Mystery Deepens: Idaho Artifacts Challenge What We Know About North America’s Earliest Inhabitants
Here’s a question for ya: What if we’ve all been wildly off about when humans first set foot in North America? I mean, picture this — instead of the classic tale where our ancestors strolled across the Bering Land Bridge around 14,800 years ago, they might’ve actually arrived a good thousand years earlier. Western Idaho’s Cooper’s Ferry site just dropped a bombshell, revealing ancient artifacts and even horse bones dating back over 16,000 years. Yes, you read that right—these early settlers might’ve been dining on extinct horses while their neighbors were still figuring out glacial retreats. But, as with all good mysteries, not everyone’s buying it. Some experts argue the dating’s a tad over-ambitious, and others shake their heads at suggestions of a Pacific Coast boat route that ties back to northern Japan. So, buckle up, because this debate on North America’s first footprints is anything but settled—and it’s reigniting some fiery discussions among archaeologists. Curious yet? LEARN MORE
New findings in western Idaho provide evidence that North America’s ancestors arrived much earlier than was previously believed. But not everyone is convinced.
Davis et alWhite arrowhead points to the exact location of the Cooper’s Ferry excavation site.
It’s widely believed that the first human settlers of North America reached the continent through the Bering Land Bridge, an ice-free landscape that connected Asia and North America after the last Ice Age around 14,800 years ago. However, new evidence suggests that the arrival of these first humans may have been much earlier than previously believed.
LiveScience reports that a team of researchers analyzed ancient remains found at the Cooper’s Ferry archaeological site located in western Idaho and found biological samples between 16,560 and 15,280 years old.
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