During a freeway expansion project in 1992, the bones of the Cerutti Mastodon were found. This site has been being studied over several decades, and throughout that time scientists have discovered evidence that implies that humans have been on the North American continent for much longer than previously thought. (SDNHM) The remains of the mastodon date back 130,000 years old, and humans were thought to have crossed over a land bridge into the Americas around 13,500 years ago. (Mayor, 2014) But how do we know that humans were present while the mastodon was alive? Well, certain artifacts found at the site can tell us that humans were there. These artifacts were found in situ, which means they were found where they were originally deposited. The way that the bones and stones were fractured showed that Humans were present during the burial of the mastodon. The presence of hammerstones and stone anvils also alongside the mastodon. These prove that some species of Homo were on the North American continent nearly ten times earlier than previously thought. (Holen et al. 2017)
Figure 1: Diagram showing what bones of the mastodon were found. (Holen et al. 2017)
There are those, however, that challenge the assertion that this site is legitimate. In a paper written by Gary Haynes in the journal PaleoAmerica, he writes that the mastodon assemblage is “not adequately supported.” (Haynes, 2017) He questions the validity of the stratigraphy of the CM site since it was discovered while construction workers were trying to build a highway, claiming that the machinery could have moved where the bones and artifacts were located which would make the dating of the site inaccurate. Another paper published in the journal Nature written by S. R. Holen et al. also claims that the dating of the site is not evidence of early hominid activity in the Americas in the late Pleistocene. (Ferraro, 2018)
Figure 2: Figure from the original paper on the CM site showing the position of the tusk. (Holen et al. 2017)
Holen et al., who published the original paper on the Cerutti Mastodon site, responded to the criticisms in his paper he published in the journal of PaleoAmerica. In response to the claim that the assemblage was moved by the machinery, Holen points to the mastodon tusk that was implanted through several layers as seen in figure 2 above. In response to the criticisms that the rocks weren’t used by hominins by restating the presence of flakes and bulbs of percussion, commonly seen as wear in stone tools. And in response to the claim that the artifacts were moved there from natural processes, Holen looked to the fact that large hammerstones and tusks were moved, however the molars and bone fragments and smaller rocks were not moved far away. These artifacts were found closely consolidated, so they couldn’t have been previously moved from natural processes. (Holen et al. 2017)
Seeing the evidence provided, we know that a hominin was present in the Americas 130,000 years ago. Whether those hominins were Homo Sapien or another hominin could be debated. But the absence of evidence shouldn’t overrule the evidence that we do have of hominins being present that far back.
More articles to read:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/cerutti-mastodon-site
References:
The cerutti mastodon discovery. The Nat
The Cerutti Mastodon Site: One year later. The Nat
Ferraro, Joseph V., Katie M. Binetti, Logan A. Wiest, Donald Esker, Lori E. Baker, and Steven L. Forman
2018 Contesting early archaeology in California. Nature 554(7691)
Haynes, Gary
2017 The cerutti mastodon. PaleoAmerica 3(3): 196–199
Holen, Steven R., Thomas A. Deméré, Daniel C. Fisher, Richard Fullagar, James B. Paces, George T. Jefferson, Jared M. Beeton, Adam N. Rountrey, and Kathleen A. Holen
2017 Broken bones and hammerstones at the Cerutti Mastodon site: A reply to Haynes. PaleoAmerica 4(1): 8–11
Holen, Steven R., Thomas A. Deméré, Daniel C. Fisher, Richard Fullagar, James B. Paces, George T. Jefferson, Jared M. Beeton, Richard A. Cerutti, Adam N. Rountrey, Lawrence Vescera, and Kathleen A. Holen
2017 A 130,000-year-old archaeological site in Southern California, USA. Nature 544(7651): 479–483
Moyer, Steve, Mark Athitakis, Erica Machulak, Jennifer Smart, and James Williford
The first Americans. The National Endowment for the Humanities
What is oldest evidence of hominin presence other than the cerutti mastodon? How much does this evidence change our timeline of hominin presence in the Americas?