A controversial discovery in Mexico may rewrite human history in America

A controversial discovery in Mexico may rewrite human history in America

Sarah Sloat

When dates were obtained from the deepest layers of sediments after the first test excavation in 2012, and preliminary data suggested that the artifacts they were finding could be 29,000 years old, Ardelean “was shocked and very skeptical and careful, as this research cannot be taken lightly and deserves full scientific seriousness.”

He put together a hypothesis, gathered more funding, and expanded the excavation in 2016. Ultimately, about 1,900 stone artifacts from various layers of earth, indicates that people lived in the high-altitude cave from about 29,000 years and 13,000 years ago.

This pushes back the dates for human dispersal into the Americas to as early as 33,000 to 31,000 years ago.

Ruth Gruhn, a professor emerita at the University of Alberta, writes in a related commentary published Wednesday that this initial entry date suggestion “will be very hard for most archeologists specializing in early America to accept,” adding “there will undoubtedly be challenges to this interpretation and close examination of the site data.”