July 17, 2020

New Findings on Paisley Cave Pre-Clovis

In 2007, Archaeologist Dennis Jenkins found ancient human coprolites at Paisley Cave in Oregon. They were radio carbon dated at 14,000 years old, making them only the 2nd site in the Americas with human DNA that are dated as Pre-Clovis. The other site in the Americas with Pre-Clovis human DNA is at Monte Verde in Chile.

There was controversy over this claim, with some claiming these were animal coprolites later contaminated by humans.

A new study in the UK has found that the coprolites are indeed human. They found this by identifying lipids that are human. The combination of the human DNA with the lipid analysis makes it solid proof these are human coprolites. From the coprolites, we can see the Pre-Clovis inhabitants of the cave ate mammoths, seeds, rodents and plants.

(My note; This is very big Pre-Clovis news. And I hope coprolite studies at other sites will take place)

The NY Times has the report here;
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/17/science/cave-poop-americas.html

The research is here at Science Advances;
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/29/eaba6404

Mike Ruggeri’s Pre-Clovis World
http://preclovisworld.tumblr.com

Mike Ruggeri’s Pre-Clovis and Clovis News on Tumblr
http://mikeruggerispreclovisnews.tumblr.com