Sloth Bone Study Pushes Back Human Occupation of Brazil

[Judi Lynn]

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Thursday, July 13, 2023

SÃO CARLOS, BRAZIL—According to a Live Science report, Mírian Pacheco of the Federal University of São Carlos and her colleagues have analyzed three bony osteoderms from the skin of an extinct giant ground sloth that were unearthed in central Brazil’s Santa Elina rock shelter. More than 1,000 ancient images have been found on the walls of the rock shelter, while hundreds of stone tools and thousands of sloth osteoderms have been recovered during excavations at the site over the past 30 years. The researchers determined that the holes in the three osteoderms in the study had been drilled and polished by humans, perhaps for use as personal ornaments. These artifacts, discovered with stone tools in a layer of the rock shelter dated to between 27,000 and 25,000 years ago, push back the knwon date of humans' arrival in the region, Pacheco explained. Read the original scholarly article about this research in Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. To read about expansion of "monkey puzzle" trees in Brazil some 1,400 years ago, go to "Ancient Foresters."

https://www.archaeology.org/news/11589-230713-brazil-sloth-pendant

[Judi Lynn]

1. Giant ground sloth pendants show humans were in South America 25,000 years ago

13 July 2023 / Evrim Yazgin

Three pendants made from the bones of the extinct giant ground sloth represent the oldest evidence of humans living in South America, dating back 25,000 years.

Determining when humans first arrived in the Americas continues to be the subject of intense debate and controversy. Scepticism persists in scientific circles about whether humans made it to the Americas before 16,000 years ago.

The artefacts, found in Santa Elina rock shelter in central Brazil, add to growing evidence for human occupation in South America much earlier than previously thought. A 2013 study of human-made objects in another Brazilian cave, Toca da Tira Peia, were dated to 22,000 years ago.

The latest finds are described in a paper published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

The small trinkets were made from osteoderms, literally meaning “bone skin.” These bony deposits are found within the skin of some animals, including crocodiles, dinosaurs and a few mammals like armadillos. It is believed that the primary use of osteoderms is to act like in-built armour.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/history/archaeology/humans-south-america-25000-years-ago/