Stone tools unearthed in a cave in central Mexico and other evidence from 42 far-flung archeological sites indicate people arrived in North America earlier than previously known, upwards of 30,000 years ago. The research also implicated humans in the extinctions of many large Ice Age mammals such as mammoths and camels. The new findings contradict the conventional view that the first people arrived in the Americas around 13,000 years ago, crossing the land bridge, and were associated with the “Clovis culture,” known for distinctive stone tools. “The peopling of America was a complicated, complex and diverse process,” Ardelean said. “These are paradigm-shifting results that shape our understanding of the initial dispersal of modern humans into the Americas.”

Source: The Hindu July 22, 2020 20:37 UTC