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Published online 21 October 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.1034
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Prehistoric Clovis culture roamed southwards
Stone tools and bones of an ancient tusker found at extensive Mexican site.
Scientists have discovered a site containing the most extensive evidence seen so far in Mexico for the Clovis culture. The find extends the range of America's oldest identifiable culture, which roamed North America about 13,000 years ago.
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I believe that this short article continues to fuel what I think is a misconception about the time that the man, in this case Clovis people, have resided in the Americas. Work by Dr. Tom Dillehay and others has dated artifacts well back to at least 30,000 years and likely far earlier. Secondly, I am of the opinion that the Clovis people disappearance just less than 13,000 BP primarily because of a significant comet impact event(see http//www.bcclimate.com., Rod Chilton.
I can't comment on the age of the original migration of humans into North America, but an interesting article was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science last week, effectively rebutting the the Younger Dryas comet impact. Reviewed on my Nature Network blog:
http://network.nature.com/people/im_brooks/blog/2009/10/16/scientific-deathmatch-brewing
And just noticed this Nature News article from last week too:
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091014/full/461861a.html
This is a significant discovery. We know that gomphotheres survived in South America until Paleo-American times, however most paleontologists are of the opinion that gomphotheres went extinct in North America at the start of the Pleistocene. That has presented somewhat of a mystery because a fossilized engraved mammoth pelvis was found on the shore of the Valsequillo Reservoir in Mexico in the 1950s. One of the engravings on that bone was a probiscan with 4 tusks.
In response to Ian Brooks. Yes I am aware of the recent refuting of the comet hypothesis linked to the Younger Dryas. The scientists that have dismissed the comet scenario primarily addressed two main cosmic indicators (carbon spherules and nanodiamonds) collected at some of the sites proposed by the American group of scientists that have championed the cosmic hypothesis. Since that time, a specific type of nanodiamond (one that is hexagonal in shape) has been detected at a new site off the California coast. Apparently this particular type of nanodiamond is formed in the presence of meteor impacts only. Also, what may be more important still are significant increases in rare on Earth elements helium 3 and potassium 40. There are many other signs too of comet impact that I outline in my book called "Sudden Cold" An Examination of the Younger Dryas Cold Reversal. Rod Chilton.
Hi Rod, sorry for a late reply. Interesting stuff. I'll check out your book; thanks for the heads up!