Honestly, "Steve the construction man who keeps finding sites" sounds like it would make a good kids tv show, like bob the builder but instead of fixing things he just accidentally finds archaeological and paleontological sites and then his buddy the scientist teaches kids about newly found animals and human history discoveries.
Bro a 3 day premiere?? Enough foreplay and just stick it in In all seriousness you quickly became one of my favorite youtubers. Can't wait to learn about big hairy elephants
To me archeology feels like trying to reconstruct a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle when you find two pieces by the side of the road, and one of them is chewed up a bit and you can't even be sure they're from the same picture. It is amazing the ways y'all found to date and interpret all kinds of evidence and it requires so much interaction with every discipline ranging from physics to medicine to anthropology.
Does the idea of tracking down the owner of one of those random, single shoes on the side of the road and piecing together WHY there’s always just ONE SHOE appeal to you? Boy, do I have the profession for you (seriously why the fuck are those shoes there, how are so many people losing just one shoe)
@@ecta9604 The shoes are as far as I know from truck drivers. Who have different shoes for driving and for when they do something with the cargo. And apperently they have a tendency for leaving those shoes on an outside survace of the truck when they change them. So when they start driving the shoes will at some point be pushed of the truck and fall to the side of the road. This is what i've always been told and it makes sense to me. But I can't promise that it's 100% true
And every now and then someone will completely disregard the pieces we actually have, draw an alien on a scrap of paper and announce he’s solved all of it
I may be in the minority here, but I just wanna say, I had no prior interest in archeology, and stumbled on this channel, and just really like the way you present. Your passion and well written script makes me want to learn more about archeology from you. That said, I deeply appreciate your spark notes, because the assumption that I know anything about theories of early human migration to North America is incorrect.
I’ve always been interested but never got fully immersed because of boring dull teaching. Milo’s passion and form have made me binge watch everything till I’m up to date with his videos ❤
95% Of the world doesn't learn about human migration to and in North America. And out of the 5% that does, most of them probably forgot as soon as they graduated high school.
What inspired my passion towards archeology was actually when a child with craniosynostosis who lived during the middle Pleistocene was discovered back in like '09, the fact that this kid was cared for by our early ancestors proves that we have always had an immense capacity towards loving one another
As an adult human with craniosynostosis (thanks, science!), I find that genuinely heartwarming. People now get weirded out about us, but someone back in the Pleistocene must have loved that kid an awful lot. Daaaawwww. Thank you.
I'm very impressed and fangirling right now that you are Richard cerutti sGrand. He knows what is and what I know and Have been collecting for a while now
Dang it feels surreal for people who become famous or infamous have lives and families who we meet everyday. It kind of opens your eyes in the same way Milo talking about early humans like humans and people rather than just societies.
Okay, mind blown; happy woman here. A few months ago I and two friends went and walked the Lehner Mammoth Kill Site in Sierra Vista AZ, just a bit north of the Mexican border. I live about 90 minutes' drive from this, and I and my friends go on local historical tours (cheap and educational!) put on by Parks & Rec or this historical society or the local O'odham tribes or whatever, and this particular walk had about 45 people show up for it-- lots of families with kids, which was encouraging-- and the guy who told us about the site and the bones that'd been found and the Clovis point in the bone (and I knap flint points for fun, so I freaking *LOVED* that bit), he knew what he was talking about. He led us down into a gully where we could see the Black Mat layer, had artifacts (some real, some cast resin replicas) laid out on a picnic table under a handy ramada so we could see what a bone shaft-straightner was like and handle points that I *hope* someday I'll be able to make mine as good as, and he explained atlatls and at the end of the walk we all got to throw darts from an atlatl. My throw was terrible, but one guy sent it a good 90 feet and almost took out the window of an SUV parked down where we supposedly weren't going to be able to reach. After that, I and my friends went back to their place near the San Pedro River and looked out across the brushy desert towards where we'd walked and imagined mammoths browsing in the long winter-brown grass. .....and I had never heard of the Cerutti Mastodon Site. And now I want to go there SO BAD, and maybe I will. It's barely over 400 miles from my home; I could do that in less than 7 hours. ^___^ But what I'm curious about is this: How'd the hominids of the time kill the mammoth and the other large beasts? Atlatls only go back (so far as we know) 17.5K to 18k years ago-- is this a cliff kill? Were there marks in the bones that showed anything like that? Just curious; for all I know, the people who got their survival ensured for a little while longer by those kills found it being hamstrung by wolves and waited til the pack left. Don't care, just curious. Anyway, thank you for this. I'm no archaeologist; I work for a hospital in case research and data retrieval, but I truly loved this, and now I get to show it to my two mammoth-loving friends so we can rave at each other about this. Primitive doesn't mean stupid-- damn straight, and I'd like to have *anyone* who believes that show me their fire-making skills. I *can* light a fire in a few ways my ancestors would recognize, and those ways make me say 'thank the gods for central heating!' I can knap reasonable flint and obsidian points and make them from the bottoms of beer-bottles too. And I've been to White Sands too, and actually spoken to the guy who found the footprints (we talked about sloth hunting) and have no problem whatsoever in believing that 130k years ago, someone sat down to a mammoth dinner in California and went to bed well-fed and hopefully happy. Thank you. (loved your outro!)
Hi, I know this is a few months after your comment, but I had some insight. Since the marks were seemingly from hammer/anvil-style tools, it’s likely that this wasn’t a kill site, but a scavenging site. While hunting doesn’t always leave marks on the bones, processing the flesh with tools would have left cut marks (entirely different looking than the percussion marks found) on the bones. The mammoth may have died naturally or been hunted by a predator and the hominids were just scavenging the marrow from the already partially-eaten and disarticulated corpse they’d stumbled upon. I have a degree in archaeology but obviously haven’t inspected these artifacts/ecofacts myself so it’s just my hypothesis based on the facts presented here and in the 2017 and follow-up 2020 articles.
Yep i was considering a scavenged mastodon too. Mastodons or mammoths were not actually hunted as much as people think. Sure in certain places it is well described but more often people had other prey species. The famous cave sites with art in Western Europe for example are not known for it even though those animals were depicted in their art. I'm also thinking those primitive tools may not necessarily indicate primitive humans. When people are going through hard times or just new to an area they may have to improvise something simple for the time being. They would not be familiar with good flint sources or capable of using fancy knapping strategies. Scavenging fits in with that nicely as well and there are good examples of excellent knappers who simplified their technology such as the Badegoulians....
I swear these new channels are blowing old ones out of the water, Milo, dude, way to go. I cannot express how incredible it is to see someone encouraging that chase of knowledge, your channel is probably one of the top 3 new channels on this site, without a doubt. Thanks for all that you do, and I always appreciate the interesting lessons.
Damn this made my morning. I really still can’t wrap my head around the fact that people listen to what I have to say and the fact that I can inspire people to learn this stuff is the most humbling truth I’ve ever been bestowed. Thank you, friend.
@@miniminuteman773 Milo, when you said you were “killing it with the graphs today”, I immediately thought of Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, that he put the bong down and went to college. No shade, you really do break down complex aspects of these papers into understandable videos that anyone can watch and appreciate.
In regards to that last segment about early humans, what sticks out to me the most are the Cueva da las Manos hand paintings. One Twitter comment put it best, saying "It's like watching ancient people reaching out through time, saying "We were here. We were alive. We were human. We had feelings, thoughts, emotions, all just as complex as yours"." And I think that's such a beautiful thought that perfectly corroborates what Milo is saying, early humans are just that; humans that were from a time long long before ours. They too had an artistic sense that they used to quite literally paint a picture of the world they lived in for generations to come, potentially even eons after they've drawn their last breath
I'll be honest, this made me cry a little bit. A lot of us today are lost and struggling for connections with others, and the thought that someone left a message hundreds of thousands of years ago that I would be able to connect with resonates with me a lot
No he just misinformation the hell out of everything and and dismiss clear cut evidence that raise obvious questions. Waiting for his explanation on why Neanderthals and cro-mangnon are completely different with a chromosome capped off also. Geneticists cant explain so I know my main man milo the pedo can. 😂
27:35 i genuinely don't think i've ever been able to see so much wonder in a person's eyes. milo, your passion for archaeology is incredible and contagious, and i thank you for every single video you make
In 30 minutes you've gone and quadrupled my knowledge about the first humans in the Americas. I legitimately thought the Bering land bridge was a proven, uncontested fact and that human migration to the Americas was fairly linear. Also had no idea we were in an ice age. That's what I get for studying the arts lol.
Well all of these theories still rely on the Bering land bridge and that's completely uncontested, the question is more about what happened after they crossed it, did they follow a corridor between two ice sheets or did they hop along the coast in short boat rides, or are both these theories irrelevant because humans actually got to North America 130kya?
@@unoriginal1086 Alright you clearly have no comprehension ability. The land bridge is what they used to pass from Asia to North America. From there, it's contested whether they went on a path between ice sheets through what is now Canada, or whether they followed the coast line all the way down into what is now The United States. The land bridge is the first step in BOTH of those theories. Don't come out saying "he literally said this" if it's not something that he said anywhere in the video.
Wait, you weren't taught the Bering "land" bridge was ice during an/"the" Ice Age? Just wondering, because in the 80s and 90s, we were taught it was an ice bridge during "the" Ice Age.
