Latest news with #Clovis
Time of India
2 days ago
- Science
- Time of India
Who really were the first Americans? New study debunks earlier theory
A new study has reignited debate over the age of human footprints discovered at White Sands National Park in New Mexico. These ancient tracks, first revealed in 2021, were initially dated to between 21,000 and 23,000 years ago — suggesting humans lived in North America during the peak of the last Ice Age, far earlier than previously thought. To verify these findings, researchers led by Vance Holliday of the University of Arizona conducted fresh radiocarbon dating on organic sediments from core samples at the site. Their results aligned with the earlier estimates, placing the footprints firmly within the Last Glacial Maximum. The analysis, conducted in independent labs, adds weight to the theory that humans occupied the region around 23,000 years ago. "Our data supports the original data" that dated the site to 23,000 years ago, study first author Vance Holliday, a professor emeritus of anthropology and geosciences at the University of Arizona, told Live Science. "Plus, we now have an idea of what the landscape was like when people were out there." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Access all TV channels anywhere, anytime Techno Mag Learn More Undo The footprints, likely left by Ice Age hunter-gatherers, suggest early migration via the Bering Land Bridge from Asia to North America. If confirmed, this would challenge the long-held belief that the Clovis people — who arrived around 13,000 years ago — were the first inhabitants of the Americas. Dating the tracks has proven controversial. In 2022, skeptics argued that radiocarbon dating of ditch grass (a water plant) may have yielded misleadingly old results due to underwater carbon contamination. To address this, researchers later used optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and pollen-based radiocarbon methods, which again confirmed the original timeline. Live Events The latest study brings the total number of radiocarbon-dated samples from the footprint layer to 55, including mud, seeds, and pollen. 'It would be extreme serendipity for all these independent dates to be wrong,' Holliday said. Still, some experts remain cautious. Michael Waters of Texas A&M told Live Science that the source of the organic carbon is unclear and could still be affected by old water-derived carbon. He also pointed out the absence of associated artifacts or tools, though Holliday argues this is consistent with mobile hunter-gatherer behavior. Despite lingering doubts, the growing body of evidence points to a much earlier human presence in North America than previously accepted — a discovery that may reshape our understanding of the continent's earliest settlers.
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Yahoo
Teen arrested in Clovis apartment shooting
CLOVIS, N.M. (KRQE) – Clovis police responded to an early morning shooting at an apartment complex on the south side. Witnesses say a large group of teens in the parking lot fled after the shots. Police found blood, a bullet hole, and casings near the stairwell. While police were investigating the apartment, another teen was treated at a nearby hospital who claimed to have been shot at the apartment. Clovis occupational therapist pleads guilty to sexually abusing children Another suspect was identified during the investigation, 18-year-old Thomas Chavez. A warrant was issued for his arrest, and Chavez was tracked back to the apartment complex. The Clovis SWAT team talked Chavez out of the apartment without further incident. Clovis police are asking the public for any additional information or help regarding this incident. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
News.com.au
07-06-2025
- Science
- News.com.au
6000 year old skeletons with no connection to modern humans found in Colombia
We don't know where they came from. We don't know where they went. The unique DNA of an ancient tribe of hunter-gatherers is adding to the confusion surrounding the source of South America' s first inhabitants. The story of the region's human settlement is already confusing enough. Some argued it was colonised by Stone Age clans crossing the Atlantic Ocean from Africa and the Pacific Ocean from as far away as Australia. But the prevailing argument is that a migration of Clovis peoples out of Siberia followed an Alaskan ice bridge into North America some 20,000 years ago. Scientists have been squabbling over who went where, when, for decades. The modern discipline of genetics can offer answers. And add to the confusion. A new analysis of mitochondrial DNA (inherited from mothers) alongside complete genome data of 21 ancient burials presents a connect-the-dots puzzle of migration spanning millennia. One group, however, stands out. A tribe of hunter-gatherers who settled the Bogotá Altiplano mountains in what is now Colombia were different. But their isolated plateau sits near the exit from the narrow land bridge that linked Central and South America. Anthropologists don't know where they fit. They're not directly related to the ancient North American Clovis peoples. And their genetic heritage is yet to be found in subsequent Native South American populations. They appeared some 6000 years vanished about 2000 years ago. And there's no hint as to why. First arrivals The oldest human remains found in South America are those of 'Luzia', otherwise dubbed 'The First Brazilian'. This 12,000-year-old woman was most likely from among the first wave of settlers to reach the southern continent. DNA shows they were descendants of the Clovis migration – not African or Australian seafarers as previously believed. A second wave of North American tribes arrived around 9000 years ago, and a third some 5000 years later. 