they adapted to the new environments they
encountered, and understand the origins of later groups like Clovis."

Provided by Texas A&M University

"Paleo-Indians settled North America earlier than thought: study." March 24th, 2011.
http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-paleo-indians-north-america-earlier-
thought.html