Instead, the team determined that the shape of the cut marks was consistent with those made by stone tools. “The cut marks were not randomly distributed but focused on those skeletal elements that harbored large muscle packs like the pelvis and the tail,” he said. A detailed examination of cut marks on the fossils revealed they were made by stone tools in a deliberate sequence. Along with three perforated giant sloth bones found in Brazil that archaeologists believe humans used as pendants 25,000 to 27,000 years ago, the butchered armadillo bones suggest that humans were in South America a surprisingly long time ago. “Until recently, the traditional model indicated that humans entered the continent 16,000 calendar years ago,” he said.

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Persons: CNN —, —, ”, Miguel Delgado, ” Delgado, Delgado, Miguel Eduardo Delgado et, “, paleoanthropologist Briana, Pobiner, wasn’t Organizations: CNN, National University of La, Smithsonian National Museum of, North Locations: what’s, Argentina, Americas, National University of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Merlo, Washington ,, North, South America, Africa, New Mexico, North America, New York City, Cincinnati, Des Moines , Iowa, Asia, Alaska, Brazil