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This is what made them believe that the first humans set foot in North America earlier than previously believed.
There is not a lot of information about the first humans and where they settled. This is why scientists are discovering that humans might have populated some places before it was believed. Until now it was known that the first humans in North America came 14,000 years ago.
A new study showed that they might have come 10000 years earlier than that. The researchers were able to prove that the first humans arrived in North America 24,000 years ago. This study was conducted by Ariane Burke from the Universite de Montreal along with her student Lauriane Bourgeon.
The study was published this month after two years of struggle. The researchers discovered bones in a site that was previously excavated by Jacques Cinq-Mars in 1977. The researcher believed that the region dated 30,000. Because in that period the technology was not so advanced as it is now, the hypothesis that Cinq-Mars believed could not be proved.
Now it was proved by this team of researchers. Bourgeon was able to examine more than 35,000 bones. This took her over 2 years because it was a long and hard task. From those bones, there were 15 fragments that showed human activity. Other 20 fragments also showed possible traces of human activity.
“Series of straight, V-shaped lines on the surface of the bones were made by stone tools used to skin animals,” said Burke. “These are indisputable cut-marks created by humans.”
After they studied all of these bones they also submitted them to radiocarbon dating. The oldest bone fragment was 24,000 years old. This is what made them believe that the first humans set foot in North America earlier than previously believed.
The researchers mentioned that they proved that the first humans to live in North America lived during the last ice age. This type of discovery puts everything we believed about the first humans into perspective. It is very interesting to see that people have been populating this planet for so long and that they have managed to spread all around the globe so many years ago.
What is your opinion about this discovery? Did you know when the first humans set foot in North America?
Image source: Wikipedia
