Archaeologists in Argentina have analyzed the 21,000-year-old fossil remains with cut marks belonging to a specimen of the exinct glyptodont Neosclerocalyptus, found on the banks of the Reconquista River, northeast of the Pampean region. Their results provide new elements for discussing the earliest peopling of southern South America and specifically for the interaction between humans and local megafauna in the Pampean region during the latest Ice Age.
Paleo-Indians hunting a glyptodont, a relative of the armadillo that lived during the Pleistocene epoch. By Heinrich Harder, 1920.
The timing of early human occupation of South America is a topic of intense debate, highly relevant to a study of early human dispersal across the Americas and of humans’ potential role in the extinction of large mammals at the end of the Pleistocene epoch.
This discussion is hampered by a general scarcity of direct archaeological evidence of early human presence and human-animal interactions.
In the current study, Dr. Mariano Del Papa from National University of La Plata and colleagues found evidence of butchery on Pleistocene mammal fossils from the banks of the Reconquista River, northeast of the Pampean region in Argentina.
The fossils examined by the team belonged to a Neosclerocalyptus glyptodont, a giant relative of armadillos.
The cut marks on parts of the pelvis, tail, and body armor were consistent with known marks made by stone tools.
The placement of these marks was consistent with a butchering sequence targeting areas of dense flesh.
“The radiocarbon dating indicates these fossils are around 21,000 years old, nearly 6,000 years older than other known archaeological evidence in southern South America,” the researchers said.
Distribution of cut marks found in caudal vertebrae of Neosclerocalyptus. Image credit: Del Papa et al., doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304956.
The results fit with other recent findings that indicate early human presence in the Americas over 20,000 years ago.
These fossils are also among the oldest evidence of human interaction with large mammals shortly before many of those mammals became extinct.
“Our findings are inconsistent with the chronological frame established for the earliest human occupation of southern South America, which had been proposed to date back to 16,000 years ago,” the scientists said.
“Remarkably, a recent study has shown reliable evidence of human occupations in Patagonia at 17,300 years ago, indicating earlier dates for the initial peopling of southern South America.”
“Despite traditional peopling models tending to support a later entry of humans to southern South America, it is not ruled out the possible presence of humans and their associated cultural evidence well before 16,000 years ago.”
“In this context, our results support the growing archaeological evidence indicating an earlier date for the initial peopling of the Americas and the southern Cone in particular.”
The findings were published in the journal PLoS ONE.
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M. Del Papa et al. 2024. Anthropic cut marks in extinct megafauna bones from the Pampean region (Argentina) at the last glacial maximum. PLoS ONE 19 (7): e0304956; doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0304956
Source : Breaking Science News