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Remarkable New Evidence for Human Activity in North America 130,000 Years Ago
Posted on 8/29/17 at 10:02 pm
Posted on 8/29/17 at 10:02 pm
LINK Researchers say prehistoric mastodon bones bear human-made markings
The estimate for the arrival of humans in the New World keeps being pushed further and further back in time. Immigration from Siberia across the Alaskan ice bridge is dated back to about 13,000 years ago but there's evidence that Vikings and Easter Islanders also attained footholds in the Americas before abandoning them and returning to their lands.
However, the notion that 130,000-year-old humans migrated to the Western Hemisphere completely changes the game. While humans of that time were anatomically modern, they didn't yet possess the quality that distinguishes us from other life on earth, empathetic consciousness.
While it will undoubtedly be incredible if pre-modern human remains are found, I have an even more fascinating thought. What if the beings that processed the mastodon were not human, or even primates? I would love to think that sentience has happened more than once on earth. How about you?
quote:
The team’s findings, published today in the journal Nature, could upend our current understanding of when humans arrived in North America—already a flashpoint among archaeologists. Recent theories posit that people first migrated to the continent about 15,000 years ago along a coastal route, as Jason Daley writes in Smithsonian. But in January, a new analysis of horse remains from the Bluefish Caves by archaeologist Jacques Cinq-Mars suggested that humans may have lived on the continent as early as 24,000 years ago.
quote:
Palaeontologists working at the site found an assortment of mastodon remains, including two tusks, three molars, 16 ribs, and more than 300 bone fragments. These fragments bore impact marks suggesting that they had been smacked with a hard object: Some of the shattered bones contained spiral fractures, indicating that they were broken while still “fresh,” the authors write.
Amidst the fine-grain sands at the site, researchers also discovered five hulking stones. According to the study, the stones were used as makeshift hammers and anvils, or “cobbles.” They showed signs of impact—fragments found in the area could in fact be repositioned back into the cobbles—and two distinct clusters of broken bones surrounded the stones, suggesting that the bones had been smashed in that location.
quote:
But he went on to venture a few guesses. The occupants of the Cerutti Mastodon site could have been Neanderthals, their Denisoven cousins, or even anatomically modern humans. They might have been some type of hybrid population. “[R]ecent genetic studies indicate that rather than dealing with a single, isolated species of migrating hominids or humans, we're actually dealing with an intermixing, a kind of meta population of humans,” Fullagar noted.
The estimate for the arrival of humans in the New World keeps being pushed further and further back in time. Immigration from Siberia across the Alaskan ice bridge is dated back to about 13,000 years ago but there's evidence that Vikings and Easter Islanders also attained footholds in the Americas before abandoning them and returning to their lands.
However, the notion that 130,000-year-old humans migrated to the Western Hemisphere completely changes the game. While humans of that time were anatomically modern, they didn't yet possess the quality that distinguishes us from other life on earth, empathetic consciousness.
While it will undoubtedly be incredible if pre-modern human remains are found, I have an even more fascinating thought. What if the beings that processed the mastodon were not human, or even primates? I would love to think that sentience has happened more than once on earth. How about you?
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Posted on 8/30/17 at 9:11 am to Kentucker
There so much "fact" in ancient history that needs to be updated. I'm a big believer in pre-Columbus exploration making it to North America too. Of course the Vikings, but Celtics, Polynesians, and east Asia were all here before CC.
Posted on 8/30/17 at 11:06 am to PCRammer
quote:
Celtics
There's somewhere in Alabama that the Welsh allegedly explored and settled, mixing with the existing Indian tribes. I can't remember if they left behind some markings, or if the language spoken by the tribe had a LOT of similarities to Gaelic.
quote:
east Asia
Like the above, there was a western Indian tribe whose syntax and language was very similar to Japanese, and I think some of their mythos/religion was very close to Buddhism/Shinto.
Posted on 8/30/17 at 11:35 am to PCRammer
I agree. Evidence is irrefutable that Vikings and Polynesians reached the Americas. There is evidence of Viking settlements in eastern Canada, for example. Also, when Easter Island was first visited by European explorers, they found that one of the foods there was the sweet potato. Sweet potatoes originated in South America so that means Easter Islanders reached that continent and brought the vegetable back to their home.
