An underwater look at the oldest-known site of human life in the southeastern United States. Photo by S. Joy / Texas A&M Center for the Study of the First Americans via Florida State University
Native people have been living in the Americas since time immemorial and an ancient site in Florida speaks to their presence at least 14,400 years ago. Scientists were initially skeptical of the age of the Page-Ladson site because it casts doubt on their claims of how and when Native people spread throughout the Americas. But a second look at some artifacts -- including some that were used to hunt mastodon, a large and extinct mammal -- confirmed the date. "This is a big deal," Florida State University Assistant Professor of Anthropology Jessi Halligan said in a press release. "There were people here. So how did they live? This has opened up a whole new line of inquiry for us as scientists as we try to understand the settlement of the Americas." In what is known as the Clovis first theory, scientists have long claimed that the first Americans started spreading through the Americas around 13,000 years ago, based on the age of artifacts found in New Mexico. But sites in Florida, Oregon and as far south as Chile are even older. Get the Story:
Archaeologists Revisit Early Habitation Site in Florida (Archaeology 5/16)
Humans and Mastodons Coexisted in Florida, New Evidence Shows (The New York Times 5/14)
Early snowbirds? Florida sinkhole yields ancient artifacts (AP 5/13)
Ancient tools and bone found in Florida could help rewrite the story of the first Americans (The Washington Post 5/13)
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