Earliest human presence in North America dated to the last glacial maximum: New radiocarbon dates from Bluefish Caves, Canada

Autor: Ariane Burke, Thomas Higham, Lauriane Bourgeon
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2017
Předmět:
Pedology
lcsh:Medicine
Social Sciences
Loess
01 natural sciences
law.invention
law
0601 history and archaeology
Human Activities
Radiocarbon dating
lcsh:Science
Mammals
Sedimentary Geology
education.field_of_study
Multidisciplinary
geography.geographical_feature_category
060102 archaeology
Fossils
Last Glacial Maximum
Geology
06 humanities and the arts
Ruminants
Radioactive Carbon Dating
Caves
Archaeology
Taphonomy
Vertebrates
Radiometric dating
Physical Anthropology
Research Article
Reindeer
010506 paleontology
Canada
Population
Equines
Soil Science
Research and Analysis Methods
Beringia
Paleontology
Cave
Paleoanthropology
Humans
Animals
Horses
education
Chemical Characterization
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Isotope Analysis
Petrology
geography
lcsh:R
Radiometric Dating
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Organisms
Biology and Life Sciences
Before Present
Archaeological Dating
Anthropology
North America
Amniotes
Period (geology)
Earth Sciences
lcsh:Q
Sediment
Paleobiology
Zdroj: PLoS ONE
PLoS ONE, Vol 12, Iss 1, p e0169486 (2017)
ISSN: 1932-6203
Popis: The timing of the first entry of humans into North America is still hotly debated within the scientific community. Excavations conducted at Bluefish Caves (Yukon Territory) from 1977 to 1987 yielded a series of radiocarbon dates that led archaeologists to propose that the initial dispersal of human groups into Eastern Beringia (Alaska and the Yukon Territory) occurred during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). This hypothesis proved highly controversial in the absence of other sites of similar age and concerns about the stratigraphy and anthropogenic signature of the bone assemblages that yielded the dates. The weight of the available archaeological evidence suggests that the first peopling of North America occurred ca. 14,000 cal BP (calibrated years Before Present), i.e., well after the LGM. Here, we report new AMS radiocarbon dates obtained on cut-marked bone samples identified during a comprehensive taphonomic analysis of the Bluefish Caves fauna. Our results demonstrate that humans occupied the site as early as 24,000 cal BP (19,650 ± 130 14C BP). In addition to proving that Bluefish Caves is the oldest known archaeological site in North America, the results offer archaeological support for the "Beringian standstill hypothesis", which proposes that a genetically isolated human population persisted in Beringia during the LGM and dispersed from there to North and South America during the post-LGM period.
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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