Your in depth report made my morning - I love new groundbreaking amazing discoveries BUT even better is critical analyses that make me question my own enthusiasm 😀 Keep up the awesome work 👏
Great that you donated but I think it's worth noting that RUclips takes a large percentage, I'd recommend Patreon if you were going to donate a second time
I really love how you circle back to them being human and not the "knuckle dragging primitives" we've always been taught. I also appreciate it when you talk about early humans because you don't talk about them like they're just another artifact (although they are), you give them the same amount of humanity as if you are talking to a loved one. Your channel is so so underrated and one of my absolute favourites. Thank you so much for teaching all of us ( ˶ ᷇𖥦 ᷆ ˵ )
Basically all we do better is preserve, cook, and grow our food. Early humans would have been pretty clever to figure out how to do all of that, especially preservation, through basically trial and error. And also a few of them as unbelievably stupid as some of us nowadays to have eaten some of the things some of them tried eating. Jerky and cheese come to mind
Exactly, I gained so much appreciation for Milo's description of early technology when I tried to imagine myself coming up with these techniques. Maybe I could've discovered the right tpe of rock and the right point at which to shatter mammoth bones, but the standard and variety of Clovis points indicate that early people just as industrious, curious and ambitious as we are. I learn how to shape Python code from my elders in my community, they learned how to shape spearpoints from their elders in their community.
The modern myth that people in the past were all stupid and blissfully ignorant, and barely capable of making conscious choices and discoveries has done an incredible amount of damage in the last 300 or so years. It's always great to see somebody trying to dismantle it.
@@sock2828 it's actually kinda funny when you consider the fact that our biggest source of ancient history is ancient Roman historians doing the exact same stuff as modern historians do. And also letters of romans bitching about stuff. Though I suppose there's also the obsession with Rome being the peak of civilization
@@monty58 Largely because Rome had such great record making that we could trace the ideas and emotions of the Roman age. Contrast to Bob the Hunter 10k years ago.
No idea if you will see this but wanted to let you know. Thank you for making this video! I am also an archaeologist (though now i teach high school history) and i am teaching an intro biological anthropology course for the first time. A friend recommended I check you out when I was planning my unit on human evolution. (I also saw the lost lineage videos and those are great! Hope that series continues.) I needed more resources on the debate for how humans got to the Americas and needed something understandable for high schoolers. And your video is perfect! Thank you for summing up current knowledge and I love your breakdown of the archaeological evidence in this particular case (esp since i never got the time to go through it myself). I am looking forward to the debate this will hopefully spark in my class as well as to gettting to talk about archaeology specifically more! So thank you again and keep making videos please!
To be honest, I have rarely heard a more touching, insightful, interesting, and inspiring homage to people who are, although long dead, still amazingly inspiring today. I'm delighted that RUclips recommended to me your channel.
We humans are INCREDIBLY clever and inspirational... when we are not at each others necks. Maybe someday we can finally conclude the unionization of our species into one coordinating group that's been happening literally since the beginning of our time on this planet... Then, it's off to the stars!
As an archaeology graduate myself I want to thank you. Firstly, for your objective integrity and secondly for taking me right back to my time in university. The migrations to the Americas was my area of research through proteomics and studying faunal assemblages so this was on point for me. Excellent.
It's a bit tragic that it's virtually impossible to search for more dig sites in the larger area as it has become a concrete jungle. Heck the remains, of whatever Hominin scavenged the Mastodon, might have been destroyed a long time ago. Finally, if other animals have crossed between Asia and North America multiple times, there should be no reason why other hominins couldn't have.
If they're just as smart as we are, they'd remember the routes taken to get to America, they weren't aimlessly traveling, they were explorers, looking for new lands and opportunities just as we humans always have done. And word spreads just as it does today.
@@Chaos_Feyre Maybe but the haplogroup genetic markers don't seem to indicate that. Perhaps it was an entirely separate race of people who went extinct and the native Americans of today came in a second pulse.
@@praisesol2740 that’s what I was thinking. We can’t say every human got to America the same way, it could be that many groups ventured over here, from many routes, and probably over many many years. There’s no reason any of the different supposed paths can’t be true.
@@praisesol2740Part of the issue with this one is that many indigenous individuals are reluctant to get genetic tests- entire tribes. Caucasian attitudes, especially about land ownership, cause the indigenous to be skeptical of whether the truth would be followed or distorted to support false claims. Too many broken treaties and false assertions.
This is my favorite video of yours, Milo. You have other ones with funnier jokes, more biting clap-backs, or more gimmicks, but THIS video… I just love the information in it. There’s nothing else to say about it; I love this video purely for the things that it has taught me. I hope that’s high praise for an edutainment channel, because you deserve high praise for how much you’ve taught me about archeology.
Thanks Teach! Growing up as a Native American in North Dakota I had teachers that would tell me I was wrong whenever I brought up ancestral stories that carried further back than the Land Bridge would support.
this video made me cry. the idea that early people, our ancestors, could have experienced the world so long ago, that we're just scratching the surface of understanding their lives and experiences, that there could be so much more to discover, brought me to tears. it's so beautiful to find that connection, thank you for talking about this.
What a wholesome, lovely comment. Thank you for posting something so vulnerable and genuine; it is rare these days, but greatly needed. Have a good night, Stranger!
Was about to make a comment similar to this as well before finding this but yep, Milo's closing remark did make me also tear up which I absolutely didn't expect from an archeology video. Maybe because there's just a huge overwhelming feeling knowing that despite how long ago it was, our ancestors could experience the same level of emotion & fascination as we still do today & theres just something comforting to me about that.
When I was growing up we were taught Egyptians was the oldest civilization and first writting.... then the BILLIONS of title shards were 'discovered' (aka picked up by a white scientist who finally noticed all the shards lying around for ... well literally thousands of years. Just lying there.. on the dirt to pick up - no digging needed) ------ and we found out about Mesopotamia. When people and wolly mammoths were both here; people were writing. - History has forgotten more than we'll ever know. We still have lace from the 1500s that no one can recreate. Even today with all our machines and artisans: we still can't figure out how to make lace people made 500 years ago.
I love that someone is talking about this! And someone who sticks to facts, explores theories, and my favorite point. You're not afraid to admit when we really just don't know, which is 90% of everything we come across...Thanks for your content. p.s. as you get older, you appreciate more simple things, that make life just a tiny bit better.
That’s why one of the important things to try and do is learn to notice and enjoy small things you might once have taken for granted. It’ll make you happier in the long run.
@@miniminuteman773 It took years for me to come to the realization that admitting I'm wrong about something, or I don't know isn't a failure on my part, but a chance to actually learn something. It is one of the hardest things for humans to come to grips to, but when you finally do, the world really opens up for you, and you get a chance to learn amazing shit!
i absolutely hate when any form of science just comes up with potential theories without any evidence whenever they don’t know how something works. i have max respect for any person that is able to admit they don’t know the answer to something instead of just saying “it could be this…” and i really appreciate these videos not having any bullshit like that
I’m a teenager who just got back from a high school archeology field school. We did real excavation and mostly my unit had lithics. I just loved when you said lithics because I have gotten used to having to explain to people what it is and such. But you know and it might be simple and stupid but I made me so happy
Definitely not stupid. Enjoy lithium and any other part of archeology, geology and paleantology. They are each part of the whole story of the past. Milo is an amazing teacher. You might have glimpsed your future.
I remember reading about a Navajo creation story that said that one of their previous worlds was flooded and the people floated across the sea, encountering many islands, before finally landing on a coastline with tall, rocky cliffs which was their new home. I don't know how accurate this is, because it isn't easy to find any Navajo elders or historians that might have these stories to confirm their validity, but I always felt this lent much more credence to the theory that people got to the Americas by island hopping and following the coastline.
@@tompatterson1548 I'd honestly love to see someone list and compare a ton of old myths, legends, folklore, and religious stories. It sounds like a fun rabbit hole, especially if you add in any historical sites that were dated around the same time of some of them
There's a theory that islanders crossed the south Pacific ocean and landed in South America, it could be possible that it's in reference to that. I know that's very far away from where the Navajo tribe lived, but it's hard to say how far they might have spread.
There's Aboriginals in Australia with legends of when the seas rose creating the coral reefs, about 10,000 years ago. Pleaides too is seen as being 7 stars, when now 2 have conjoined, they were last separate around 100,000 years ago
@@henelema It's further complicated by the fact that that Navajo are actually in an anomalous location compared to other nations in the Athabaskan language group, all of whom except for the Navajo and Apache live in western Canada and the American Northwest, and so probably didn't actually originate in the Southwest. Indirect Central and South American contact in the American Southwest isn't a completely crazy idea, as there was traffic back and forth between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. The Hohokam were *heavily* influenced by Mesoamerican culture, even having ball courts similar to those built by Aztecs and there is even a theory that the Pueblo Kokopelli figure may have been a representation of a Mesoamerican merchant. But the Navajo weren't here then, having migrated from somewhere far to the north, about as far from South America as one can get. If this myth is a holdover from some historical account of island hopping, after which people spread out from South America, it would be especially odd for it to be preserved by the nation *furthest* from that site, while being forgotten by most in between.
I love how you talked about our ancestors of the past at the end of your video. What I like to think, is that we aren't much different today compared to thousands of years ago. The main thing is that we tend to build on the knowledge of our predecessors. It takes a genius to invent the first car, but it would have also taken a genius to invent the first cart.
A few years ago I began wondering who first came up with the genius idea of combining 2 knives to make scissors, so I started searching for the answer. Turns out it happened so long ago that no one knows; the name(s) of the inventor(s) weren't recorded (and I suspect that scissors were invented separately by many people in many different locations, shortly after they first figured out how to make knives from metal - when it's time for scissors, scissors will happen).
