NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Saturday, August 31, 2019
North America’s oldest human artifacts found in Idaho
free corridor,” said Loren
Davis, an archaeologist at
Oregon State University
and the lead author on the
study. Those people suppos-
edly brought the technology
to make Clovis-type blades
and spear points with them,
and then spread their shared
culture across the conti-
nent. That’s the model cur-
rently taught in most history
books.
The site at Cooper’s
Ferry in Western Idaho
doesn’t fit with this model.
For one, the ice-free cor-
ridor probably didn’t exist
when humans first arrived
at Cooper’s Ferry — sci-
entists think it didn’t open
up until about 15,000 years
ago, which means these
early people had to find a
different route south. Other
early sites challenged this
theory, but none were this
old, and the oldest were
dated with a method con-
sidered less precise than
radio-carbon dating.
“This is another domino
in the collapse of the Clo-
vis-first idea and the idea
that people walked down
an ice-free corridor some
13,500 years ago,” says
Todd Braje, an archaeol-
ogist at San Diego State
University, who was not
involved in the study.
“What’s really interest-
ing about Cooper’s Ferry
is that it takes things a lit-
By ERIN ROSS
Oregon Public Broadcasting
CORVALLIS — Ancient
human artifacts found in
a remote corner of north-
western Idaho could deliver
a major blow to a long-held
theory that North Ameri-
ca’s first humans arrived by
crossing a land bridge con-
nected to Asia before mov-
ing south through the center
of the continent.
The artifacts have been
dated to as far back as
16,500 years ago, making
them the oldest radiocarbon
dated evidence of humans
in North America, accord-
ing to research published
Thursday in the journal
Science.
The artifacts are part of
a trove discovered where
Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, now
stands. They are a thou-
sand years older than what
has previously been con-
sidered North America’s
most ancient known human
remains. Together with doz-
ens of other archaeological
sites stretched across the
continent, it helps decipher
the story of when, and how,
humans first arrived.
“The traditional model
is that people came into the
New World from northeast
Asia and walked across the
Bering land bridge, before
coming down the middle
of the continent in an ice-
Oregon State University Photo/Loren Davis
Archaeologists work to excavate ancient human artifacts at Cooper’s Ferry in Western Idaho.
tle further,” Braje says, “It
offers some potential ave-
nues for figuring out these
big questions.”
Braje supports an alter-
native theory to the ice-free
corridor: one where instead
of traveling to the New World
by land, ancient Americans
came by sea. They traveled
from Asia to North Amer-
ica by island-hopping and
hugged the shore, follow-
ing a coastal “kelp high-
way” full of sheltered bays
and rich with food. The idea
was once controversial, but
in recent years it’s gained
support.
Just like the ice-free cor-
ridor model is supported
by a shared technology and
shared culture found across
a region, the kelp highway
hypothesis also has a unit-
ing technology: stemmed
points. These are blades,
spear points, knives, and
cutting tools all manufac-
tured the same way, and
are one of the oldest types
of projectiles in the world.
While stemmed points are
plentiful along the coast of
Asia, there were very few
found at the older sites in
North America, and cru-
cially, even fewer found
along the coast.
Of course, if Braje’s kelp
highway theory was true,
there would be very few
archaeological sites along
the West Coast of North
America: sea levels have
risen dramatically since
the Ice Age, so any human
settlements would have
flooded long ago.
That’s where Cooper’s
Ferry comes in.
OSU’s Davis first began
excavating the site in the
1990s. His team uncovered
stemmed points and dated
them to over 13,000 years
ago. At the time, there were
no other examples of that
technology from that time
in history in North Amer-
BRIEFLY
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
Very warm with
some sun
Partly sunny
91° 62°
86° 59°
WEDNESDAY
TUESDAY
MONDAY
SUNDAY
Sunshine and
patchy clouds
Sunny
Mostly sunny and
nice
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
91° 57°
90° 59°
85° 55°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
95° 66°
96° 61°
93° 58°
88° 55°
90° 61°
OREGON FORECAST
ALMANAC
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PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
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TEMP.
