Oregon State University archaeologists have discovered projectile points in Idaho that are thousands of years older than other projectile points in the Americas.
Carbon-14 dating shows that the projectile points are from around 15,700 years ago. The points previously found at the Cooper's Ferry site along the Salmon River in Idaho are 2,300 years older than the ones found in North America.
Today's findings were published in the journal.
"From a scientific point of view, these discoveries add very important details about what the archaeological record of the earliest peoples of the Americas looks like," said Davis. It's one thing to say that people were in the Americas 16,000 years ago, but it's another thing to find well-made artifacts they left behind.
The researchers working at the Cooper's Ferry site had previously found small pieces of bone that indicated the presence of humans about 16,000 years ago. Davis said that the discovery of projectile points revealed new insights into how the first Americans used technology.
The site where the points were found is on traditional Nez Perce land and is known as the ancient village of Niphe. The land is owned by the Bureau of Land Management.
The points are similar to projectile points found in Hokkaido, Japan, dating to 16,000–20,000 years ago. The ice age people of Northeast Asia and North America are thought to have early genetic and cultural connections.
The earliest peoples of North America had cultural knowledge that helped them survive. The projectile points at the Cooper's Ferry site can be seen in the way stone tools are made. We can infer the spatial extents of social networks where this technological knowledge was shared between people by comparing these points with other sites of the same age and older.
The slender projectile points are characterized by two distinct ends, one sharpened and the other stemmed, as well as a symmetrical shape. Despite the small size, they were deadly weapons and were attached to darts.
There's an assumption that early projectile points had to be big to kill large game, however, smaller projectile points mounted on darts will penetrate deeply and cause tremendous internal damage. You can use these weapons to hunt any animal.
The emerging picture of early human life in the Pacific Northwest has been added to by these discoveries. The lives of our region's earliest inhabitants were revealed when we found a site where people made pits and stored broken projectile points.
A 14,200-year-old fire pit and a food-processing area containing the remains of an extinct horse are included in the Cooper's Ferry record. They found and mapped more than 60,000 items and recorded their locations to the millimeter.
OSU and the BLM worked together to uncover the projectile points over the course of several summers. The site is now covered after all excavation work has been done. There are interpretive panels and a kiosk at the site.
The Cooper's Ferry site has been studied by Davis since he was an Archeologist with the BLM. The students will work at the site in the summer. The team works with the Nez Perce tribe to give field opportunities for tribal youth.
The age of stemmed points in the Americas was extended by the dating of a large tool assemblage at the Cooper's Ferry site. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sci Adv.ade1248
Journal information: Science Advances
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