Ancient Feces From Oregon Cave Aren’t Human, Study Says, Adding to Debate on First Americans

1/2. Paisley Caves. (Photo by Kolby Schnelli)

New findings about some ancient feces are the latest rejoinder in a five-year-long debate over one of the most important — and controversial — recent archaeological finds in the U.S.

The debate centers around the discovery of dessicated feces, or coprolites, in a cave in south-Central Oregon, first reported by an international team of researchers in 2008.

Found in a network of rockshelters known as the Paisley Caves, under layers laced with animal bones and a few human artifacts, the coprolites were found to contain fragments of human DNA.

What’s more, they were radiocarbon-dated to about 14,300 years ago — more than 1,000 years earlier than the oldest known sets of human remains in North America, found in Montana and Santa Rosa Island in California.

The feces, originally analyzed by a team led by biologist Dr. M.T.P. Gilbert, recharged an ongoing debate about who the earliest Americans were and when, and by what means, humans first occupied the continent.

Now, reporting in the Journal of Archaeological Science, another team of researchers says that its analysis of the oldest coprolite from the cave suggests it’s from an herbivore, not a human. [...] westerndigs.org

Reference:
A. Sistiaga, F. Berna, R. Laursen, & P. Goldberg (2014). Steroidal biomarker analysis of a 14,000 years old putative human coprolite from Paisley Cave, Oregon Journal of Archaeological Science DOI: 10.1016/j.jas.2013.10.016

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