Mammoth Or Mastodon Picture Old Bones Found

A bone fragment at least 13,000 years, with an engraved image of a mammoth or mastodon were discovered in Florida, a new study.

While prehistoric art depicting animals with suitcases found in Europe, this may be the first in the Western Hemisphere, researchers reported Wednesday in the Journal of Archaeological Science.

"It's exciting, we find nothing like it in North America," said Dennis J. Stanford, curator of North American Archaeology at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, who was a co-author of the report.

They hunted these animals, Stanford said, and "you see people drawing all kinds of images that have meaning and importance to them."

"Much of the real significance of these results is palpable emotional connection they allow us to empathize with people deep in the past," says Dietrich Stout, an anthropologist at Emory University in Atlanta who was not part of research team.

Cave paintings show animals have been found in Texas, but they were dated about 4000 years ago, much more recent than the recently discovered carved bone.

The bone fragment was found in Vero Beach, Florida, contains a carved image about 3 inches long from head to tail and about 1 3 / 4 inches from head to toe.

"There was a lot of skepticism about the authenticity of the incision to the bone until it is thoroughly studied by archaeologists, paleontologists, anthropologists, lawyers, engineers in materials science and artists, "lead author Barbara Purdy, University of Florida said in a statement.

The bone was found by a fossil hunter near a place known as the former site of Vero where human bones were found alongside the bones of extinct Ice Age animals during excavations from 1913 to 1916.

It 'was highly mineralized, which prevented the standard for dating, Stanford said. Mammoths and mastodons, but was killed in America 13,000 years ago, so he's older. "It could be very soon," he added.

However, the researchers wanted to ensure that there was an attempt to imitate the modern prehistoric art. They compared it with other materials on the site and studying with microscopes, which showed no difference in color between the grooves carved and the surrounding material. That, they say, said the two surfaces of the year.

Furthermore, the researchers said there were no signs of the materials or the slots were recently carved with metal tools.

"It 'has been carved by direct observation of animals, if they exist, or is a fake modern" and "there is every indication that the sculpture is the same age as the bone," said Christopher J. Ellis, an anthropologist at the University of Western Ontario, who was not part of the research team.

The only other report of an old carved bone of North America with the image of a mastodon came from Mexico in 1959, but questions were raised about the object, and then disappeared.

There seems to be the American premiere of a mammoth or mastodon, says anthropologist David J. Meltzer of Southern Methodist University.

"I think the authors have done a good job making the case for the piece to be genuine," said Metzger, who was not part of the research team.

The new discovery was made by James Kennedy, a fossil hunter in 2006 or 2007. Kennedy noted the figure in 2009, when he was cleaning the bones, and then contacted the researchers, who began to study artifact.

North America found an image similar to some found in Europe, raising questions about whether this is mere coincidence or evidence of a correlation between the two, the document notes.

Stout said that the suggestion that the similarities between this and the ancient art can mean a number of European central counterparties, or the movement of people across the Atlantic very soon is controversial. This idea has already been proposed by Stanford and others, but has attracted much criticism and suspicion of other archaeologists said.

Metzger also said he was "not a moment think that the model raises questions about the big question of the peopling of the Americas is just a single -. Very interesting - an uncertain age and origin, so you should not get too carried away with. "



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