Results of a Study: Humans Entered the Americas Earlier Than Previously Thought

A new study shows that prehistoric humans lived alongside extinct giant sloths in South America. This evidence proves that humans entered the Americas earlier than previously believed. According to the Associated Press, scientists concluded after analyzing triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made from sloth bones that the carved and polished shapes, with holes drilled for hanging, were intentional and crafted by humans. Researchers say the jewelry found dates back 25,000 to 27,000 years, which is several thousand years earlier than some previous theories regarding human migration from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas. Myrian Liza Alves Foranchelli Pacheco, an archaeologist at the Federal University of São Carlos in Brazil and one of the authors of the study, stated, 'We now have good evidence and need to reconsider what we previously thought about human migration to the Americas.' These ornaments were discovered about 30 years ago in a rock shelter called 'Santa Elina' in central Brazil. In the new study, researchers extensively analyzed them for the first time and rejected the theory that humans found the bones thousands of years after the animals' extinction and then carved them. The holes in the pendants, according to scientists, are intentional and crafted by humans, and cannot be accidental or formed by natural erosion. The research team from Brazil, France, and the United States stated that the analysis of the pendants and ornaments indicates that these handmade artifacts were created within days to years after the animals' death and before they fossilized. Researchers also dismissed the idea that wear, natural erosion, and other factors could have caused the alteration and perforation of the bone pieces. The results of this research were published on Wednesday in the biological sciences version of 'Proceedings of the Royal Society,' a research journal in the UK.