Animal bones suggest earlier-than-expected human presence in South America | Science

Fossilized bones of an armadillo relative found in Argentina with cut marks indicating butchery point to the presence of humans in South America in California. 21 thousand years agoAccording to researchers, The period prior to the previous estimates.

The bones were from a large armored herbivorous mammal called Neosclerocalyptus, Part of a group called glyptodons that inhabited the Americas for more than 30 million years before becoming extinct at the end of the Ice Age, about 10,000 years ago.

The researchers said the cuts on the bones appeared to have been made by people using stone tools. This suggests strong evidence of the existence of our species, rational humanAlthough no human fossils have been found at the site.

Glyptodons are relatives of modern armadillos, though much larger – some species were as big as a small car. They had large bone shield, It resembles a turtle shell, and it also resembles a kind of helmet, and it contains a strong tail and short limbs.

Neosclerocalyptus was one of the smallest species. The individual in this study was His height is 180 cm. And its weight is about 300 kg.

Bone marks were found in the pelvic, tail, and carapace areas.

“The location of the cuts corresponds to a slaughter sequence that focuses on areas with a lot of meat, meaning that the cuts were not randomly distributed, but rather focused on skeletal elements that contain large muscle groups such as the pelvis and tail. It is a typical pattern seen in the slaughter of animals,” said anthropologist Miguel Delgado, of the National University of La Plata, lead author of the study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.

Delgado added that the shapes of the pieces are also consistent with those created using types of stone tools and stone hammers.

“The only ones capable of making (these types of marks) are humans,” said study leader and anthropologist Mariano del Papa, of the National University of La Plata.

The timeline of the occupation of the Americas is a matter of intense debate, with some recent discoveries suggesting that humans arrived much earlier than originally thought. The role of humans in the extinction of many large mammals in the Americas has also been debated. The Neosclerocalyptus fossils are among the earliest evidence of human interaction with these large animals in the Pleistocene.

“Until recently, the traditional model suggested that modern humans (Homo sapiens) entered the Americas by 16,000 years ago, so most archaeological evidence was placed within that time period,” Delgado said. “In recent years, new evidence suggests an earlier human presence.”

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