Archaeologists have uncovered almost two hundred stone artifacts, including projectile points and flake tools, and bone fragments from large mammals at the Cooper’s Ferry site in western Idaho, the United States. The discovery suggests that humans lived in the area 16,000 years ago, more than a thousand years earlier than scientists previously thought. They therefore arrived in the Americas before an inland ice-free corridor had opened. The projectile points from the site closely resemble those found in Japan, supporting the hypothesis of a Pacific coastal route.
The Cooper’s Ferry site is located within a terrace at the confluence of Rock Creek and the lower Salmon River of western Idaho. The Nez Perce Tribe refers to this place as an ancient village site named Nipéhe.
“This site is located along the Salmon River, which is a tributary of the larger Columbia River basin,” said Oregon State University’s Professor Loren Davis.
“Early peoples moving south along the Pacific coast would have encountered the Columbia River as the first place below the glaciers where they could easily walk and paddle in to North America.”
“Essentially, the Columbia River corridor was the first off-ramp of a Pacific coast migration route.”
“The timing and position of the Cooper’s Ferry site is consistent with and most easily explained as the result of an early Pacific coastal migration.”
The team unearthed 189 stone artifacts, including 27 stone tools (projectile points, biface fragments, blades, and flake tools).
They found charcoal, a fire-cracked rock, and 86 bone fragments likely from medium- to large-bodied animals.
They also found evidence of a fire hearth, a food processing station and other pits created as part of domestic activities at the site.
Read the rest and see the pics here: http://www.sci-news.com/archaeology/coopers-ferry-tools-07546.html
I had heard we were here earlier than first reported. Some mark it even earlier than this article and even say it upsets the “Out of Africa” theory. Well, who knows. But one of those artifacts sure does look like my great-grandpappy’s axe handle. Maybe this really is my country.
🙂
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YES IT IS GALEN. YES IT IS…………….
AN OLD CONVERSATION BETWEEN A LOCAL ARCHAEOLOGIST AND A STUDENT FRIEND OF MINE WHILE HE WAS DOING HIS THESIS, “HOW DO YOU KNOW, OUTSIDE OF UNRELIABLE CARBON DATING, THAT THESE ARTIFACTS ARE 16000 YEARS OLD?
“WE FOUND THEM IN A ROCK LAYER AT THE DEPTH THAT WOULD SUGGEST THAT TIME”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW THAT THE ROCK LAYER IS THAT OLD?”
‘BECAUSE WE FOUND ALL THESE OLD ARTIFACTS”……………THAT “LOOK” DIFFERENT…..
THIS IS THE JIST OF SCIENCE TODAY……………….
A “16000” YEAR OLD TREE……….
https://img.ifcdn.com/images/9052aceb0796ec67e8be4bd293bce7f1a11d4c3dd8b42c2227e3978d53c46d0d_1.jpg