Arrr! Methinks ye scurvy dogs did find that humans and giant sloths roamed South America in the same era.
2023-07-12
Arrr! Them wise scholars be a-studyin' fine trinkets made o' bones from giant sloths. They reckon humans may 'ave roamed South America long afore we thought. Blimey!
New research suggests that humans lived in South America at the same time as now extinct giant sloths, indicating that people arrived in the Americas earlier than previously thought. Scientists studied triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made from sloth bones and determined that they were the result of deliberate craftsmanship. The ornaments and sediment at the Brazilian site where they were found were dated to be around 25,000 to 27,000 years old, several thousand years earlier than previous theories about human arrival in the Americas. This challenges the conventional belief that humans did not reach the Americas until around 15,000 years ago, after the Bering land bridge between Russia and Alaska was submerged. The study's co-author, Mirian Liza Alves Forancelli Pacheco, stated that this discovery, along with other sites in South and North America, calls for a reevaluation of ideas about human migration to the Americas.The ornaments were discovered 30 years ago at a rock shelter called Santa Elina in central Brazil, but this study is the first to extensively analyze them and rule out the possibility of later human involvement. The researchers determined that the carvings were made within days to a few years after the sloths died, before the materials had fossilized, and they ruled out natural abrasion as an explanation for the shapes and holes. They believe that the pendants were personal objects, possibly for adornment. The findings were published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B journal.
While some researchers have disputed the dates of other evidence, such as fossilized human footprints in New Mexico dating back 21,000 to 23,000 years, this new research adds to the conversation about early human presence in the Americas. It challenges the idea of a single wave of migration over the Bering land bridge and suggests the possibility of multiple waves of people arriving in the Americas. Further study and analysis will be needed to fully understand the implications of these findings.