First humans in North America

One of the most popular posts in the history of TYWKIWDBI was "New evidence supports/denies the "Solutrean hypothesis" (30,000 views,  over 100 comments).   We'll revisit the topic now with excerpts from a report in Science News Journal:

Until now, it was believed that the earliest settlement date of North America was 14,000 years ago. This figure has now been demonstrated to have been 10,000 years earlier. The first entry of humans into North America across the Bering Strait is now estimated at 24,000 Before Present (BP), and happened at the height of the last ice age or Last Glacial Maximum...

Ariane Burke, a professor in Université de Montréal’s Department of Anthropology, and her doctoral student Lauriane Bourgeon, with the contribution of Dr. Thomas Higham, Deputy Director of Oxford University’s Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, has demonstrated this beyond any doubt. Archaeologist Jacques Cinq-Mars excavated the Bluefish Caves, located on the banks of the Bluefish River in northern Yukon near the Alaska border, between 1977 and 1987. Artifacts from these caves were used by the researchers to make their discovery. They made the hypothesis that human settlement in the region dated as far back as 30,000 BP based on radiocarbon dating of animal bones...

To obtain accurate data, Bourgeon examined approximately 36,000 bone fragments that had been removed from the site and preserved at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau. This was a huge undertaking and it took her two years to complete. Undeniable traces of human activity in 15 of the bones was revealed...

Burke notes that a series of straight, V-shaped lines found on the surface of the bones were made by stone tools when animals were skinned. She added that the cut marks were indisputably created by humans...

The bones were submitted for further radiocarbon dating by Bourgeon. A horse mandible, which was identified as the oldest fragment, showed the marks of a stone tool that was probably used to remove the tongue. This piece was radiocarbon dated at 19,650 years, which is equivalent to between 23,000 and 24,000 calibrated years Before Present. 

More at the link.