By Miguel Lo Bianco
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Fossil bones found in Argentina of a large armadillo relative with cut marks suggestive of slaughter indicate that humans were present in southern South America about 21,000 years ago, researchers say, before previously thought.
The bones were from a large armored herbivorous mammal called Neosclerocalyptus, part of a group called glyptodonts 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 cut marks on the bones appear to have been made by people using stone tools. This represents strong evidence for the presence of our species, Homo sapiens, although no human fossils were found at the site, they added.
Glyptodonts are related to modern armadillos, although they are much larger – some species as big as a small car. They had a large, bony carapace that covered much of the body – resembling a turtle shell – as well as armor on top of the head, a large, strong tail, and short limbs.
Neosclerocalyptus was one of the smaller species. The individual in this study was about 180 cm long and about 300 kg.
Bone markings were found on the pelvis, tail and armor.
“The placement of these cut marks is consistent with a butchery sequence that targets areas of dense meat, i.e., the cut marks were not randomly distributed but focused on skeletal elements that housed large muscle packs, such as the pelvis and tail. . a typical pattern observed during a slaughter process,” said anthropologist Miguel Delgado of the National University of La Plata, senior author of the study published Wednesday in the journal PLOS ONE.
The shapes of the cut marks are consistent with those created with types of stone tools called flakes and hammers, Delgado added.
The anthropologist and main author of the study, Mariano del Papa, from the National University of La Plata, said that “the only ones capable of making them (these marks) were humans”.
The timing of the peopling of the Americas has been a matter of debate, with some recent discoveries indicating that humans arrived much earlier than previously thought. The role of people in the extinction of many large mammals in the Americas has also been the subject of controversy. Neosclerocalyptus fossils are among the oldest evidence of human interaction with these large Ice Age animals.
The new discoveries represent the earliest evidence of the presence of Homo sapiens and human interaction with large animals in southern South America during the height of the last Ice Age, an era known as the Last Glacial Maximum, and one of the oldest of all. the times. South America, the researchers said.
“Until recently, the traditional model suggested that modern humans (Homo sapiens) entered the Americas 16,000 years ago, so most archaeological evidence was developed during this period. In recent years, new evidence has been found indicating a human presence previous,” said Delgado.
“We currently know that reliable evidence has been recovered in South America from 23,000 years ago, but it is worth noting that contemporary sites have been found in North America with material dated between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago, and Even older sites have also been found in Central America dating back to between 26,000 and 19,000 years ago,” added Delgado.
Neosclerocalyptus fossils were discovered in 2015 on the banks of the Reconquista River, near the city of Merlo, in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area, dating back to the Pleistocene epoch. A method called radiocarbon dating determined that the fossils were about 21,000 years old.
National University of La Plata paleontologist and study co-author Martin de Los Reyes said: “This would be the first evidence of humans in Argentina and the Southern Cone of South America.”
“We are changing the traditional paradigm that speaks of a specific moment of human arrival in the Americas,” added Delgado.
(Reporting by Miguel Lo Bianco; writing by Noelle Harff; editing by Will Dunham and Lucinda Elliott)
