A Winter’s Trail

Before migrating into North America, early humans first moved into
Arctic Siberia and adapted to its harsh environment. The few oldest
sites have been dated to at most about 15,000 years ago or so,
which was after the major Northern Hemisphere ice sheets had begun
to recede. Pitulko et al. now report a series of
radiocarbon ages and artifacts
found in a terrace along the Yana
River (just south of its mouth into
the Arctic Ocean, in central Siberia)
that date to 27,000 radiocarbon
years ago (about 30,000 calendar
years). Artifacts include an ivory
foreshaft from the horn of a rhinoceros,
two others made from
mammoth tusk, and several hundred
stone points and flakes.