Cerutti Mastodon site
32°39′57.4″N 117°03′11.4″W / 32.665944°N 117.053167°W
The Cerutti Mastodon site is a
The bones were found with
Context
The Cerutti Mastodon site (SDNHM locality 3767) is a paleontological site located in
The construction of this freeway was completed with the use of a Caterpillar 235C excavator which is a backhoe with a reach of 39.4 feet and a downward dig of 26.4 feet at ground level. The site was found after the construction of a drainage system needed to be done requiring a breach of the sound berm in order to gain access to the drainpipe, the construction of a catch basin at the northern slope of the sound berm and on the south slope the burial of a drainpipe. Materials were placed at the base of the sound berm towards the east after which the bones were found and hand excavation followed.[4]
Findings
The fossil remains of a juvenile male
The research team found cobbles and broken
Analysis from the research team states that the
Criticism
million years ago ) |
The dating of the peopling of the Americas is a very contentious subject. For most of the 20th Century, the Clovis First theory was dominant, dating human habitation of the Americas to no earlier than 13,000 years ago.[6] Later data pushed back the date from Clovis First, with theories suggesting dates of approximately 15,000 to 24,000 years ago.[7] Other theories proposed dates as early as 40,000 years ago.[8][9][10]
Given the substantial differences between these theories and the Cerutti findings, some researchers responded with skepticism.
No human bones were found, and the claims of tools and bone processing have been described as "not plausible".[12] Michael R. Waters commented that "To demonstrate such early occupation of the Americas requires the presence of unequivocal stone artefacts. There are no unequivocal stone tools associated with the bones... this site is likely just an interesting paleontological locality." Chris Stringer said that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence - each aspect requires the strongest scrutiny," adding that "High and concentrated forces must have been required to smash the thickest mastodon bones, and the low energy depositional environment seemingly provides no obvious alternative to humans using the heavy cobbles found with the bones."[12]
Another 2017 paper by eight anthropologists including Tom Dillehay, David J. Meltzer, Richard Klein, Vance T. Holliday and Jon M. Erlandson pointed out the ample supply of good stone for making tools in the area, saying that "the absence of clearly modified chipped stone tools at the CML is damning". They argued that nothing has yet been found to prove that there were hominins in the Americas before ~50 kya.[13]
The claim that the stone tools were created by a human was also challenged by a former
Thomas Deméré however in response to critiques states that many of the critics have not examined the bones themselves and that their critique is based on "long-distance interpretations of our data" and that other hypotheses do not take into account all of the evidence found.[15]
Another issue surrounding the findings concluded in the 2017 Nature article and its critics according to Fisher, one of the authors on this paper, is that the critics want indisputable proof that human agency was involved in these modifications which he states is an "unrealistic standard".[15]
Follow-up study
A 2020 paper by Luc Bordes, Elspeth Hayes, Richard Fullager and Tom Deméré, supported the suggestion made in the original study that the cobbles were intentionally used by hominins to break the mastodon bones. This new data has identified bone micro-residues on cobbles pegmatite CM-254 and andesite CM-281. The micro residues were only found on the upward facing surface of the cobbles whilst there was no residue found on the downward facing surfaces. The surfaces of the cobbles that showed no wear also had no traces of micro residue showing that the bones were only in contact with some surfaces of the cobbles. The authors claimed that this meant that the contact had to be forceful enough to transfer residue, whereas residue would completely coat the cobbles had the transfer been as a result of environmental exposure. They state that the bone residue and the damaged surface of the cobbles occur under a carbonate crust that develops over time and therefore, this leads them to believe that the bone residue was transferred to the cobbles when the site was formed around 130,700 years ago. The authors concluded that these cobbles served as hammers and anvils in order to break the bones which is consistent with the original findings.[16] Other authors still expressed skepticism, continuing to contend that the supposed anthropogenic nature of the site was actually the result of road construction.[17]
See also
- Bluefish Caves
- Calico Early Man Site
- Pedra Furada
- Hueyatlaco
- Settlement of the Americas
References
Citations
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Holen et al. 2017.
- ^ a b c d Katz 2017.
- ^ Erickson 2017.
- ^ a b c Ferrell 2019.
- ^ Zimmer 2017.
- ISBN 978-0-465-07669-7.
- ^ Stefan Lovgren (March 13, 2008). "Americas Settled 15,000 Years Ago, Study Says". Archived from the original on March 14, 2008.
- PMID 9050871.
- ^ Cinq-Mars J. (1979). "Bluefish Cave 1: A Late Pleistocene Eastern Beringian Cave Deposit in the Northern Yukon". Canadian Journal of Archaeology (3): 1–32.
- ^ Bonnichsen, Robson, Critical arguments for Pleistocene artifacts from the Old Crow basin, Yukon: a preliminary statement (p.102-118), vol. in Bryan, Alan L., editor Early Man in America from a Circum-Pacific Perspective. Edmonton: Archaeological Researches International (Occasional Papers No. 1), Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta, 1978
- ^ a b c Wong 2017.
- ^ a b Rincon 2017.
- S2CID 133673949. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
- ^ Switek, Brian (April 10, 2019). "Busted Mastodon Is Ice Age Roadkill". Scientific American. Scientific American. Retrieved May 2, 2021.
- ^ a b "The Cerutti Mastodon Site: One Year Later". San Diego Natural History Museum. 2018. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- S2CID 229435292. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- ^ "Two stones fuel debate over when America's first settlers arrived". Science News. December 4, 2020. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
Bibliography
- Bordes, Luc; Hayes, Elspeth; Fullagar, Richard; Deméré, Tom (December 2020). "Raman and optical microscopy of bone micro-residues on cobbles from the Cerutti Mastodon site". Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports. 34: 102656. S2CID 229435292. Retrieved April 29, 2022.
- Ferrell, Patrick M. (March 22, 2019). "The Cerutti Mastodon Site Reinterpreted with Reference to Freeway Construction Plans and Methods". PaleoAmerica. 5 (1): 1–7. S2CID 167172979.
- Greshko, Michael (2017). "Humans in California 130,000 Years Ago? Get the Facts". National Geographic. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- Holen, Steven R.; Deméré, Thomas A.; Fisher, Daniel C.; Fullagar, Richard; Paces, James B.; Jefferson, George T.; Beeton, Jared M.; Cerutti, Richard A.; Rountrey, Adam N.; Vescera, Lawrence; Holen, Kathleen A. (2017). "A 130,000-year-old archaeological site in southern California, USA". Nature. 544 (7651): 479–483. S2CID 205255425.
- Katz, Brigit (2017). "Remarkable New Evidence for Human Activity in North America 130,000 Years Ago". Smithsonian. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- Erickson, Jim (April 26, 2017). "Mastodon discovery in San Diego shakes up our understanding of early humans in the new world". University of Michigan News. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- Wong, Kate (April 26, 2017). "Ancient Bones Spark Fresh Debate over First Humans in the Americas". Scientific American. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
- Zimmer, Carl (April 26, 2017). "Humans Lived in North America 130,000 Years Ago, Study Claims". The New York Times. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
- Rincon, Paul (April 26, 2017). "First Americans claim sparks controversy". BBC News. Retrieved April 30, 2017.
External links
- Cerutti Mastodon site – San Diego Natural History Museum
- Cerutti Mastodon site – video (05:03) on YouTube
- 3D Models of Specimens – University of Michigan Online Repository of Fossils