'However, a region that has not been investigated through ancient genomics so far is Colombia, the entry point into South America,' the authors of the study, published in the May edition of the journal Science Advances, state. And that's what they sought to address. They examined five archaeological sites across the Bogota Altiplano plateau. Genetic material was extracted from teeth and bones of 21 skeletons dating from 6000 to 500 years old. The researchers argue the oldest remains must have been from a lingering branch of the first migration of humans into South America. But even then, their clan must have been unique. 'We show that the hunter-gatherer population from the Altiplano dated to around 6000 yr B.P. lack the genetic ancestry related to the Clovis-associated Anzick-1 genome and to ancient California Channel Island individuals,' the study finds. 'The analysed Preceramic individuals from Colombia do not share distinct affinity with any ancient or modern-day population from Central and South America studied to date.' Whatever the case, their isolated mountain plateau could have contributed to its longevity. Until it didn't. 'We couldn't find descendants of these early hunter-gatherers of the Colombian high plains — the genes were not passed on,' explains Kim-Louise Krettek of the University of Tubingen. 'That means in the area around Bogotá there was a complete exchange of the population.' Inevitability of change Who were these people? What did they look like? How did they settle in their strange new homeland? By the time the descendants of the Clovis tribes that crossed the Bering Strait out of northern China and Siberia reached South America, 7000 years of genetic mutation and evolution were already well down the path towards creating distinct new communities. The Bogota Altiplano was among them. Then, their mountaintop plateau home likely kept them isolated from external influence. Until strange new people began climbing the slopes 4000 years ago. The march of progress is relentless. The high tableland transitioned from its hunter-gatherer society into an agrarian economy in a process completed within 2000 years. DNA shows the new people came from Central America. Archaeology reveals they brought with them innovations including pottery and planting seeds. 'In addition to technological developments such as ceramics, the people of this second migration probably also brought the Chibchan languages into what is present-day Colombia. Branches of this language family are still spoken in Central America today,' says co-author Andrea Casas-Vargas of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. Whether exterminated through war or overwhelmed in numbers, the earlier Bogota Altiplano people vanished. 'The cultural transition between the Preceramic and Herrera periods is associated with a seemingly complete replacement of the local genetic profile,' the study reads. 'That genetic traces of the original population disappear completely is unusual,' adds National University of Colombia study participant Andrea Casas-Vargas.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Isolated storms return to eastern New Mexico Friday with hotter weather
Severe storms moved through eastern New Mexico Thursday afternoon. Another round of isolated storms will develop Friday with hotter and mostly dry weather this weekend. A couple tornadoes touched down in Roosevelt County this afternoon, but thankfully there were no reports of damage. Those storms have been out of New Mexico for a while, but a few storms have redeveloped tonight around Clovis. These storms will also move out of New Mexico soon. Drier weather will continue to move into New Mexico into this weekend. Storm chances will still be possible Friday afternoon in far eastern New Mexico. That includes another threat of severe weather. Temperatures will continue a warming trend across the state Friday. On Saturday, only a spotty shower or two is likely in northeast New Mexico, but on Sunday, more isolated storms are possible in northern and eastern New Mexico. Temperatures will again continue to warm up through the weekend, with Sunday being the hottest day for most. More moisture will move into eastern New Mexico Monday, bringing a better chance for showers and thunderstorms up to the northern mountains as well. Outflow from those storms will push moisture as far west as the Continental Divide Tuesday morning. This will bring a more widespread chance for storms Tuesday afternoon. Rain chances move back into eastern parts of the state Wednesday. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Experts Found 6,000-Year-Old Human Remains With No Relatives
"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links." Here's what you'll learn when you read this story: An analysis of bones from ancient people who once lived in Colombia has discovered DNA that does not directly connect them to any other ancient or modern population in South America. It is thought that these people might somehow be related to speakers of Chibchan languages, which are spoken in the area where they once lived. More genomic research will be needed to demystify who these unknown people were and whose ancestors they might be. Around 6,000 years ago, hunter-gatherers who migrated south settled in the Bogotá Altiplano of what is now Colombia, transitioning to an agricultural society over the next 4,000 years. Then they vanished. Whoever these people were, they disappeared from the genetic record. The team of researchers who discovered them through fragmented DNA in their skeletal remains have not been able to find any ancient relatives or modern descendants. They are strangely not related to Indigenous Columbians, having more of a connection to people who now live on the Isthmus of Panama and speak Chibchan languages. It could be possible that they spread through the region, mixing with local populations for so long that their genes were diluted, but no one can be sure. Genetics tell the story of how the Americas were populated by the ancestors of modern Indigenous people. Their origins lie in Siberian and East Asian groups who are thought to have first mixed 20,000 years ago, during the Late Paleolithic, later crossing a bridge of ice to North America some 16,000 years ago. It was then that this lineage split into northern Native American and southern Native American lines. While the northern Native American ancestry is mostly made up of populations that stayed in North America, three more lineages branched into southern Native American ancestry, which would reach further south. 'The Isthmo-Colombian area, stretching from the coast of Honduras to the northern Colombian Andes, is critical to understanding the peopling of the Americas,' the researchers said in a study recently published in Science Advances. 'Besides being the land bridge between North and South America, it is at the center of the three major cultural regions of Mesoamerica, Amazonia, and the Andes.' Each southern Native American lineage can be traced back to its earliest ancestors. There is one line descending from the Anzick-1 individual discovered in 1968, when construction workers unearthed the 12,700-year-old skull of a child belonging to the Clovis people, one of the earliest known peoples in the Americas. This young boy is related to modern Indigenous people from North, Central and South America. Another lineage that is found in the Central Andes comes from ancient people living in California's Channel Islands. Yet another lineage, also descended from the Clovis population, is associated with the oldest Central and South Americans from Belize, Brazil and Chile. When exactly these populations appeared in Central and South America is still mostly unknown, but they must have arrived by traveling over the land bridge that connects the southernmost part of Central America to the South American subcontinent. There is also a linguistic connection. Speakers of Chibchan languages share some genetic and cultural aspects with the mysterious people who cannot be traced directly to any population. When and where the ancestral Proto-Chibchan language originated is unclear, but distinct languages are thought to have started evolving from it several thousand years ago, possibly in southern Central America. Chibchan speakers in this region have kept the largest number of these languages alive. While genetic analysis of local Indigenous people has shown that they are related to more ancient speakers of Chibchan languages, some findings suggest that they are not directly descended from the first people to settle in that part of Colombia. By studying both mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and genome-wide data from 21 ancient individuals who lived in this region from 6,000 to 500 years ago, the researchers were able to find out some information about who they were, but not all the answers. More ancient Panamanians were found to be related to modern Chibchan speakers than ancient Colombians. However, Indigenous Chibchan speakers from Central America are the modern population genetically closest to ancient Colombians who lived after 2,000 years ago. Many groups who were around at the same time and spoke similar languages to the unknown people still need further investigation. 'Ancient genomic data from neighboring areas along the Northern Andes that have not yet been analyzed through ancient genomics,' the researchers said, 'such as western Colombia, western Venezuela, and Ecuador, will be pivotal to better define the timing and ancestry sources of human migrations into South America.' You Might Also Like Can Apple Cider Vinegar Lead to Weight Loss? Bobbi Brown Shares Her Top Face-Transforming Makeup Tips for Women Over 50
