Butchered Bones Found in Yukon Cave Bear Marks of Early Americans

1/2. A piece of a caribou’s pelvic bone shows signs of butchering by humans, according to new research (Photo courtesy Lauriane Bourgeon)

 
They’re probably about half as old as scientists once thought they were.

But a pair of butchered bones found in a cave near the Alaska-Yukon border are “definite” evidence of human presence in North America just after the end of the last Ice Age, perhaps as much as 14,000 years ago, according to a new study.

The bones were originally discovered in the late 1970s by Canadian archaeologist Dr. Jacques Cinq-Mars at a site known as Bluefish Caves, high in northwestern Yukon Territory.

In one of the caves, dubbed Cave 2, archaeologists found more than 18,000 fragments of bones from caribou, Yukon horse, mammoth, and other animals.

Many of the bones appeared to bear the deep scrapes and sharp gouges associated with human tool use, suggesting that the cave was the site of an ancient, if temporary, hunting camp. [...] westerndigs.org / Link 2