Researchers identify oldest bone spear point in the Americas

[Still Waters]

A team of researchers led by a Texas A&M University professor has identified the Manis bone projectile point as the oldest weapon made of bone ever found in the Americas at 13,900 years.

The team studied bone fragments embedded in a mastodon rib bone which was first discovered by Carl Gustafson, who conducted an excavation at the Manis site in Washington state from 1977 to 1979.

Using a CT scan and 3D software, Waters and his team isolated all the bone fragments to show it was the tip of a weapon—a projectile made from the bone of Mastodon, prehistoric relatives of elephants.

https://phys.org/news/2023-02-oldest-bone-spear-americas.html

Dr. Michael Waters, distinguished professor of anthropology and director of Texas A&M's Center for the Study of First Americans, led the team whose findings were published this week in Science Advances.

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.ade9068

[Piney]

Bone points were probably more common than stone points during the Paleo and Archaic. They just didn't survive well in the North American climate.