These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United States

Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by causi on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @08:58AM (#36680341)

A decade ago, archaeologists would have been completely flabbergasted to find evidence that people were living in North America 18,000 years ago. At that point, the oldest evidence of people anywhere on the continent dated to around 13,000 years ago, in the form of long projectile points with flutes: narrow notches at their bases, creating a shallow groove to fit a wooden shaft for hafting.

This is not true. A decade ago, it is true that the "clovis clique" was in full bloom, stomping all over the research and sometimes whole careers of anybody who cast doubt on the "clovis first" narrative.

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Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by bigfryo on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @09:35AM (#36680751)

As always, science advances one funeral at a time

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Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by cpncrunch on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @09:35AM (#36680750)

20 years ago would be accurate.

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Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by brudgers on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @10:19AM (#36681338)

20 years from now would be accurate too. The future is not evenly distributed and the past isn't even past.

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Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by jcranmer on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @10:21AM (#36681363)

My understanding is that pre-Clovis evidence really starts mounting in the early 90's, and by 2000 or so, there's not really any Clovis-First proponents among the archaeologists doing the work, although other people do take longer to get the message.

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Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by WarOnPrivacy on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @09:19AM (#36680572)

I like the dark part of histories (in this case the history of historical research). For me, the hope I get from how we survived bad behavior is more enriching than any quasi-fictional hero narrative.

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Re:These are the oldest stone tools ever found in the United... by actaeon169 on Tuesday July 11, 2023 @12:46PM (#36683629)

FWIW, I took a cultural anthropology course in 2003 from a local community college in the Bay Area. We were taught the "Clovis First" theory was on its way out and I remember "20,000 years ago" being the newer thinking.

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