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Texas Site Pushes Back Known Settlement Date For North America

Velcroman1 writes "The discovery of ancient stone tools at an archaeological dig in Texas could push back the presence of humans in North America, perhaps by as much as 2,500 years. The find was located 5 feet below materials left by the well-known Clovis culture, which was once thought to have been the first American settlers around 13,000 years ago. It was 'like finding the Holy Grail,' Waters said in a telephone interview. To find what appears to be a large open-air campsite 'is really gratifying. Lucky and gratifying.'"

16 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Too bad by jovius · · Score: 3, Funny

    Perhaps they found the tools of GOD?!

  2. Clovis humor by snsh · · Score: 4, Funny

    The Clovis kids were probably just playing a practical joke 10,000 years ago, burying pottery five feet under, to confuse the archaeologists.

  3. Re:Well, that's sad. by Rinnon · · Score: 3, Funny

    Either /. commenter creativity has hit a new low, or Texas's reputation is so overpowering that such jokes are inevitable.

    A little from column A, a little from column B.

  4. Re:Until the next discovery by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Are you charging the archaeologists with falsifying data? Because it sure sounds like that's what you're doing, and if so, you'd better contact the Texas A&M ethics board with your allegations. If you're not willing to do that, and provide evidence, you should probably just STFU.

    --
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  5. Settlements by HikingStick · · Score: 5, Insightful

    It's nice to read about a settlement that has nothing to do with a lawsuit.

    --
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  6. Re:Too bad by spiffmastercow · · Score: 3, Funny

    Frankly, if the Texas Democratic Party can't take the buffoonery of the Texas Republican Party and make votes out of it, then they deserve what they get.

    They have Democrats in Texas??

  7. Re:Too bad by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    "If Kunte receives five lashes on Monday and two lashes on Wednesday, how many thanks does he give to his master?"

  8. Re:Too bad by SydShamino · · Score: 3, Funny

    People live in Austin, yes.

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    It doesn't hurt to be nice.
  9. Re:Science in Texas? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Does anyone in Texas still believe in science?

    Lots of people in Texas believe in science.

    It's the ones who don't believe in science who make the front page on Slashdot.

  10. Re:Until the next discovery by rotide · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Just throwing this out there, but archaeologists are probably making discoveries _all_the_time_. You just hear about the ones that news sources pick up as, well, news worthy. Kinda like ones that show us we were here thousands of years before we previously thought. Nothing odd about that, in my opinion.

  11. Re:Too bad by OakDragon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Too bad the Texas text books state that this is 7000 years before God created the Earth.

    Cite?

  12. Re:Too bad by Remloc · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Many parts of Dallas swing Democrat as well. (I live there).

    Of course, most TX Democrats would be considered Independents anywhere but TX or UT.

  13. Not a big breakthrough by dkleinsc · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is getting a lot more hype than it should: Several other sites, as well as genetic studies, have pointed to the existence of pre-Clovis human habitation in North America, and it had long been a working hypothesis for a lot of archaeologists who had been studying early American habitation.

    The only really interesting question is what these tools most resemble: If they look like they're related to a culture not from Siberia, that would be a much bigger deal, since it would suggest migration from Africa or Europe or Polynesia.

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    1. Re:Not a big breakthrough by Michael+Woodhams · · Score: 3, Informative

      If you proved they'd come from Polynesia, that really would be a big breakthrough - pushing back Polynesian settlement by more than 10,000 years. Easter Island and Hawai'i were settled within the last 2000 years.

      --
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  14. Texas 13000BC, South India 1.5M BC! by billstewart · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The Texas find is interesting, because it's dealing with settlement of North America, but to me the India find in the same article was much more interesting. Acheulian stone tool designs in India at 1.5 million years BC, saying humans migrated out of Africa at least 100,000 years earlier than we thought! That difference is a lot longer than the time modern Cro-Magnons have been around.

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    Bill Stewart
    New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
  15. Texas A&M is not known for its digging efforts by 517714 · · Score: 3, Funny

    Bryan/College Station's worst disaster occurred when a small two-seater Cessna 150 plane, piloted by two Texas A&M students, crashed into a cemetery earlier today. Texas A&M volunteers have recovered 300 bodies so far and expect the number to climb as digging continues into the evening. The pilot and copilot survived and are helping in the recovery efforts.

    I know it's old, but it never fails to get the goat of my Aggie buddies.

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