First North American Hunters 1,000 Years Earlier Than Previously Thought, Speared Mastodon Fossil Shows

ScienceDaily (Oct. 20, 2011) —   http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111020145054.htm

A new and astonishing chapter has been added to North American prehistory in regards to the first hunters and their hunt for the now extinct giant mammoth-like creatures -- the mastodons. Professor Eske Willerslev's team from the Centre for GeoGenetics, University of Copenhagen, has in collaboration with Michael Waters' team at the Center for the Study of the First Americans, University of Texas A&M, shown that the hunt for large mammals occurred at least 1,000 years before previously assumed.



A mastodon rib with the embedded bone projectile point. (A) Closeup view. (B) Reconstruction showing the bone point with the broken tip. The thin layer represents the exterior of the rib. (C) CT X-ray showing the long shaft of the point from the exterior to the interior of the rib. (D) The entire rib fragment with the embedded bone projectile point. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of Copenhagen)
This new study concludes that the first-known hunters in North America can now be dated back at least 14,000 years.

"I am sure that especially the Native Americans are pleased with the results of the study. It is further proof that humans have been present in North America for longer than previously believed. The "Clovis First" theory, which many scientists swore to just a few years back, has finally been buried with the conclusions of this study," says Professor Eske Willerslev, director of the Centre for GeoGenetics at the Natural History Museum of Denmark, University of Copenhagen.

Spearhead found in mastodon

It is the finding and analysis of a tip from a human-made projectile point (spearhead) gathered from the remains of a mastodon that is behind the rewriting of North American prehistory. The spearhead, which itself was carved out from a mastodon-bone, was found at the Manis site in the state of Washington when archaeologists excavated a mastodon in the late 1970s.

However, 30 years would pass before a team of researchers was able to put a date on the spearhead and establish the identity of both the bone and the spearhead that had been embedded into the rib of the defeated mastodon. This was done through, amongst other things, DNA analysis, protein sequencing, advanced computer technology, Carbon-14 dating as well as comparisons with other mastodon findings in North America, for instance in the state of Wisconsin.

Clovis culture challenged

The first traces of the hunt for mastodons in North America have previously been attributed the so-called Clovis culture. Clovis culture dates back approximately 13,000 years and is viewed as a type of common culture ancestral for all Native American tribes in North America.

"Our research now shows that other hunters were present at least 1,000 years prior to the Clovis culture. Therefore, it was not a sudden war or a quick slaughtering of the mastodons by the Clovis culture, which made the species disappear. We can now conclude that the hunt for the animals stretched out over a much longer period of time. At this time, however, we do not know if it was the man-made hunt for the mastodons, mammoths and other large animals from the so-called mega-fauna, which caused them to become extinct and disappear. Maybe the reason was something complete different, for instance the climate," states Professor Eske Willerslev.

The Road to America

It is no more than three years ago that Eske Willerslev and his research team established that the first traces of humans in North America are approximately 14,340 years old, and that the current Native Americans in the USA are descendants of these migrants who came from Asia. This was done using Carbon-14 dating and DNA analysis of human remains found in caves in the state of Oregon.

Professor Eske Willerslev has been able to add a new chapter to North American prehistory by mapping the now first-known hunters in this part of the world.

I don't know if the situation has improved, but for some years it was very difficult to any archaology at all here in the States.
Native Americans essentially declared that ANY artifact must have been placed there for ritual purposes.

There was an ugly court fight over Kenniwick. man, claimed by some tribe as an ancestor.

pretty cool !

Now all we need is the mastodon head with a concave indentation that could only have been made by a sling stone

Rat Man wrote on Oct 28^th, 2011 at 11:18pm:



Maybe if you got it to roar at you you and a bunc of other slings could sling inside his mouth and he would choke on the rocks, muhahah.

Seriously though I wasn't there but I have heard slings were used to distract them while the atlatl guys came up and threw their spears.

As Dan said, I wasn't there, but I imagine hunting Mammoths and Mastodons was often a last resort before starvation.  I can think of many animals I'd much rather hunt, especially with Stone Age weapons.

Mammoths and Mastodons would have been very economical to hunt, that's a shitload of food for one kill, albeit a very difficult kill

Just look to modern elephant spear hunting in Africa for an example of how they could have hunted mastodons. Neither clean nor humane, but effective.

Masiakasaurus wrote on Nov 9^th, 2011 at 10:34pm:

That said, much of where elephants are in Africa is short certain useful terrain features. Such as nice large cliffs, which might have been used in a way similar to Native American bison hunting strategies seen in the U.S. Great Plains area.