Posted on 8/30/17 at 1:27 pm to Kentucker
Did anyone really think Columbus was the first one here?
Posted on 8/30/17 at 1:33 pm to Kentucker
Ancient Native American civilization was actually once a lot more than what Columbus and later the Pilgrims found.
Vikings described large city like settlements and campfires dotting the shoreline as far as they could see.
It's thought that the Native American population was once pretty significant and at least advanced enough that normally they would have been able to repel European invaders. Hence why Viking explorers never got a foothold. But apparently not long before Columbus there was an event in North America similar to the Black Plague in Europe, even worse maybe, that wiped out a large percentage of the population. The timing for Columbus and those who came after him was just right to take over
Vikings described large city like settlements and campfires dotting the shoreline as far as they could see.
It's thought that the Native American population was once pretty significant and at least advanced enough that normally they would have been able to repel European invaders. Hence why Viking explorers never got a foothold. But apparently not long before Columbus there was an event in North America similar to the Black Plague in Europe, even worse maybe, that wiped out a large percentage of the population. The timing for Columbus and those who came after him was just right to take over
Posted on 8/30/17 at 8:09 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:
Did anyone really think Columbus was the first one here?
Not many people do anymore. Certainly the Vikings were here from Europe long before Columbus and there seem to be several waves of immigration from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge and Polynesian exploring parties from Easter Island and other locations.
Posted on 8/30/17 at 8:16 pm to Kentucker
quote:
Not many people do anymore. Certainly the Vikings were here from Europe long before Columbus and there seem to be several waves of immigration from Asia via the Bering Land Bridge and Polynesian exploring parties from Easter Island and other locations.
I'm just trying to figure out who to send my reparations check to.
Posted on 8/30/17 at 8:18 pm to BowlJackson
quote:
But apparently not long before Columbus there was an event in North America similar to the Black Plague in Europe, even worse maybe, that wiped out a large percentage of the population.
I'm not familiar with a depopulating plague but there was definitely a comet explosion that wiped out the Clovis people, one of the most advanced groups of First Immigrants to the Americas. LINK
quote:
New evidence and support for a theory introduced in 2007 suggested a comet may have exploded over Canada 12,900 years ago (the Younger Dryas Boundary), killing off the Clovis people and large animals and sending the earth back into an ice age.
Posted on 8/31/17 at 3:05 am to Kentucker
quote:
I would love to think that sentience has happened more than once on earth. How about you?
I have been fascinated with this theory for a long time as well. It is incredibly difficult to still find evidence as far back as when that would have happened but I am not really able to simply say that it didn't happen.
Posted on 8/31/17 at 5:07 am to kywildcatfanone
This post was edited on 8/31/17 at 5:08 am
Posted on 8/31/17 at 6:10 am to Commander Data
quote:
I have been fascinated with this theory for a long time as well. It is incredibly difficult to still find evidence as far back as when that would have happened but I am not really able to simply say that it didn't happen.
The odds are certainly long but the chances cannot be considered zero. I thought long and hard about how this scenario might have unfolded without a human player.
We know that there are other animals with big brains living with us today. Dolphins and other cetaceans, elephants, and even octopuses exhibit extraordinary intelligence that borders on sentience.
Taking the evidence from the San Diego find at face value, it's clear that someone or something processed the bones for their marrow. Since there is not another scintilla of evidence that an advanced primate lived in the Western Hemisphere before the arrival of humans, we should ask if there was another creature living at that time that had a big brain and the physical ability to process the bones in the manner described in the article.
There was only one. I think the mastodon bones were beaten with big rocks by another mastodon. Like modern-day pachyderms they possessed big brains and were equipped with exquitely versatile and strong trunks that allowed them to manipulate their environment much the same way ancient humans could with their hands.
Why would a mastodon commit an act of cannibalism? Well, 130,000 years ago there might have been a drought in that part of the country that wiped out the food source for most animals, including mastodons. Hunger and the survival extinct will cause animals to do extraordinary things to stay alive. A starving plant eating animal might resort to consuming anything available. A dead mastodon would be a lot of food to just walk away from.
