In a groundbreaking discovery that rewrites the history of human settlement in the Americas, researchers have unearthed evidence of early humans butchering a massive, extinct armadillo-like creature in what is now Argentina. The fossilized remains, dated to between 20,811 and 21,090 years old, shed new light on the timing and nature of the first human migrations to the Americas.
The creature in question, known as Neosclerocalyptus, was a giant armadillo-like species that roamed the region during the last ice age. Weighing in at around 660 pounds and measuring nearly 6 feet in length, including the tail, these animals were a formidable prey for the earliest inhabitants of the Americas.
The discovery, made by a team of researchers led by Miguel Delgado of the National University of La Plata in Buenos Aires, is significant for several reasons. Firstly, it adds to the growing body of evidence that suggests the Americas were settled far earlier than previously thought, potentially more than 25,000 years ago.
Until recently, the traditional model indicated that humans entered the continent 16,000 calendar years ago, Delgado said. Our results, in conjunction with other evidence, propose a distinct scenario for the first human peopling of the American continent, that is, the most likely date for the first human entry occurred between 21,000 and 25,000 years ago or even before.
The cut marks on the fossilized bones, carefully analyzed by the research team, provide compelling evidence that these early humans used stone tools to butcher the giant armadillo-like creatures. The placement and pattern of the cuts suggest a deliberate sequence of actions focused on the dense areas of the animal's flesh, such as the pelvis and tail.
The cut marks were not randomly distributed but focused on those skeletal elements that harbored large muscle packs like the pelvis and the tail, Delgado explained.
This discovery adds to a growing body of evidence that challenges the traditional timeline of human settlement in the Americas. Recent findings, such as the discovery of fossilized footprints in New Mexico dated to 21,000 to 23,000 years ago, and the discovery of perforated giant sloth bones in Brazil that were likely used as pendants 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, suggest that the first inhabitants of the Americas arrived much earlier than previously thought.
The authors have done a solid job of demonstrating through qualitative and quantitative analyses that the cut marks on the armadillo fossils are most likely to have been made by humans, said Briana Pobiner, a paleoanthropologist at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was not involved in the study.
As the debate over the timing and nature of the first human migrations to the Americas continues, this latest discovery provides a tantalizing glimpse into the lives of the earliest inhabitants of the region. The butchered remains of the giant armadillo-like creature offer a window into the challenges and adaptations of these intrepid pioneers, who ventured into a land teeming with now-extinct megafauna.
The implications of this study extend far beyond the borders of Argentina, as it contributes to our understanding of the global dispersal of modern humans and the complex interplay between our species and the environments we have inhabited throughout our history.