@@margretrosenberg420ot often a youtube comment gets me smiling. Well played good sir. Id never asked that question to myself or heard that before. Im thinking almost as soon as metal was first smelted.
@@hoghs1 Thanks. I'm a woman, though. My profile picture includes my late husband; it's the last picture I have of the two of us together and I haven't the heart to change it yet, or maybe ever.
@@GetawayFilms It's a variation on a quote that I can't quite track down, about how the same thing can be invented at approximately the same time, by different people, in different parts of the world, when the time is right. Kind of like convergent evolution.
I'm Sicangu/Choctaw and have done extensive DNA testing (23andMe, GEDMatch, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, AncestryDNA, Illustrative DNA, genomelink, Nebula genomics, ADNTRO, and other private ones) and reviewed that of others in my immediate family, extended family, and very distant family (1cm or less) that are indigenous. We all have not only significant Neanderthal DNA but also significant Denisovan DNA markers. I ran Native North American DNA privately collected through Latin American DNA service called Somos Ancestria and we show up as closest to the (in order of closest to farthest relation) Mixteca, Zaptoec, Huichol, and Andean Peruvian Aymaras/Quechuas, Pimas, Triqui, and Tarahumara specifically. It's like seeing the migration pattern going from north to south (or south to north) . We also all have Central and South Asian DNA traces with some going as far as to specify Pakistan surrounding countries (not expected as the Mongolian and East Asian which was also present and is well documented) as well as significant reoccurring Austronesian DNA traces and markers. We also show up as having Malagasy trace DNA and markers. Multiple samples were from 70- 90 year old full blood Lakotas from the reservation and from full blood Choctaws living in Oklahoma. We have no Aleutian or Artic DNA. When doing DNA analysis I've also encounter 1-10% that is routinely unable to be identified and the pattern is specific to families and clearly inheritable. I think the peopling of the Americas happened quite a bit before 23, 000 years ago and archaeology has yet to unearth it (assuming there remans evidence and it wasn't all destroyed by rising sea levels in a Kelp Highway scenario). I think it happened in waves with some ancestral populations dying off and merging with new waves. Some had the Austonesia/Denisovan DNA and some had the Neanderthal and Ancient Siberian DNA and at some point they converged in the old world and possibly here. The Cerutti Mastadon Site could be evidence of that. Indigenous people throughout the Americas also have oral histories and legends of smaller human-like peoples here that I'm inclined to believe were probably a remnant population of one of the first waves of modern homo sapien admixed people with significant non-Homo Sapien ancestry and possibly unknown Hominini ancestry.
This is beyond awesome. Cool self study too if your family! Diné and Oneida here (and south Asian through dad) - it’s very obvious that South Americans came up to North America thousands of years ago and the trade network throughout the Gulf of Mexico was always in use between so many people. The colonizer anthropology is aggravating to say the least.
You ever think that maybe it's a bit sketchy to give your DNA to THAT MANY COMPANIES? some of which aren't that reputable? Heck, ancestry just sold all their genetic data to China.
@@bluelagoon1980I missed that one. But I can tell you that the Polynesians absolutely had to have some contact with South American natives, as the kumara that many islands enjoy came from the South American sweet potato. And think about it. Polynesians could give a master class in long distance sailing. I would have been incredibly surprised if they didn't contact Western South American shores.
I wouldn't give so much burden of proof to oral tradition, specially when we are talking so far back that the people we descent didn't even look like us today, and their cultures so different we don't have any links to them
Man I always get a warm feeling when you talk about ancestral customs with that much passion, i would love if you covered the findings about neanderthals with healed bone fractures, which meant they were taken care of. Man, love really is one the core features of humanity
One thing people shouldn't ever forget: humanity isn't just homo sapiens. It's easy to forget that our ancestors and sister species were very similar in intelligence and thought. The name homo sapien kinda gives a sense of superiority, (sapien -> sapient -> conscious) but in reality we just got lucky with who came out on top. I mean, heck, Neanderthals we're so similar to us we could cross breed. They weren't stupid apes, they were human, and so were the rest of them, too
@@gabef.218 They weren't just able to, they did. We didn't kill them at all; In fact, they just interbred into us. Pretty much every anglo trait can be attributed to the Neanderthal.
"Love is a dangerous force." He shook his head. "Love killed the dinosaurs, man." I'm pretty sure a meteor killed the dinosaurs, Thomas." He shrugged. "There's a theory making the rounds now that when the meteor hit it only killed off the big stuff. That there were plenty of smaller reptiles running around, about the same size as all the mammals at the time. The reptiles should have regained their position eventually, but they didn't, because the mammals could feel love. They could be utterly, even irrationally devoted to their mates and their offspring. It made them more likely to survive. The lizards couldn't do that. The meteor hit gave the mammals their shot, but it was love that turned the tide.” a passage from one of my favorite books
People really underestimate what you can accomplish with some know how and rocks and sticks. You add some type of rope and you can do just about anything (plus a knife but technically you can make a rock into a cutting tool)
It should be the motto for humanity "have you tried beating it?" Old school tvs being difficult? Beat it Alarm clock wakes you up? Beat it Siblings being annoying af? Yup beat them
Hearing the part at 26:58 really made me stop and think about how small we as individuals are. Like, as a species, we have been human for quite literally as long as we have existed. We empathized and cared for the elderly and wounded, we buried our dead, we mourned our losses. It's staggering to know how long we as humans have been doing the things that we do.
We weren't any less intelligent, either. We just hadn't invented all the things yet. When you think about modern technology, it takes so long for certain things to be invented because of all the prerequisites. Check out the book How to Invent Everything, it's incredibly interesting.
I feel like this is an under looked thing that is rear, very important to keep in mind with discussions of history. End of the future of what drove people to do the things that why they did the things they did were the consequences is thinking of that on a human level as if you were there cause it’s essentially there parts of us that are common to us. All are basic knees, and wants and desiresand emotions more useful when looking towards the future, and what can be done to all of those needs and fulfill those desires
Remember that a lot of the biggest discoveries in all fields of science started out sounding too incredible to be true. The way I look at it, two possibilities exist here: we're either fundamentally missing something about this site, or it will be regarded in the future as a huge discovery that rewrote some of what we thought we knew about hominid evolution migration. (Of course the fact that it does sound so incredible means it deserves a LOT of skepticism and demands better evidence, but I'm excited to see where it goes 👀 )
@@johannageisel5390 Ancient Greeks talked about something like an atom, yet they obviously didn’t have the tools to observe said atoms. Just because they ended up being right (or close to) doesn’t mean it didn’t deserve skepticism.
@@johannageisel5390 And genes were to randomly "jump" around the code for seemingly no reason. They laughed at Barbara McClintock when she proposed this.
Exactly, being overly sceptical to the point of being averse to any new ideas and being too quick to ascribe to new theories before there’s enough evidence are both dangerous approaches to potential breakthroughs
So as a historian, I never fail to be amazed at just how similar humans are to one another. I love your channel because every aspect of it exists to prove that humans and our hominid relatives are generally the same, that our modern divisions of people by various means is incompatible with scientific evidence of near universal similarity.
I would like to apologize in advanced for inability to properly convey and connect the concepts I am attempting to discuss in this comment. I've been trying to type it for at least 30 minutes as I seem to be suffering from a particularly dastardly case of writer's block. Are you familiar with "The Species Problem" and the many different "Species Concepts"? For simplicities sake I'll just quote the Wikipedia entry on species concepts: "The species problem is the set of questions that arises when biologists attempt to define what a species is. Such a definition is called a species concept; there are at least 26 recognized species concepts.". I feel that the species question is far more profound and significant when it comes to defining humanity. Where and how should we draw the lines between the current form of the human species and our closest hominid relatives, be they ancestors or contemporaries? Should neanderthals truly be considered a different species? They may not have looked exactly the same as us but we certainly interbred with them a significant number of times. We've known for awhile now that they were both tool-users and tool-makers. We've even recently discovered neanderthal jewelry and make-up! And this video taught me that they buried their dead with FLOWERS! The significance of them performing such an action cannot be understated. While I can't remember the age of said burial site it opens up the possibility of cultural transfers between hominid species in a variety of ways. First and foremost is that the use of flowers in burial rights might predate both neanderthals and anatomically-modern humans(AMHs). The second is that the practice originated amongst neanderthals and was subsequently adopted by AMHs. The inverse is also possible, depending on the age of the burial site. The fourth possibility is that the practice was started by a third species which was adopted by one or even both neanderthals and AMHs. When it comes to hominids there is just so much that needs to be considered when it comes to answering the species question. Between both the biological compatibility and possible cultural exchanges I have no idea where to begin.
What? What do you mean though? I mean yeah sure we’re “relatively the same” in that we breath air and use tools but and have various superficial similarities but the actual behavioral and biological differences are definitely not negligible. That would be like saying a chimp and a bonobo are “basically the same”. It’s really kind of missing the whole point of science and seeing what you want to see.
@@virtueofabsolution7641 exactly, there's a reason Species is the most specific classification in the hierarchy of taxonomic ranks. Being the same Genus is the "close enough" part of the classification and we then further separate by Species.
I talked with my anthropology professor about anxiety and depression often. There is interesting discussion on if one of the causes of anxiety and depression are the differences from our current social/work environment and the ones that we as a species adapted to. There’s really not a lot of reasons to think that our ancient homies weren’t having existential crises and worried for reasons beyond the actual threats they faced. Either way, it would suck to think exactly like we do today.