Now it isn't the cannibalism, necessarily, that you could call sentient. Although the idea that a plant eating animal could deduce that meat is also a food source might qualify. Rather, it's that the mastodon knew the bones contained food and the manner in which it used boulders to crack open the bones of its cohort to get at the marrow. This is a very human-like thought process and subsequent experimental action.
It's unfortunate that what might have been a second evolving sentience on earth was wiped out by the one that did achieve full sentience. On well, that's how we humans roll.
Posted on 8/31/17 at 12:18 pm to HempHead
LINK
Prince Madoc is thought to have come to Alabama. I went to the welsh caves in that article. It's pretty cool. If you talk to the park workers up at little river canyon/ desoto they can tell you how to get to them but they are supposed to be off limits to the public.
quote:
There's somewhere in Alabama that the Welsh allegedly explored and settled, mixing with the existing Indian tribes.
Prince Madoc is thought to have come to Alabama. I went to the welsh caves in that article. It's pretty cool. If you talk to the park workers up at little river canyon/ desoto they can tell you how to get to them but they are supposed to be off limits to the public.
Posted on 8/31/17 at 1:03 pm to Kentucker
nb4theearthis6000yrsold
I'm a devout Christian so I can retell this stupidity
I'm a devout Christian so I can retell this stupidity
Posted on 8/31/17 at 5:21 pm to Kentucker
I read a book by Larry Niven about an alien species that migrated from Earth and Sol and lived on a spectacular artificial world harnessing the energy of it's host star. They evolved from dinosaurs and had total control of their subconscious mind. Good read and your post reminded me of the book. It was titled "bowl of heaven" for anyone interested.
This post was edited on 8/31/17 at 5:36 pm
Posted on 8/31/17 at 6:21 pm to Wtodd
It's been a long time since we've had a religion vs. science tussle on this board. That's a good thing. 
Posted on 8/31/17 at 6:37 pm to Commander Data
Sorry, CD, I hit the downvote instead of the upvote. Count that Lone Ranger as an upper. Honestly, I'm not drinking. I'm a teetotaler.
Dinosaurs reigned for 140 million years but an intelligent species never evolved. A kaleidoscope of different species developed various methods for survival but not one of them was a big brain. At least not that we know of.
After studying fossil records for most of my life, I've decided that they are sparse and exceedingly rare. It's said that 99% of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct. The vast majority of them have not been found in fossils so there could have been animals, or maybe even plants, that did employ intelligence to survive.
There have been five great extinctions to date and they may have perished despite their best efforts to survive. Maybe the fossil record will reveal them some day. Perhaps the San Diego excavation has stumbled upon one.
quote:
They evolved from dinosaurs and had total control of their subconscious mind.
Dinosaurs reigned for 140 million years but an intelligent species never evolved. A kaleidoscope of different species developed various methods for survival but not one of them was a big brain. At least not that we know of.
After studying fossil records for most of my life, I've decided that they are sparse and exceedingly rare. It's said that 99% of all species that have ever lived have gone extinct. The vast majority of them have not been found in fossils so there could have been animals, or maybe even plants, that did employ intelligence to survive.
There have been five great extinctions to date and they may have perished despite their best efforts to survive. Maybe the fossil record will reveal them some day. Perhaps the San Diego excavation has stumbled upon one.
Posted on 8/31/17 at 10:46 pm to kywildcatfanone
quote:that would have come as quite a surprise to the 20 million or so native americans that were here
Did anyone really think Columbus was the first one here?
Posted on 9/1/17 at 1:08 pm to Kentucker
quote:
Dinosaurs reigned for 140 million years but an intelligent species never evolved. A kaleidoscope of different species developed various methods for survival but not one of them was a big brain. At least not that we know of.
I am ignorant to dinosaurs and not well versed on evolution either. Never really studied Darwin's theory. In the book, a rather big bird-like species evolved from dinosaurs and left earth behind. I am a sucker for science fiction. I squeeze in about 2 per year but stick to non-fiction for the most part.
With football season starting I will be reading much less than usual.
The downvote is cool. shite happens and I will just pay you back in your next thread....seriously, the upvote feature is over rated and taken too seriously by lots of users.
This post was edited on 9/1/17 at 1:10 pm
Posted on 9/1/17 at 5:53 pm to Kentucker
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