Tlapacoya archaeology: Encyclopedia II - Tlapacoya archaeology - Even more ancient remains?

Tlapacoya archaeology - Even more ancient remains?

In addition to the figurines and other artifacts from the 1500 - 300 BCE era, human and animal remains have been found, some of which could be as much as 25,000 years old.

Silvia González et al. have published research claiming that "one Tlapacoya skull is the first directly dated human in Mexico with an age of 9730 ± 65 years BP" (before present). If confirmed, this would be the 2nd oldest human remain found in the Americas, after the Buhl woman of Idaho.

The most controversial findings in Tlapacoya are artifacts which have been dated by some researchers to as early as 25,000 BP. If verified, these would be some of the earliest dates for human habitation in the Americas and would discredit prevailing theories of the timing of settlement of the New World.

The evidence for these much-earlier dates consists of the bones of black bear and two species of deer which appeared in middens associated with 22,000-year-old hearths, as well as a curved obsidian blade which was found beneath a buried tree trunk. The bones were 24,000 years BP (± 4000 years) and 21,700 years BP (± 500 years) (Lorenzo and Mirambell 1999:488-489). The obsidian blade was found under a tree trunk which dated to 24,0000 years BP (± 1000 years) and was itself dated, using the obsidian hydration method, to between 21,250 and 25,000 years BP.

These very early pre-Clovis dates have challenged by other archaeologists.

The site was uncovered during the construction of a Mexico City-Puebla freeway in the 1960s and 1970s.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Even more ancient remains?", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki