内容摘要：Clovis is a site in New Mexico, where archaeologists in the 1920s and 1930s found distinctive projectile points and other artifacts dated to between 11,000 and 13,000 years ago.

Clovis is a site in New Mexico, where archaeologists in the 1920s and 1930s found distinctive projectile points and other artifacts dated to between 11,000 and 13,000 years ago.

“Anything older than about 15,000 years still draws intense scrutiny,” said Richard Fariña, a paleontologist at the University of the Republic in Montevideo, Uruguay. “But really compelling evidence from more and more older sites keeps coming to light.”Paleontologist Thaís Pansani stands in front the reconstructed skeleton of a giant ground sloth at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, on July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)

Paleontologist Thaís Pansani stands in front the reconstructed skeleton of a giant ground sloth at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History in Washington, on July 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Mary Conlon)In Sao Paulo and at the Federal University of Sao Carlos, Pacheco studies the chemical changes that occur when a bone becomes a fossil. This allows her team to analyze when the sloth osteoderms were likely modified.“We found that the osteoderms were carved before the fossilization process” in “fresh bones” — meaning anywhere from a few days to a few years after the sloths died, but not thousands of years later.

Her team also tested and ruled out several natural processes, like erosion and animal gnawing. The research was published last year in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.One of her collaborators, paleontologist Thaís Pansani, recently based at the Smithsonian Institution, is analyzing whether similar-aged sloth bones found at Santa Elina were charred by human-made fires, which burn at different temperatures than natural wildfires.

Her preliminary results suggest that the fresh sloth bones were present at human campsites — whether burned deliberately in cooking, or simply nearby, isn’t clear. She is also testing and ruling out other possible causes for the black markings, such as natural chemical discoloration.

The first site widely accepted as older than Clovis was in Monte Verde, Chile.Ashkelon, which is located around 10 kilometers (6 miles) north of the Gaza Strip, has a rich history of archaeology. In addition to the Romans, the city

during the early Iron Age, around 3,000 years ago. Ancient cemeteries uncovered in Ashkelonthat showed Philistines may have migrated to the region from Europe more than 4,000 years ago, a historical conundrum that has vexed archaeologists for decades.

in the early days of the war in Gaza. In May, some of the vessels involved in building the U.S.-built pier in Gaza, which ultimately failed,PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Archaeologists in Cambodia have unearthed a dozen centuries-old sandstone statues in a “remarkable discovery” at the