It is kinda sad, but i also find it incredibly validating; humans in a totally different world, living within totally different circumstances, struggled with their mental health, and yet they continued on! We are here because they were their, living their life despite its challenges. Personally, i like to imagine ancient, anxious people received support from their social circles. Whether or not that was the case, it's a nice thought. If we don't know for sure, why not imagine a best case scenario?
@@beesRsuperior I think they're being a little reductive, but it's true capitalism is part of the problem. Evidence does suggest that capitalism has problems, and a negative impact on individuals lower on the hierarchy. But that's a sociology discussion probably best suited elsewhere on the internet.
@@beesRsuperiorit isn't closed minded at all. It is closed-minded of you to write off the idea because it's been culturally labelled as radical. I encourage you to look into cultural hegemony and cognitive dissonance, because these are two concepts that are seriously clouding your judgement right now. At its core, capitalism is merely a mechanism that allows a small portion of society to control pretty much everything (directly or indirectly) and to extract the majority of wealth created through all labour, rather than that wealth going back to the people who created it or back into local communities. That's it. How people can contort this into being an acceptable, fair or preferable system is beyond me. There's a hell of a lot of propaganda behind that, I can promise you. Capitalism's only goal is to increase and centralise profits, which results in basic human needs becoming monetised, slave labour, manufactured poverty and the criminalisation of that poverty. It forces people to behave in opposition to our natural bahaviours, by forcing us to compete instead of cooperate, and encouraging us to live individualistically, rather than collectively. Of course it has a massive impact on mental health. People k*ll themselves because they can't afford their rent, or to feed their kids, or they can't get a job, can't afford life altering surgery or mental health support. And we have absolutely reached a point in human history where none of these issues need to exist. We have more than enough resources to provide for everybody on this planet; instead we let 1% hoard more money than they could ever spend and they do it purely to maintain power and control over the rest of us so we remain in servitude to them our entire lives. This is the one issue that causes or exacerbates every other issue. There can be no freedom or democracy under capitalism because capitalism is a corporate dictatorship. So please, keep an open mind. There's a lot you don't know. And remember, the most respected and accomplished philosophers and political commentators are socialist (Noam Chomsky, George Orwell, Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein). It isn't for no reason.
@@beesRsuperior @beesRsuperior thank you for your measured and thoughtful response. I engage with anticapitalism/socialism a fair bit online and am often having to defend it against people who are very quick to dismiss, criticise or promote capitalism as 'the best we have', so you're right, I absolutely did assume that you were being dismissive. I apologise that I came across as patronizing - this wasn't my intention. Perhaps I'm a little jaded from conversations starting out respectfully but often devolving into insults and name calling towards me when I challenge others' beliefs. I find speaking in a more confident/direct way can be more effective in communicating my perspective as knowledge-based rather than merely a biased opinion (not that having an opinion is necessarily bad). To be honest, I was less concerned with what you actually meant. I knew people might see your response as a defence of capitalism or dismissal of its potential role in depression/mental health issues, and so I decided to provide a counter-perspective for the benefit of other people reading the comments. A lot of people have no (or a brainwashed) understanding on what capitalism and socialism are so I like to frame it in a way that resonates with their lives. It's nice to hear your perspective, particularly as somebody living in Sweden! I live in Australia, so I have it far better than, say, the average person from the US or the Global South, but we also still have a loooong ways to go. We get 3-4 weeks paid leave per year but our govt backs big business so more and more roles are becoming casualised with rights and benefits stripped. People always say Australia has universal healthcare but that's not exactly true. You'll be treated for emergencies but could be on a waitlist for years to get work done. My dad needs both his knees done and has been on the list for 4 years; he lives every day in pain and still has to work. The govt and healthcare institutes try to push everyone towards getting private health insurance "to take the pressure off the public sector" which only exists because they keep cutting funding while handing out billions to the wealthy and corporations. We pay high taxes, more than enough to cover healthcare but it doesn't go there, and if you don't have private health insurance by the time you're 30 you get taxed even more. I agree with your points on depression. We absolutely can't be so reductive. Although I also suspect the commenter was probably just being brief and vague like you were, and then you made assumptions about it like I did 😅 Thank you for your response! It's a nice way to wake up, seeing a positive, insightful and respectful comment. I hope you have a lovely day 😊
Your combination of storytelling and insistence on credibility is a breath of fresh air both for both making such technical concepts accessible and for adhering to good science. It’s impressive and what academia needs
@@amycatass I haven't read any of his books, but he reminds me very much of Alex Jones: A man who believes some very crazy things, but also some very true things, and some somewhere in between. The problem they both ran into, I suspect, is that they have always been told "That's crazy" whether or not they were actually wrong, and therefore they lose access to meaningful feedback (because they get told they're wrong whether or not it's true) TL;DR: they're worth listening for kernals of truth, but never take them at face value
I remember my Archeology professor laying out all the arguments that have been purposed for a site and letting the class discuss the pros and cons. He didn't give us the answer- probably because he didn't always have one, but would lead us through the ideas and how we can always misinterpreted the data. In my 400 level class with 5 others, he occasionally admitted when he might not know the answer or has changed his opinion on his own work.
This video makes me appreciate my high school history teacher even more since he didn’t just cover the land bridge theory but he also presented us with this theory, the kelp, the Clovis and a few other theories in order to challenge what we had always thought of as fact and prove that there’s still a lot that we just don’t know about our history
Wish I’d had your history teacher. Not that mine wasn’t fantastic, mind you (did deep dives into the people who made history), but the natural history sounds… 🤯
I realize it's a movie but the baby's father in the movie Ice Age was surprisingly depicted as a person; capable of love and ceremony and that's how I prefer to imagine early hominids.
The craziest thing to me is that I remember watching that movie as a kid and thinking something along the lines of "these guys are acting pretty civilized for a bunch of cavemen. That's not realistic." And it's crazy coming here now and learning that it's actually much more realistic than the common knowledge would have us think
I think a lot about how i could probably communicate with my ancient ancestors with smiles and gestures, i want to meet my primordial grandmother so badly. Maybe i will when i too am dead, and we can grunt and hoot together ❤
@@j0hn00the dinosaur ice age movie even shows the whole world without grass (grass was not a thing during the dinosaur age). They have fun but did their homework
@@j0hn00 concepts like affection, compassion, and altruism aren't limited to humans. They're primitive aspects of mammalian neuropsychology that probably go even further back since fish even show signs of these traits. Even if life was harsher back then, and hard decisions had to be made far more frequently, it's what makes us who we are today that allowed our ancestors to become so prolific.
Understanding geological timelines is both awe inspiring and absolutely terrifying. The planet we live on is so old and has changed so much over the years, and our entire history as Humans is a blip on the map. If it's true that our descendants came to the Americas way before we ever imagined, then that'll just be swell
@@henryknox4511 Unlikely - though it's possible there was some admixture when H. sapiens arrived, as there was with Neanderthals, Denisovans and others. An archaic American population wouldn't have been ancestral to most of our species though. That's part of what's so weird about this find and why it's so hard to accept. It's so old and there are no other traces. What's seen here is incredibly primitive technology compared to what other human populations were using at the same time or even much earlier and we don't find any examples of those old stone tool kits in the Americas. This is just "Looks like these rocks were used to hit things with". Not even the level of the Oldowan tool kit, which is millions of years old. Now, obviously they could have also used that technology (or later versions), but just not left any at this site, but we also don't see any elsewhere in the Americas. If they were here for a hundred thousand years, why not? We've found ancient stone tools all over Africa and Eurasia. Had this population regressed? Lost even the skill to shape stone tools?
You just presented something I wouldn't have thought much about, and you made interesting. And presented it in a scientific manner, without an excess reliance on ancient aliens. Great job! 👍
The closing minutes of this video were absolutely beautiful, Milo. Well done to you and the editor for striking such a wonderful balance between fact and theory with respect to the history of humanity's ancestors, this was a jaw dropping watch :)
I would have preferred the word 'hypothesis' in this context, as while it was beautiful, it undercut the difference in scientific theory and common theory (in being scientific theory= fact and common theory= hypothesis)
@@littlebigbiddy thank you holy shit. The speech was beautiful but when someone uses the more common definition of theory while talking about science it always bothers me a little.
28:20 reminds me of something one of my lecturers said to me when I was at university "Non-existent evidence is not evidence of non-existence." The possibility of the Cerutti Mastodon site being a human kill site is where that phrase applies, where the find and arguments around it are so convincing that the only thing getting in the way is that we've found nothing else like it, but the site's alternative explanations just don't seem to be enough compared to it.
CMIIW, let me see if I get this right. At first we thought it was homo sapiens, right? And then after the site was dated to be >100k years old, we concluded that it wasn't h. sapiens because h. sapiens were still in Africa back then. So now we think it's probably other hominids, not strictly h. sapiens. But why stop the possibility at hominids? Couldn't it be there were other sufficiently smart species from other genus who did it? I mean, we've seen plenty of non-human animals smart enough to use tools.
@TheGlassesPro Unfortunately, it really is though. You can take, for example, the evidence for the existence of even the rarest species, and then compare that to Bigfoot. I mean, we should by all accounts have TONS of evidence if Bigfoot existed. "But they live off WAY in the wild, where people don't live." Well where people live WAS the isolated wild only a couple of centuries ago! And the vast majority of sightings ARE where people live! So the fact that the evidence seen in the cases of even the rarest species does not exist for a Bigfoot is strong evidence against its existence.
@@rekagotik2785 Not smart enough to use them to kill massive prey like mastodons. That requires a level of planning and effort that even pack animals like dire wolves might not be able to pull off. It was a hominid.
