Unveiled: Proof of man in N America 30,000 years ago

PARIS: Tools excavated from a cave in Mexico are strong evidence that humans were living in North America at least 30,000 years ago, some 15,000 years earlier than previously thought, scientists said on Wednesday.

The artefacts, including 1,900 stone tools, showed human occupation of the high-altitude Chiquihuite Cave over a 20,000 year period, they reported in two studies published in the journal Nature.

“Our results provide new evidence for the antiquity of humans in the Americas,” Ciprian Ardelean, an archaeologist at the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas and lead author of one of the studies, told AFP.

“There are a few artefacts and a couple of dates from that range,” he said, referring to radiocarbon dating results putting the oldest samples at 33,000 to 31,000 years ago.

No traces of human bones or DNA were found at the site.