Signs of man, Ice Age beast found together in Mexico

November 11, 2009
MEXICO CITY — Scientists have found evidence that cavemen near the U.S.-Mexican border were butchering gomphotheres, elephant-like beasts from the Ice Age that had been believed to be nearly extinct in North America by the time humans appeared there.
Researchers from the University of Arizona and Mexico's anthropology institute say they found the bones of two young gomphotheres — along with blades, a scraping tool and stone chips from making spear tips — at an 11,000-year-old site in Mexico's Sonora state.

The finding adds fuel to a debate over whether overhunting by humans helped drive prehistoric animals such as mastodons, North American horses and gomphotheres into extinction, said Vance Holliday, a University of Arizona archaeologist on the team.

"This is the first time we've found gomphotheres and humans together in North America," Holliday said. "Maybe they killed it, maybe they scavenged it, but it's something completely new."

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Scientists have found evidence that cavemen near the U.S.-Mexico border were butchering gomphotheres, elephant-like beasts from the Ice Age, that were believed to be nearly extinct in North America by the time humans appeared there.

www.usatoday.com...

Interesting discovery, especially finding gomphothereas and humans together is a rarity.

reply to post by Aquarius1


*squeeeeeee!!!!*

Is no one excited about this besides me? That is just awful.

Here's more information on gomphotheres: en.wikipedia.org...

They are a taxanomic family. I'm not super sure which exact species this is, but I could guess.

... From about 5 million years ago onwards, they were slowly replaced by modern elephants, but the last South American species did not finally become extinct until possibly as recently as 400 CE.[1] Gomphotheres also survived in Mexico and Central America until the end of the Pleistocene.[2]

...Two lineages appear to have arisen from these ancestors. One, including animals such as Anancus, developed the short lower jaw typical of modern elephants, while the others, including Platybelodon, developed the lower jaw into an elongated 'shovel', and shortened the upper jaw.[1]

I find this stuff so exciting.

This -is- really, really exciting. Even if no one else thinks so .

Give the gomphotheres some love.