All unfalsifiable claims meet the definition of "absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence". Although logically sound, that phrase is usually used in an attempt to represent an unfalsifiable claim as something likely or reasonable to believe just by the virtue of it being unfalsifiable. It's a one-size-fits-all rhetorical tool to justify belief in any wackadoo shit that you can't prove lol. Not everything logically sound is practically applicable or reasonable to apply in any context.
@@rekagotik2785 anything's possible when you have such little practical evidence... just don't fall too far into the other trap of letting you imagination run wild because, well, we have such little practical evidence Could it have been a non-hominid species? i mean, yes, in theory. But we have absolutely no corroborating evidence that any creature advanced enough to do something like this existed on the American continent, or any other continent for that matter. So as of right now it's incredibly unlikely until such evidence is uncovered. Everything this find suggests could ultimately turn out to be a 'false positive', so this is why good science requires both an open mind AND a healthy skepticism of single-source 'conclusions'.
Ok, so this is my take. First of all, an excellent job discussing this! You made a very balanced evaluation of the site whilst still preserving your usual flair. Second, I don't object to the archaeology of this site but rather to the interpretation. I'm a guy who likes to see hard evidence that is very difficult to refute like what was found at white sands or monte Verde and the evidence from cerutti is a bit too vague. It can be interpreted many ways, one of which evidences humans. Speaking of Monte Verde (and third I guess?), Tom Dillehay, the guy who led the excavations at Monte Verde and knows all too well about making a paradigm-shifting discovery and defending it to the bitter end, co-authored a response that I read a long time ago that is very short and worth a read. The article is titled "Were Hominins in California ∼130,000 Years Ago?" and he and the other authors raise very good points about the site's interpretation and what evidence we ought to be looking for to make such a bold claim. I won't rehash the points here because it's a very short read and the authors put it better than I could. This is all a long winded way of saying that this site is a huge outlier not just for the Americas but for all human migration. For me to take this more seriously, I would like more supporting evidence from other sites that can place this into a better context. I know I'll sound like an old fart when I say that "this doesn't fit into the bigger picture of human evolution and migration" but that's how I look at cerutti. Great video though and I completely respect your view!
@@AncientAmericas I'm not an Archeologist I studied Neuroscience (MS) and Medicine (MD) so I am familiar with the process of science and evaluating papers. I don't necessarily understand how this site would disagree with the bigger picture of human evolution and migration. H. hidelbergensis has been found in China and Spain, supporting the idea of an early human peopling across the Eurasian continent. While it can't be confirmed they used language the existence of a hyoid bone and a reasonable suggestion of handedness strongly suggest they had the capacity for language, which from a neuroscience perspective is indicative of a more or less functionally equivalent brain despite the fact they weren't anatomically equivalent. While H. hidelbergensis was definitely gone by the time of this proposed migration there is evidence of populations of Neanderthal and Denosovian presence in eastern Russia and China before and after the time of this potential migration. While I agree it cannot be confirmed until more evidence is found I think the statement that it doesn't fit into the bigger picture of human evolution and migration is somewhat hyperbolic to the suggestion that a small group of early humans migrated at an earlier date then died out, as the conditions existed for such a migration to occur. The evidence of the site itself plus the conditions that make such an occurrence possible makes it a reasonable hypothesis to propose that shouldn't be dismissed immediately out of hand. Edit: Just to be clear, the only part I am taking issue with in the comment I'm replying to is the suggestion that it is incompatible with the current larger picture of human evolution and migration, and I am inviting them to reply and explain why I am wrong.
It takes confidence to say, 'I don't know.' Wish more professionals were comfortable with that thought. Your knowledge to minute ratio needs a new graph with revised intervals. Outstanding, and thanks for sharing the passion.
“why are you crying?” the innate human nature to explore, love, and create got to me ok edit: if I wasn’t an artist, I would be an anthropologist with a focus on early Paleolithic art and culture. I love that humans have always been creatures that feel so deeply that there is an innate drive to create and commune with eachother. I think that’s why I have such an issue with people who don’t see the arts as important. You’re telling me that art, the thing we did before we invented WRITTEN LANGUAGE, is useless??? To the pits with you
I have always found ancient negative handprints to be godamn awe inspiring. These are people who lived, breathed, loved, fought, triumphed and struggled so similarly and yet so different for us. These not so different from us today people made and enjoyed art. and one of the most prolific of these arts is the negative handprint. a marking completely unique to the artist who made it and has thus screamed across the eons "I was here!" when everything else has vanished.
Delightful video. It gave me the same feeling as I got when I heard about those 700,000 year old rhino bones found in the Phillipines that showed signs of butchering. I warms my heart whenever a discovery is made that hints at other hominin species being capable of more than we previously thought like migrating to North America, or in the case of the rhino bones, to the Phillipines.
about the chalk: im autistic and the sound of chalk is usually torture (but i enjoyed milos videos so much i watched anyway), and i had no idea that it was possible to have chalk that didnt sound horrible. i still dont like the sound, but this chalk is actually so much better that i dont even flinch when i hear it. whoever sent it in, i love you lmao
@@anny8720 oh for sure that’s what it is. Was really just pointing that out, can affect anyone to the point of detracting from the info actually being conveyed. Still, it’s a me problem. It sucks, but you can’t accommodate for everything.
Your videos are F-in amazing! You’ve got a great skill in conveying actual scientific information in an engaging and fun way. I’m going through your videos in order and I’m absolutely loving it!
Man I love how he explains things very thoroughly with all the big words but I still feel like I understand and have a great time. Wish I had him as a teacher back in school.
You’re a superb story teller Milo. Your enthusiasm and thorough analysis with detailed documentation surpass nearly all other educational channels that I’ve encountered on the internet. I eagerly anticipate your future productions.
I'm glad you included the section about us always being human. I think of that human skeleton that was found that had an individual that likely was born disabled and couldn't walk. But they grew to early adulthood because their community cared about them. Their teeth had cavities because their family fed them fruit. Our ability to care for others makes us human. And while yes the world sucks, don't despair. Because we have always taken care of each other, and hopefully we will now
Chilling and watching this right after visiting the La Brea Tar Pits and learning a whole bunch about mastodons there definitely puts me in a place where I've learned more about mastodons in the past week than in the previous 27 years of my life.
I really get the amount of frustration you get when people refer to our early ancestors as primitives. Whenever I hear it I think to the grad paper I'm writing, and thinking about the evidence of early dentistry during the neolithic period and I'm talking about drilled teeth at like, 7,500 to 9,000 years back. Or even the dental bridges that are estimated at about 4,500 years back. Though I should note that they were probably placed post-mortem and the earliest functional bridge is estimated at about 2,400 years ago. And while 9,000 is very little compared to 100,000 , it is till staggering. I can never understand this urge of people to always compare themselves to the earlier generation with the desire to come off as better, rather than learn from them. And I'm saying that because I believe our early ancestors exhibited some better dental practices than whatever the fuck we had going on in the 18th century. I had to look at an early 18th century dentistry manuscript and that shit shaved years off my life.
I wonder about stuff like this. Dentistry and just generally how the idea of providing a service rather than a physical thing arose to be a viable professional pursuit. Like, how did barbers come about? The only reason most of don’t cut our own hair or go to family is largely cultural…but….how far back in the culture? Was there such a thing as a Neolithic barber? Could a Neanderthal with a bum foot have started trimming hair to earn his meals?
Dude people just 500 years ago figured out shit i would have thought was fucking magic. I hate when people assume that just because people were from like...you know a long time ago means they were primitive and stupid. We benefit alot from public education and shared knowledge.
Honestly, this is the reason I fucking hate the Ancient Aliens show and "theory" so much. Beyond all the bad history, bad logic, bad theorizing, bad archeology and sometimes just naked racism, there's a deeply misanthropic streak to the show. It treats early humanity and early civilization as fundamentally unintelligent in every aspect, as beings that knew and wondered and thought nothing, beings that weren't social creatures, they were nothing more than drones to be enslaved by these extraterrestrials of unfathomable technological advances. It genuinely hurts and angers me to see those ideas because, while yes, humanity has done some deeply, deeply awful things for very little reason, we've also found evidence of just the most basic human connections that we still, to this day, practice from the earliest examples of our species. The fact that we find footprints of children with their parents, just living, and sites where we treated each other because we were sick or hurt is amazing. It pains me to see such disinterest with and unintrospection of our own god damn history and such unwillingness to seek connection with our own pasts.
@@beancheesedip8337 and those people would rather believe aliens visited as technology gods than that their own ancestors travelled, invented, interacted and interbred almost from the beginning.
Thank you for mentioning that the First Nations people have stories that go far far back in history. This is a fascinating story and is an amazing find
And given that some aboriginal stories have lately been found to be spot on, as well as some polynesian oral history, we should probably take it more seriously
Love your insights and your series. Please work on sound quality, the echo is making this hard, other episodes are good soundwise. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for bringing up the interglacial period. Also, I love that you define things. Having been a teacher, that's key to understanding what's being studied.
I know you laughed about it, but the fact that you are able and willing to actually go through all those scholarly papers and translate it into a way that the rest of us can understand is truly special. You're doing God's work, and we need more people like you. Historic and scientific liaisons to the people are something we truly need, and don't have enough of. I don't know what your actual job is, but you would make an amazing teacher if you're not already.
As a California Native and Super History Nerd, I think this is one of the coolest history discoveries and videos i have seen in a while. For sure earned a like and share to every other history nerd I know. Also, Thanks for the work, Franco!
