OLDEST HUMAN SITES IN THE AMERICAS
These archaeological sites show how prehistoric humans spread across the continent
1 SWAN POINT 12,000 BCE
This Alaskan site is the oldest evidence of habitation in the state, occupied at least six times by prehistoric humans.
2 COOPER’S FERRY 14,000 BCE
Found on the Salmon River west of Idaho, this site is part of the Indigenous Nez Perce ancestral lands.
3 BLUEFISH CAVES 22,000 BCE
One of three small caves in Canada’s Yukon territory contained ancient animal bones with marks on them that could have been made by human hunters.
4 CLOVIS 11,000 BCE
Stone spear points found near Clovis in New Mexico originated in Beringia and were carried south.
5 PAISLEY CAVES 12,500 BCE
This eight-cave system in southcentral Oregon was first studied in the 1930s and is thought to contain the oldest evidence of humans in North America.
6 MEADOWCROFT ROCK SHELTERS 14,000 BCE
The shallow opening at the base of a cliff in Pennsylvania is found in an area that may have been continually inhabited by humans for nearly 20,000 years.
7 PAGE-LADSON 12,550 BCE
This ten-metre-deep sinkhole in Florida contains ancient butchering tools and bones from mastodon – an extinct, furry relative of the elephant, similar to mammoths.
8 WHITE SANDS 21,000 TO 19,000 BCE
Amazingly detailed fossilised footprints of ancient humans can be seen in the sediment of this New Mexico archaeological site.
9 CUEVA DEL CHIQUIHUITE 29,500 BCE
Some debate exists as to whether the artefacts found in Chiquihuite Cave in north-central Mexico are human-made tools or whether they formed naturally.
10 DEBRA L. FRIEDKIN SITE 13,500 BCE
Packed with stone tools and weapons, the dating of this Texan riverside site is supported by another site containing a trove of similar artefacts less than 300 metres upstream.
11 SANTA ELINA ROCK SHELTER 23,000 BCE
Three unique pendants found in a Brazilian cliffside, made from the bones of ice-age giant sloths, suggest that humans were in South America earlier than thought.
12 PEDRA FURADA 48,000 BCE
A collection of over 800 sites in Brazil include rock paintings and hearths, but also stone tools that are now thought to have been made by capuchin monkeys.
13 MONTE VERDE II 12,550 BCE
Found in southern Chile, this site was discovered by a veterinary student and first excavated in 1977.