Participants at the Wyoming archaeological field, where a huge one was discovered about 13,000 years ago, have provided valuable insights into the lives of early humans in America during the last Heavenly Epoch. At this site, known as La Prele, archaeologists discovered 32 fragments of color tips and a depth of almost five metres. Although they are not the oldest eyed tips known, this is the first study that has made it possible to identify its composition through protein analysis of collagen in foods, revealing unexpected results.
Spencer Pelton, Wyoming state archaeologist and lead author of the study published Nov. 27 in the journal PLOS ONEexplained that the needles were assumed to be made primarily from mamut or bison animals, as these animals are common in the fossil record of the region. However, the analysis shows that the tips are estaban hechas de huesos de small carnivores such as red zorros, gatos monteses, liones de montaña, linces, el extinto guepardo Americano y liebres o conejos. This sight was surprising to the investigation team.
The methodology used to reach these conclusions was the extraction of collagen from the artifacts, followed by a chemical analysis of the amino acid droplets, known as peptides. Therefore, these results are compared with peptide data from animals known to exist in North America at that time, using a technique known as zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry, or ZooMS.
The La Prele deposit was discovered in 1986 and a group of prehistoric humans was believed to have formed or broken off from a young mammoth there, establishing a temporal campsite to process its meat. Due to the antiquity of the site and some of the artifacts, investigators suggest that the occupants may have belonged to the Clovis culture, one of the oldest human populations in North America.
Locating the small spikes required careful and meticulous excavation. The investigative team drilled numerous test pits over a square meter until they identified areas with a higher concentration of artifacts. Only using a 1.6mm fine mallet to tamp the excavation sediment if it forms on the tips. Pelton noted that few archaeological archaeologists have excavated with this level of precision, which might explain why the color needles may have gone missing in previous excavations at other sites.
Humans living in the area near the end of the last ice age faced temperatures that were 5 to 7 degrees Celsius colder than today. To survive in this extreme climate, it is likely that adapted garments will be developed with thoughtfully comfortable ribbing, providing better protection against the cold. However, since ropa is a perecedero material, its presence in the archaeological record is difficult to detect, with the exception of the tips used to make it. Pelton explained that the climate of that era had called for sturdy, customized parkas, similar to those worn by historic Inuit.
Before the invention of the needles, humans probably used looser and more draped clothes, packs with tools called leznas that made more wide and tunic costumes. The appearance of the tips also allowed the decoration of clothing, and a trace of joy color, the oldest in America, was encountered in the same yacimiento.
To make the shed, the first inhabitants of North America are believed to have used wires extracted from the connective tissues of large mammals, according to Pelton.
Hunting animals such as zorros and montese cats was a challenge, because they were difficult to catch with traditional tools such as spears. Pelton suggests that Stone Age hunters probably used stilts, although he had no direct evidence of this practice in North American deposits of that era.
Ian Gilligan, an honorary research fellow at the University of Sydney's Archeologia, who was not involved in this study but worked on needle development, commented that fish from small carnivores such as dogs and cats were ideal for needle making debt to his size and shape. This type of color requires little work to turn into tips, just sharpening one end and drilling the other. On the contrary, larger animals, such as bison, are the bloodiest and most complicated to work with.
The development of suitable clothing has allowed humans to expand their range into regions that were once inhospitable due to the risk of hypothermia. This has become a crucial innovation for survival in extreme conditions. Gilligan states that it is no coincidence that these tips are encountered in North America's oldest deposits, suggesting that the continent may have been permanently uninhabited until humans developed the ability to make suitable clothing.
In his analysis, Gilligan realized that, without the invention of spikes, humans could not cross the land bridge connecting Siberia with North America, a dry corridor that emerged due to falling sea levels until the end of the last glaciation.
The drill bits discovered in the Wyoming field, although smaller and more delicate, are comparable to the world's oldest drill bits, which were used in Siberia about 40,000 years ago and in northern China between 35,000 and 30,000 years ago. Adapted garments that allow for better protection against the cold, along with the ability to cover the insides, have provided additional thermal insulation, similar to the concept of underwear.
This study is part of a growing body of investigation suggesting that the hunting and gathering strategies of prehistoric humans were not limited solely to obtaining food. Gilligan concluded that some of the most significant technological innovations of human prehistory might have been related more to clothing than to food, and the invention of needles is a clear example of this.