I subscribed about a month (or two?) ago and I'm gradually going back over all of your videos, and I just wanted once again to thank you for doing all of this, working to spread real scientific knowledge, contribute to education, and combat woo, lies, and anti-intellectualism.
Native New Mexican here (yes it means both) my particular tribes oral tradition is very well aware of the rough area our ancestors came from before settling in New Mexico. Our tribe ( jicarilla apache) migrated from Canada down to new Mexico.
Weird question here if you'll even see this, but is the location in Canada also passed down in oral tradition? Like from the western, central, eastern or wherever regions. Just curious as to if theres anything interesting with migrations up there
@@friedchickenloverr I'm not entirely sure, i know we came Frome the more western parts of Canada near alaska. as for the Canadian side I'm not sure if the oral tradition has anything about the migrations
Jicarilla. Hmmm. I know if an execution method stated to have been used by the Jacarilla. Very cruel. Sewing the tip of penis to the scrotum... and and while sun slowly tightens the wet drying collar to strangle the condemned... The condemned is also loaded up with peyote and while slowly being strangled by collar... A maiden shakes her naked coochie in the condemned man's face...triggering an erection...which tears the scrotum as penis enlarges. Bringing the ants and other critters for dinner. Vicious. I like it.
Hi, paleoanthropology nerd here, this is SUCH A COOL THEORY!!!! I think my favorite part about it is that it slams people who believe in homo sapien supremacy and/or that other early hominids were somehow “less fit” (if we’re talking in social Darwinist terms). Thinking about the possibilities that would come about if this theory were proved correct is so mind blowing and exciting and I can’t wait to learn more
Tierzoo would like a word with you. If their builds were as optimized as ours then don't you think _they_ would've developed a civilization before we did?
@@benthomason3307 We're not optimized, we're jacks of all trades and we lucked out on our ancestors beeing inquisitive. Also there's only so much civilization you can make when you don't have opposable thumbs, and only so much civilization-development you can have when you don't have a motivation to actually clump together. Our rivals in civilization would actually be, believe it or not, the hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps IIRC) order, which we're only just starting to understand aren't just preprogrammed robots and have actual subtleties in their social structures and inter-colony communication. Source on "not optimized, jacks of all trades": go look at ANY animal's eyes. Check how it works, check optimization and the drawbacks of each, then compare it to us. We have, by all rights, middling sight, but what we make up for in how MEH our sight is, is that we're champions at being UNspecialized; we don't have the extreme long-range sight of raptors, but we also don't have their shitty close-distance blindness. We don't have the extreme low-light vision of nocturnal animals, but we also don't have their shitty color vision. We don't have the insane FOV of compound-eyed insects, but we also don't have their shit depth-perception. And so it goes for quite literally every adaptation we have. I've found like ONE animal whose eyes have an advantage over a middling build like ours without sacrifice and it's the helmet crested gecko, who managed to have SO MANY color receptors they can see in the dark without a cost to their color vision. We evolved to be the most AVERAGE of all creatures we could be instead of minmaxing.
@@neoqwerty you're confusing the word "optimized" with "specialized." but other than that you have some good points. We did luck out over out neanderthal siblings, but _Homo sapiens_ in general was still the only hominid who ever managed to invent tools fashioned from multiple originally-separate objects. unless the other hominis all died out well before we got anywhere near that point, in which case I concede complete defeat.
Hate to break it to you, but this is a hypothesis. A theory is generally a well reviewed paper where most people agree. The Clovis site was a theory (in regard to earliest hominin inhabited site in North America) until it was "disproved" by better evidence. For your further reference. of scientifical tier list. 1. Fact: I.E. the sun exist. not real disputing that unless you go deep into quantum mechanics which blows up all reality anyway 2. Law: can't be directly observed, but there is enough evidence such as gravity, or thermodynamics, or Newton's laws of motion. can't be directly observed so to speak, but repeatably backed by much evaluation (Laws are basically goated theories) 3. Theories: These are hypothesis put forth that are generally accepted by communities archeologist, mathematicians etc. Generally they are conclusions that are based on repeatable experiments, or multiple source findings. If they were to find a similar archeological site nearby, then it would have better backed findings probably making it a theory. 4. Hypothesis: a Hypothesis is generally and educated guess to explain a situation back by evidence at hand, so what the content creator is describing in the video is a hypothesis. There needs to be more evidence for it to be "promoted to a theory" Regardless theories are often not all encompassing either (think E=M(C^2)) Einstein's theory of relativity. It is generally regarded as being correct in Physics, but has many cases where it is proven incorrect for observations in nature. Please know that I do not desire to bash you on the internet, more I want to help you be effectively educated on how to effectively perceive scientific material. Also don't take my word for this. Do futher resaerch and reaffirm what I am saying is correct. 🤙
@@Thoromian Laws are not above Theories, and neither are Facts. Facts are point like, this mammoth died ~130 kyears ago. Great, but what does that even _mean._ While Laws are formulations patterns in facts, which can then be reliably followed for missing evidence to suggest how to find further evidence. The Law of Gravitation explains only _how_ a thing falls, but it doesn’t explain _why_ a thing falls, or even by what mechanism it falls. Grimm’s Law says inter alia Bʰ → B → P→ F in Germanic languages which is how Vater /fater/ in German but Pater in Latin, but it doesn’t explain why, when, where or anything other than just a pattern of facts. I mean, if P → F, then why is it Pastor in English, rather than Fastor? Huh? Checkmate linguists! You need hypotheses and theories then to explain how laws connect together, when they happened, and basically anything and everything else beyond the boring “Bʰ → B → P → F”.
I don't have much of a relationship with archeology other than "hey finding stuff out about our history is rad as fuck and might one day help people better understand one another" but I am absolutely floored by this. Seeing the second chart you drew of the time scales between the three sites really put it all i to perspective.
as an indigenous american that is also super interested in archaeology, thank you for talking about us and having so much respect and fascination for our prehistory. it means a lot to me.
I'm a brazillian history graduate, and in my second semester while studying the "pre-history" (I also don't like this term) of America (the continent aka actual America) we discussed confirmed archeological evidence of human occupation in Chile that dated back to 14 or 15000 years, and even some disputed sites in the Amazon rainforest that, if confirmed as evidence, would be over 40000 years old, that were discovered like in the 80s. Even considering the low estimate of 14000 would render the Clovis First theory unequivocally obsolete, and we've known about it for decades. Our professor constantly mocked the "Clovis first" crowd, comparing them to religious fundamentalists. Of course it's still amazing to know that even the 40000 mark that some thought to be improbable is still pretty recent compared to 130 fucking thousand years
It’s not hard to understand their ardour tho. For so very long the indigenous population has been disparaged for lack of continuity and conspiracy theories are nothing knew. So Clovis culture has been labelled by the inept and unknowledgeable as lacking bothers distinction and integrity. Pro-Clovis supporters have been fighting long against the deniers, it’s hard to give up the fight. More sites with better dates and artefacts is all we need.
I like your emphasis on “I don’t know but here’s the evidence. Stand by while we slowly continue to thrash this out”, which beats the “God did it, it says that in the Bible, boom, that settles it” approach of most theists.
When you said it’s a possible theory that Homo sapiens weren’t the first to migrate to the Americas…chills literal chills down my spine 😩. That makes me incredibly hyped. It’s equally exciting to hear someone talk about ancient humans with a deep sense of empathy. They literally learned how to survive & passed it on down to us. A point to your comment about being uniquely human; I think we’ll find out soon that we are all just animals, not in any demeaning sense, but rather that animals think more similarly to us. They have culture. They grieve. We communicate with them non verbally all the time. I know it causes some people to stress about the ethical implications that has, but it’s still very possible. Maybe, (if you’re interested), make a video about the domestication of animals 🐶 🐱 🐦 🐴 🐷 🐮
I completely agree that we are just animals and that the only reason we had to get really good at making and using tools is because we don’t have any other advantage over potential prey and we wouldn’t have been such a domineering force on this planet if we had a more ape like muscular structure, jaws and teeth more suitable for hunting with, or longer stronger nails to act as claws. I think it’s very condescending to look at animals as stupid because they can’t use tools or anything else we do but we completely gloss over their genius when it comes to hunting and their communities and groups, and if looked at animals with a lens that we are animals that had to develop and use tools to compete for food we aren’t as different as the other top predators that are masters of hunting, or our ability to build massive structures is completely outshined by termites, ants, bees, and wasps that can build completely massive(to scale with the specific insects) and intricate structures with similar efficiency to us with our heavy machinery.
@@deviljes666 I brought up the lens to change how we view other animals cause we tend to look at other animals as beneath us and stupid which a lot of them aren’t and we really aren’t that much smarter than a lot of animals and it’s really only our top minds that are a lot smarter not the majority of the population
As an aspiring marine biologist who also is a history buff, learning of archeology from you is the closest I'll get to a middle ground of them on youtube
Iirc, Schmidt ocean institute hosted a team that was searching for anything along where the California shore line would be in the past with a remotely piloted submersible.
