The question of tools is central to understanding humans and our evolution—what constitutes a tool? When did we first use them? Do other animals use tools? A new study may be able to answer some of these questions, at least when it comes to tool use in the Americas.
A team led by Loren G. Davis from Oregon State University announced that sharp projectile points found along the banks of the lower Salmon River in western Idaho might represent the oldest evidence of tool technology in the Americas.
The site, dated to 16,000 years ago, was originally inhabited by the Nez Perce people (who refer to the area as a the Nipéhe) and then by English settlers, who called the area Cooper’s Ferry. The find, consisting of “stemmed point technology” was deposited into a series of shallow pits and would have allowed ancient people to fashion spear tips from several different materials. Due to their similarity with earlier artifacts, the researchers assume that these spears are modeled after those found near modern-day Hokkaido, Japan dated to 20,000 years ago.
16,000 years ago, when people migrated to the Americas via the Bering Strait, one of the first major turns south would eventually lead to Cooper’s Ferry. It’s situation at a higher elevation than the surrounding landscape means that it was an area mostly devoid of floods, avalanches, or other natural disasters. As such, archaeologists hypothesize that people kept coming back to the site, and previous research confirms this.
The spear points—13 total—just discovered were found in three cylindrical pits alongside hundreds of bits of animal bones. Radiocarbon dating from the University of Oxford suggests that the animal bones were from 15,600-16,000 years ago. These projectile points were seemingly made from whichever rocks were available, and differ from other projectile styles like Clovis points, which were typically knapped from high quality stone and wedged into spear tips. Clovis points are dated to around 13,000 years ago, making these newly discovered spear projectiles older than Clovis points. Moreover, they are around 2,300 years older than other spears found at the site. As such, the researchers involved with the project argue that these are some of the first technological traditions in America.
Some archaeologists remain skeptical about this find due to a number of unanswered questions: why were such good tools essentially thrown out? With a lack of genetic evidence, can we definitively say who made these tools? Regardless, researchers do agree that it’s an interesting find, with much more to be discovered.
Sources: Science News (2022), Science, Science News (2019)