Anomalous Evidence of Early Settlement of the Americas Crushed by New Research? - Daily Grail

Archaeological writers should avoid lavish claims based upon isolated finds whose interpretation has not been fully resolved. Greg Taylor's article headline provides the example, and more specifics come from Jason Colavito's post New Journal Article Concludes Cerutti Mastodon Bones Broken Recently by Construction Equipment, Not Hunters 130,000 Years Ago. Greg describes the 2017 announcement that a California site suggests humans worked on mastodon bones 130,000 years BP (Before Present). Greg also links to Archaeology as Blood Sport: How an Ancient Mastodon Ignited Debate over Humans' Arrival in North America. This Thomas Curwen article explains the name of the find and that it happened in late 1992. Curwen's story of the discovery, delayed publication until 2017, and ensuing scholarly mayhem is well worth the read. A newly-released paper The Cerutti Mastodon Site Reinterpreted with Reference to Freeway Construction Plans and Methods challenges the 2017 claim, arguing the mastodon bone damage came from human activity of a far more recent time. Land Surveyor Patrick M. Ferrell's paper may seriously weaken a basic underpinning to popular archaeology writer Graham Hancock's upcoming book America Before: The Key to Earth's Lost Civilisation. Jason Colavito elaborates upon points made in the Ferrell paper, and is rather restrained in his language, noting that Ferrell's rebuttal itself has holes. However, Jason does say he will be reviewing Hancock's new book, so perhaps he's saving his verbal pyrotechnics for that opportunity. (WM)

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from THE ANOMALIST http://bit.ly/2YMmkkl