I've watched only a couple of your videos so far but i really appreciate how you call out the racism and biases that exist around history and archeology as we know it. Its really refreshing to hear someone talking about it outside the people who are affected by it
i am so unendingly fascinated with and curious about humanity's deep history. what did they believe? what languages did they speak? what was their relationship with other early humans of different species? (the fact that we used to live alongside other species of humans is something else that blows my mind) and what were the cultures of those other human species like? their languages, their beliefs, their practices? there's so, so much we don't know yet and so much more that we will never know because it's been so thoroughly lost. discoveries like this that threaten to completely overthrow our entire understanding of humanity's furthest past really demonstrate how much we just don't know. it's humbling and awe-inspiring. the idea that other human species might have made it to the americas before us and had hundreds of thousands of years to themselves to develop in an isolated fashion is just mindblowing, and i'd love it to be true, and i'd love to know they were like. i swear to god this whole concept is like some shit straight out of some early 20th century pulp fantasy novel a la conan the barbarian. i'm a linguistics nerd, so the idea that they may have had over a hundred thousand years for their languages to evolve completely isolated from those in the old world excites and fascinates me so much. i'd chop off a limb if it meant i could learn about any of the lost and forgotten cultures and languages that existed around the world in our earliest history, but ESPECIALLY this hypothetical one. god i fucking love archaeology and anthropology. sorry for the essay, this comment just turned into some kind of nerd explosion. shit gets out of hand fast when i start talking about humanity's prehistory.
I’m also deeply fascinated by the languages and cultures of early humans and it makes my heart twinge when I think that their is a high likelihood that I will die without ever knowing anything about these early humans.
The Robert Frost quote makes me image a group of early humans splitting up at the land bridge, one group would stay while the others ventured out to find better living ground. Maybe a storm or a long bought of heavy weather came by so the exploring group had to press on deeper into this new land. A few generations go by and a small click of them go out in what is now California and hunt down a mammoth that would be found hundreds of thousands of years later.
In undergrad, I did a semester exchange at University of Alaska Southeast, where I took a course in Alaska Native Studies. I distinctly remember my professor (himself Tlingit) challenging me on my conclusion that indigenous peoples migrated across the Bering Land Bridge, and asked me to consider the oral histories of several Alaska Native Peoples regarding their origin/creation stories. After being confronted with the white sands footprints and this, I find myself ever more convinced that Indigenous Knowledge far exceeds Western Science's understanding of the origin of peoples in the New World.
Very true! Just remember that these alleged 130k prints are very likely not from modern natives. Maybe from denisovans or maybe even a late population of erectus. I wonder if they survived to see the true ancestors arrive, or if they died out long before than. The possibilities are fascinating.
Such a fascinating video! I'm a historian, and I love watching your channel to learn more about our prehistoric past. I gotta say though, the nomenclature of "clovis culture" or "clovis points" always throws me for a loop. My brain just glitches for a split second and goes "...the King of the Fanks? In North America?"
This is incredible. I'd love to see you make a video on our current understanding of humanity's departure from Africa to provide insight as to why this site may not have been left by homo sapiens.
I have my Ancient Origins series which I talk about all the human evolutionary ancestors! Im working on the second episode now and will certainly be covering this later!
@@miniminuteman773 that's awesome, cause yeah I know a bit about it but I guess my question is why could this not just move the timetable? I trust there are good reasons and I'm excited to hear them
@@WoodrowSkillson From what I've seen there's two reasons, first DNA, the first exit of Africa had not lasted, from DNA research, we know that two waves out of Africa are the result of all non-african humans today, one 60 000 years ago, and one 30 000 years ago. The second, is just what we'e found, there ae remains of Homo sapiens as far as 190 000 years afo out of Africa, but they're mainly in the Middle East, and it's like one bone each 30 000 years.... The eastern remain of Homo sapiens is in China, and is dated at 118 000 years ago, so way later than this site ^^
I am super excited to hear your take on one of my favorite (potentially) archaeological sites in America, but I'm concerned about the thumbnail. Even the original researchers were very clear in stating that this is not a kill and butchery site, but rather a scavenged bone quarry. This is a detail that I found to be absolutely critical in understanding the features of this site, and I see it glossed over in many of the Cerutti debunking videos and articles.
@@williambell3304 when I think "butchery", I think food. If you want to call breaking bones for the purpose of making bone tools "butchery" then yeah, its butchery. I think of it as quarrying. I only mean to say that I don't think 'food' was the primary use of this mastodon and i dont think they killed the animal either, based on what I have read.
@@reedeppelheimer4967 Well you break bones to get at the marrow, so there is a possibility for food there. Someone here has stated that from their experience butchering animals, the breaks in the leg bones seem optimally placed for that, for what it's worth.
I remember finding this guy on TikTok, and now that he has a RUclips channel I’m so so so happy that he has longer form videos. Funny as hell, easy to understand, and also super informative. Im both grateful to find this channel, but also sad that I can’t binge watch more hours of content. Keep it up. -soon to be patron.
This so far is my favorite episode, great job Milo and Team! As someone who’s been interested in archaeology and anthropology since early childhood, it’s always amazing so see such a passion put into it 🙂
So stoked you did a video on this. I first heard about this site referenced Metis academic by Paulette Steeves in an interview. I couldn't find anything else on it so it's great to hear more details. I also feel that conspiracy impulse when learning about this site and especially since I got this information from Paulette Steeves. She argues quite emphatically that up until recently pre-clovis cultural sites were suppressed because archeology and anthropology get a lot of grant funding from the oil and gas industry. According to her this industry and state actors, what to discourage the widespread knowledge of pre-clovis sites because clovis and the Berring strait hypothesis have been used in court cases to argue that indigenous people do not have full title to their lands. This is because the treaties on which those claims are made, assumed indigenous people had been in the Americas forever. Believing any type of conspiracy makes me very nervous but I am excited that the clovis hypothesis is crumbling and that kernels of truth about indigenous settlement of the Americas is much more complicated and longer than we intially thought. The idea that other hominids made it here too, both makes sense and is super cool.
When it comes to corporations, and especially the fossil fuel industry, when we know they hid evidence of human caused climate change for decades, it isn't a conspiracy to think they would would subvert archeology to benefit their bottom line.
Maybe this site just tells the sad story of a suicidal mastodon beating itself to death against a rock, no need for anyone else to be involved... but seriously, this site has some incredible implications. The fact that no other sites have turned up such ancient dates is perhaps just a reflection of archaeological bias - nobody expects to see anything relating to hominins this early, so they've never looked. It will be interesting to see if any further evidence emerges, but in any case, this does seem to be a sad story after all, as whoever this was, they don't appear to have lasted (unless they were the ancestors of big foot?!).
Yup, that's probably part of the trouble finding more sites; it could have just been a little group desperately scavenging a dead animal that some other predators wanted too, and their little experiment in starting a new life ended with their bones eaten up by wolves...
Is it possible that a group of hominids found the old mastodon bones, broke them open to see if there was any marrow (human curiosity and optimism) and maybe took some bones away that they saw a use for and left what was found? I mean, we've found huts built out of mammoth bones (and there's that one gas station cabin made from fossils out in Wyoming) so a bunch of big bones lying out in the open might have been useful enough to check out and see if anything could be done with them regardless of their age.
@@gl15col That and the fact that archeological sites that old tend to be difficult to find in general. Especially given how primitive the stone tools would have been, which would indicate a larger reliance on tools made from biological materials, eg. wood, bone, and antler. Given that, I'd tend to see this as more likely a group kill, and the reason for the small number of bones is that some parts were carried away from the site after crude butchery.
The thing is, most humans peopleing didn't last. Homo neanderthalensis died in Europe 40 000 years ago, Homo errectus died in Indonesia 100 000 years ago (although he produced dwarf species, floresiensis and luzonensis died 50 000 years ago), heck even Homo sapiens seems to have died seveal times, because we found traces of an early exit of Africa around 100 000 years ago, but we found no follow up of these populations after in modern DNA, or in fossil record ^^' Evolution history in general is sad, almost everything died, and there's only a handful of cases where it's a massive explosion or mankind or some other catastrophe that caused it, often it's just a subtle climate change (Megalodon probably died because of a few degrees drop of ocean's temperature), or the arrival of a new species....
I have to share this video. Trying to explain to some people that if we could pluck a baby from 300k years ago and raised it today no one would be able to tell. That functionally we have been the same for a long long time. I frocking love the idea that humans moved so much earlier than could have been imagined! I hope I love long enough to see this if not proven at least opened up for more scientific possibility. Your a cute kid sir! Thanks for the video.
The baby from 300k years ago would probably die of the common cold or whatever, though. Its immune system would be orders of magnitude more unprepared for modern diseases than Indigenous people in the Americas and Australia were for measles and smallpox, and those had a 90% lethality in many areas.
Also just because it would be "homo sapiens" doesn't mean it would be anatomically modern. You would definitely be able to tell that it was different, especially if you were black (as it would appear superficially african due to human populations being in africa only 300k YA).
@mamasimmerplays4702 well yeah, but seeing as we can't actually do that experiment I don't think it's particularly relevant to the question of whether ancient homo sapiens were as mentally capable as modern ones
If one thinks about it enough, and perhaps lets the imagination go a bit, there is something that has an ineffable sadness to it. Could we be seeing evidence of a group of Humans or Human relatives making it into North America before the drowning of Beringia, thus finding themselves isolated from the rest of the Human family, surviving for who knows how many generations, before perhaps environmental pressures or simple bad luck saw them dwindle away, to leave behind a continent filled with silence, until once more our ancestors managed to break into the continent, totally unaware that long distant ancestors had come and passed before themselves? Damn. That was a long sentence, and fairly convoluted. ANYway....
