130,000-Year-Old Mastodon Skeleton Suggests Humans Could Have Been in America 100,000 Years Before Previously Thought

A 130,000-year-old mastodon skeleton that appears to have been cut by human tools was discovered by paleontologists in America, where people were not supposed to have arrived for another 100,000 years.

In a groundbreaking discovery that could upend our understanding of human history, paleontologists have uncovered a 130,000-year-old mastodon skeleton that appears to have been butchered by humans, NBC reported. The shocking find was unearthed in America and dates to tens of thousands of years before the history books say people arrived there.

The discovery was made at the Cerutti Mastodon site in San Diego, California, where a team of scientists from the San Diego Natural History Museum and the Center for American Paleolithic Research were excavating the remains of a mastodon. As they began to study the bones, they noticed distinctive marks and fractures that appeared to have been caused by human tools. Further analysis confirmed that the marks were indeed the result of human activity, and radiocarbon dating revealed that the mastodon had died around 130,000 years ago.