Seattle
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70/61
Kennewick Walla Walla
92/65
Lewiston
77/60
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Astoria
69/58
87/56
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Longview
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
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Yesterday
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La Grande
89/56
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
86/60
87/50
92/55
Ontario
97/60
96/57
91/48
Trace
0.05"
0.19"
4.61"
5.15"
6.11"
WINDS (in mph)
Caldwell
Burns
90°
69°
84°
54°
102° (2007) 39° (1965)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
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Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
83/58
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 87/52
84/59
0.01"
0.13"
0.41"
9.74"
6.52"
8.36"
HERMISTON
Enterprise
91/62
90/63
88°
62°
84°
54°
103° (1967) 37° (1924)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
76/60
Aberdeen
87/61
89/62
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
77/62
ica, “we sort of sat in limbo
for a time as people argued
about what it might mean,”
Davis said.
They resumed exca-
vation in 2009. And in
2017, Davis and his team
once again started find-
ing stemmed points. “The
radiocarbon dates we were
getting started to tell the
same story. And then, it
started to show they were
even older than we realized.
That was super surprising.”
The stemmed points
were extremely similar to
a type found in Hokkaido,
Japan, also dated to around
16,000 years old.
Combined, Davis said
this supports the hypothe-
sis that the first Americans
didn’t arrive by land, but by
boats.
Although the site at Coo-
per’s Ferry is inland and far
from the coast, it sits at the
conjunction of two major
rivers that serve as tribu-
taries to the Columbia. “If
you’re traveling south along
the West Coast, the Colum-
bia River is pretty much
the first left you can take,”
Davis said.
It would be easy enough
to then follow the river, rich
with fish, to the confluence
of two of its tributaries,
the Snake and Salmon riv-
ers, and the spot along their
banks where Cooper’s Ferry
now stands.
Today
WSW 6-12
WNW 6-12
Medford
Boardman
Pendleton
91/61
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
Sun.
WSW 7-14
W 7-14
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
84/46
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2019
First
Probation for mother of
toddler who shot himself
BAKER CITY — The mother of a 2-year-
old Baker City boy who died in November
2018 after shooting himself in the head with
a handgun he got control of has been placed
on three years’ formal probation.
Diana Goodman, 33, of Baker City will
avoid an 18-month prison term and possi-
bly be able to raise her surviving son who is
about a year old, if she’s successful on pro-
bation, District Attorney Matt Shirtcliff said
Thursday.
Liam Mankins died when a loaded
.380-caliber semi-automatic pistol he was
playing with discharged at his father’s home
on Nov. 4, 2018.
Shirtcliff said Liam was playing with
the gun on the floor of his father’s bedroom
while his father slept when he accidentally
fired the gun.
Peter Mankins, 33, pleaded guilty on
Aug. 9 in Baker County Circuit Court to one
count of criminally negligent homicide, a
Class B felony, in connection with his son’s
death. He also pleaded guilty to one count
each of possession of methamphetamine
and recklessly endangering another person,
both Class A misdemeanors.
BLM women’s fire camp still
taking applicants to Sept. 13
6:15 a.m.
7:36 p.m.
7:38 a.m.
8:46 p.m.
Full
Last
New
NATIONAL EXTREMES
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 114° in Thermal, Calif. Low 31° in Yellowstone N.P., Wyo.
Sep 5
Sep 13
Sep 21
Sep 28
VALE — The deadline to apply for the
2019 Women in Wildland Fire Boot Camp
has been extended to Friday, Sept. 13.
Participants are compensated for train-
ing camp as well as some travel expenses.
Training materials, personal protective
equipment and meals will also be provided.
Last year, the Vale District of the BLM
sponsored the first wildland fire training
in the Pacific Northwest geared toward
women.
Wildland firefighters play an important
role in controlling and suppressing wild-
fires that threaten communities and natu-
ral resources, but they also use fire to stra-
tegically manage public lands.
While the federal government employs
about 15,000 firefighters annually, women
hold only 12% of those jobs.
The boot camp consists of class-
room instruction and field exercises that
cover firefighting techniques, tools and
equipment.
Once completed, participants will have
met several entry-level requirements for
seasonal employment with federal agen-
cies and private contractors.
Applications for the boot camp, which
will be held near Juntura over two consec-
utive weekends, Oct. 11-13 and Oct. 18-20,
will be accepted through Sept. 13. By Sept.
20, selections will be made.
To apply, call 541-473-6297 or email
candrews@blm.gov.
— EO Media Group and Malheur Enterprise
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Renata Anderson, MA
Pam Wagenaar,
Administrative Assistant
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