Oregon State University archaeologists have discovered bullet points in Idaho that are thousands of years older than those previously found in the Americas, helping fill in the story of how early humans made and used stone weapons.
The 13 complete and fragmentary bullet points, razor-sharp and about half an inch to 2 inches long, are about 15,700 years old, according to carbon 14 dating. They are about 3,000 years older than the fluted Clovis points found throughout North America, and 2,300 years older than the spots previously found at the same Cooper’s Ferry site along the Salmon River in present-day Idaho.
The findings were published today in the journal Scientific advances.
“From a scientific perspective, these finds add very important details to what the archaeological record of early peoples in the Americas looks like,” said Loren Davis, a professor of anthropology at USO and leader of the team that found the dots. “It’s one thing to say, ‘We think people were here in the Americas 16,000 years ago.’ it’s another thing to measure it by finding well-made artifacts they left behind.”
Previously, Davis and other researchers working at the Cooper’s Ferry site had found simple bone fragments and pieces that indicated human presence around 16,000 years ago. But the discovery of the bullet tips reveals new insights into how early Americans expressed complex thoughts through technology at the time, Davis said.
The Salmon River site where the spikes were found is on traditional Nez Perce land, known to the tribe as the ancient village of Nipéhe. The land is currently owned by the state through the Federal Bureau of Land Management.
The dots speak not only for their age but also for their similarity to bullets found in Hokkaido, Japan, dating back 16,000 to 20,000 years, Davis said. Their presence in Idaho adds further detail to the hypothesis that early genetic and cultural connections exist between the Ice Age peoples of Northeast Asia and North America.
“The early peoples of North America possessed cultural knowledge that they used to survive and thrive over time. Some of this knowledge can be seen in how people made stone tools, such as the projectile points found at the Cooper’s Ferry site,” Davis said. . “When comparing these points to other sites of the same age and older, we can infer the spatial extents of social networks in which this technological knowledge was shared among peoples. »
These slim bullet points have two distinct ends, one sharp and the other shank, as well as a symmetrical blunt shape when viewed from the front. They were likely attached to darts, rather than arrows or spears, and despite their small size they were deadly weapons, Davis said.
“It is assumed that the first bullet points had to be large to kill big game; however, the smaller bullet points fitted to the darts will penetrate deeply and cause extensive internal damage,” he said. “You can hunt any animal we know of with weapons like these. »
These findings add to the emerging picture of early human life in the Pacific Northwest, Davis said. “Finding a site where people dug pits and stored complete and broken bullet points nearly 16,000 years ago gives us invaluable insights into the lives of our region’s earliest inhabitants. »
The newly discovered shafts are part of the larger Cooper’s Ferry record, where Davis and his colleagues previously reported a 14,200-year-old hearth and food processing area containing the remains of an extinct horse. In total, they found and mapped over 65,000 objects, recording their locations down to the millimeter for accurate documentation.
The tips of the bullets were discovered over the course of several summers between 2012 and 2017, with the work supported by a funding partnership between OSU and the BLM. All excavation work has been completed and the site is now covered. The BLM has installed interpretive panels and a kiosk at the site to describe the work.
Davis has been studying the Cooper’s Ferry site since the 1990s, when he was an archaeologist at the BLM. He is now partnering with the BLM to bring undergraduate and graduate students from OSU to work at the site during the summer. The team also works closely with the Nez Percé tribe to provide field opportunities for the youth of the tribe and to communicate any findings.
