Emily Chan
Around 20,000 years ago, ancient humans in what is now Argentina may have survived by eating giant armadillos. The bones of a glyptodont, a giant, extinct creature that was a relative of the armadillo, were found in the Pampean region of Argentina.
The fossil remains are among some of the oldest examples of humans interacting with megafauna in South America. They also added to evidence that shows people spread through the Americas much earlier than previously believed.
During the late Pleistocene era, which was 129,000 to 11,700 years ago, glaciers and ice sheets covered a large portion of the planet, especially in the Last Glacial Maximum, a period that occurred about 26,000 to 20,000 years ago when the ice age was at its peak.
Experts thought that the first Americans arrived by traveling across a land bridge that connected Siberia to Alaska 13,000 years ago. However, archaeological sites discovered in North and South America within the past decade prove that humans arrived much earlier.
Researchers found cut marks on the bones of the giant armadillo. The animal skeleton was located along the banks of the Reconquista River on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. It was incomplete but included parts of the pelvis, tail, and bony plates that covered the top of the creature’s body.
When the researchers carbon dated a piece of pelvic bone, they determined that it was 21,090 to 20,811 years old, which aligned with the ages of the layers of sediment in which it was uncovered.
They also took photographs and scans of the bones to figure out if the cut marks were made by humans. The marks were V-shaped, leading the researchers to believe the bones had been butchered.
They came to the conclusion that humans created the cuts with stone tools. The tooth marks of carnivores are usually U-shaped, and there wasn’t much natural weathering on the bones, indicating that they were buried quickly after the animal’s death. A quick burial prevented scavengers and the weather from wearing away at them.
Overall, there were 32 cut marks on the giant armadillo’s bones. The location of the cuts revealed a pattern that was consistent with butchering. Ancient humans must have eaten a large amount of meat from the pelvis and tail of the armadillo.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
