article-bones

"California Bones May Complicate Theory on Settlement of Americas," AP, April 12, 1999

LOS ANGELES -- Bones of a woman found on California's Channel Islands may be among the oldest human remains found so far in North America, and could support theories that the first Americans came by sea rather than over a land bridge, scientists said. The bones of the so-called Arlington Springs woman are probably 13,000 years old, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday. That would make her slightly older than the oldest known human skeletons in North America, which were found in Montana, Idaho and Texas. "Bottom line is she may be the earliest inhabitant of North America we have discovered. It's a find of national significance," said John R. Johnson, curator of anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, which is part of a team researching the woman's bones. However, results of the team's investigation have not yet been submitted to peers for critical review and have not been published in scientific journals. The work was described in a paper presented March 30 at the Fifth California Islands Symposium at the museum.

The traditional theory has been the first humans in North America came from northern Asia during the Ice Age, crossing a bridge of exposed land to Alaska and then spreading across country between glaciers. The location and apparent age of the Channel Islands discovery suggests at least some of the first settlers could have come to North America by boat and spread along the coast, instead of inland, researchers contend. The remains -- two thigh bones -- were discovered at Arlington Canyon on Santa Rosa Island 40 years ago and kept at the Santa Barbara museum. Recently, researchers at the museum and Channel Islands National Park conducted DNA and radiocarbon tests unavailable when the bones were found. The tests were performed by Stafford Research Laboratories in Boulder, Colo., one of the nation's pre-eminent carbon-dating labs. Scientists performed two sets of tests, one producing an estimate the bones are 11,000 years old and a second giving an age of about 13,000 years, the Times said.