There could have been a continent-wide population of 'em still around to interact with the sapiens when they arrived, and we'd just not know because we haven't found the evidence yet. Perhaps some of the Denisovan DNA in Native Americans today comes from them, eh?
which is funny, because they never left. Where do you think Native Americans and Southern American tribal cultures came from? They were always there but Europeans genocided the descendents of these ancient humans when they found the Americas again
@@shivapranavkarnam9535 Native Americans and Southern Americans came from those ancestors who "managed to break into the continent" around 23k years ago. There's no evidence for human habitation between the one site from 130k years ago and the white sands prints from 23k years ago, which seems to be the "continent filled with silence" John the Rambling Scriblerian is referring to. The Europeans didn't show up to ruin stuff until the 15th century (aside from, likely, some Greenlandic Vikings who didn't stay long).
@@9Johnny8 ehhh theres no evidence between clovis and white sands either. Evidence of anything that old is gonna ne rare. I see no reason to think they were wiped out
I am going to be totally honest, you have inspired me to want to be a history or a geography teacher, I am 14 and I have a job plan already. Love your videos btw
As someone who’s never been particularly interested or knowledgeable about archeology, this channel has been a really fun way for me to break into it. You have a talent for making these discoveries and ideas compelling, and I’m glad I just subscribed
I am blown away by this and spent an hour telling my partner about the whole thing. 140,000, holy sh#t man. That just so blows away the timeline I have considered to be slightly variable but more or less agreed upon relating to hominids in NA, and in general. Thank you for this, love to see someone who shares the excitement these finds bring.
If this was indeed another hominid I wonder if some populations lasted long enough to encounter modern humans crossing into North America, and if those ancient encounters are hinted at in folklore. Very interesting stuff.
@@mimisezlol Yeah but not in America. The Americas had no native Hominids. Even the Non-Human Hominids that would've maybe been there wouldn't have been FROM there.
Well there does exist the popol vuh that's the Mayan creation myth and it does talks about the existence of early men(not really humans but still (like wooden men mud men and the like))
I'm not an expert on native folklore, but am still somewhat knowledgable. I'd say if it exists, it's very much not widespread. There may be some examples of those mythological motiffs, but I'm not familiar with any, and certainly not a widespread pattern across NA (unlike the Thunderbird, which I will contend till the day I die was a memory Terratornis encountered in the late pliestocene)
Milo your channel is honestly one of the best on RUclips right now. I’m an engineering student but I’ve always been fascinated by this kind of stuff, and every video just keeps getting better! I’m super psyched to see where this goes and if it ends up re-writing the history books :D
Great video!! I've been out of touch for a little while. I graduated from CU Denver with an Anthropology (archaeology) degree in Dec 2012. I have a career (scientific glassblower) so I didn't need to work as an archaeologist, though that is one of my passions. On the first of February, 2013, I decided to contact Steve Holen to see if I could volunteer for some of his projects as I knew he was at the forefront of pre-Clovis human presence in North America. Those theories you've mentioned all seem likely given the human penchant for exploration and bettering one's station in life. But Steve Holen had retired from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science two weeks prior to my attempt to contact him. Career, family, and other interests took over and I lost touch with the community here in Colorado. I am certainly glad Holen is still going after it! My interest in pre-Clovis was sparked by a professor at UCD. He showed the class a bunch of red dots signifying Neandertal presence in Europe and Asia, with a lone red dot far to the east in Siberia in a direct line to the Beringia land bridge. The site was dated about 35,000 BCE, which coincides with another exposure of the land bridge. So when I asked the professor of the possibilty that the Neandertals followed the animals across the bridge, he adamantly said, "No, there is no evidence." He refused to even acknowledge the possibility, so I was hooked at that point. Homo presence in NA is far older than we know, and slowly, the evidence is beginning to show itself.
Years ago I remember hearing reports of homo-erectus like hand axes in the SW US. It was of course discredited, but it would be interesting for someone to reinvestage that site or relook at the "hand-axes." I probably read about it in a fringe science book 40 years ago and it was probably talking about samples that was found 20 years before that. Any alleged pre-clovis site was routinely "humphed at" until the last 15 years or so and it took a huge amount of really detailed archaeological work to really get past that barrier. If this current site is truly evidence of 100k+ homo inhabitation in the American, both of us will be dead before consensus will catches up. Enjoyed your video.
Now you know hand-axes were created by the interdenominational extraterrestrial pygmy bigfoot. Did you not see that documentary they made about it in the 80s. ALF. Where normal family putting the entire earth at risk of extraterrestrial viruses. After he was captured by the government that's how they created covid. 🤣🤣🤣😆🤣😅🤣
@@overlycaffeinatedsquirrel779 LOL - yes, I have my doubts about them plus all I remember is a short paragraph implying a conspiracy. But over the years I do wonder if they were dismissed just because it really unlikely and it would be interesting if the objects would be looked at with modern techniques.
@@henelema about 15 years ago I read a general science history that discussed specifically talked how far and fast that homo erectus travelled - so it would not surprise me if they somehow made it to the americas. But I do find it unlikely.
11:57 - Came for mastodon bones, stayed for wholesome couple interactions. I love your channel! This is so hype! I don't know a lot about archaeology but you make it both fun and accessible to learn :3 Edit: My mind is being blown every two minutes, jesus fuck
I’d love a series or even just a single video about stuff like that ancient burial site you spoke of with the flowers. That’s super interesting and emotionally powerful and I’d love to hear about more instances of that, as always gray video
I'm no expert in this field, but I love jumping in on discussions like this because I do love learning about history. The way I see it is that the climate has fluctuated so much in the time between now and 130,000 years ago. I mean, that amount of time is pretty mind boggling and hard to wrap one's head around. As you said, that time would line up well with the last inter-glacial period. I do believe that there are many more sites similar to this one in that area. Most of these places are simply happened upon by pure luck. With how much the land has shifted in the last 100,000 years thanks to the fluctuating climate and another glacial period, most of these prehistoric sites will be buried under layers of sand, silt, and rock. With new technologies like LIDAR being developed, these sites may become much easier to find in the future. I'd be willing to put money on the possibility of there being evidence of an encampment somewhere near that kill site. Somewhere where early humans settled during the journey to find better hunting grounds.
![I.N "HALLUCINATION" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/n5B5q1Hwt_U/mqdefault.jpg)
Honestly, "Steve the construction man who keeps finding sites" sounds like it would make a good kids tv show, like bob the builder but instead of fixing things he just accidentally finds archaeological and paleontological sites and then his buddy the scientist teaches kids about newly found animals and human history discoveries.
"Oh no! A mastadon!"
Damn your actually on to somethjng
My dudes… Milo, what a great merch idea;
Steve’s septic and archaeological excavation
Like some ad you’d find in the local paper haha
Well, you know what you have to do, good luck! Ahahha
@@Moto_Medics steven suptic?
Bro a 3 day premiere?? Enough foreplay and just stick it in
In all seriousness you quickly became one of my favorite youtubers. Can't wait to learn about big hairy elephants
This comment is why the internet exists
Exactly
Never underestimate the power of foreplay.
oh?
@@miniminuteman773 you are sooo mean we need it Now
To me archeology feels like trying to reconstruct a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle when you find two pieces by the side of the road, and one of them is chewed up a bit and you can't even be sure they're from the same picture. It is amazing the ways y'all found to date and interpret all kinds of evidence and it requires so much interaction with every discipline ranging from physics to medicine to anthropology.
Does the idea of tracking down the owner of one of those random, single shoes on the side of the road and piecing together WHY there’s always just ONE SHOE appeal to you?
Boy, do I have the profession for you
(seriously why the fuck are those shoes there, how are so many people losing just one shoe)
@@ecta9604 The shoes are as far as I know from truck drivers. Who have different shoes for driving and for when they do something with the cargo. And apperently they have a tendency for leaving those shoes on an outside survace of the truck when they change them. So when they start driving the shoes will at some point be pushed of the truck and fall to the side of the road.
This is what i've always been told and it makes sense to me. But I can't promise that it's 100% true
That’s a pretty good description of the field honestly
And every now and then someone will completely disregard the pieces we actually have, draw an alien on a scrap of paper and announce he’s solved all of it
@@solvoar8741 i thought it was for when i find a newer, better pair on the side of the road and remove and huck my old pair as far as i can.
Dude it has been SO LONG since someone has made me feel genuine wonder about an educational topic. Literal tears came to my eyes. Good shit
I may be in the minority here, but I just wanna say, I had no prior interest in archeology, and stumbled on this channel, and just really like the way you present. Your passion and well written script makes me want to learn more about archeology from you. That said, I deeply appreciate your spark notes, because the assumption that I know anything about theories of early human migration to North America is incorrect.
Check the comments.
You are not alone.
I love to learn and he’s a damn good teacher.
I’ve always been interested but never got fully immersed because of boring dull teaching. Milo’s passion and form have made me binge watch everything till I’m up to date with his videos ❤
Same
95% Of the world doesn't learn about human migration to and in North America. And out of the 5% that does, most of them probably forgot as soon as they graduated high school.
What inspired my passion towards archeology was actually when a child with craniosynostosis who lived during the middle Pleistocene was discovered back in like '09, the fact that this kid was cared for by our early ancestors proves that we have always had an immense capacity towards loving one another
As an adult human with craniosynostosis (thanks, science!), I find that genuinely heartwarming. People now get weirded out about us, but someone back in the Pleistocene must have loved that kid an awful lot. Daaaawwww. Thank you.
@@onbearfeet Horrible people exist but generally people love eachother more than they hate.
@@mudawott we are animals, smart ones but we are animals
@@terrelldurocher3330 in no way does what you said contradict what i said. This is a trait our species values.
@@mudawott i wasn't trying to contradict anything. Almost all animals have a degree of care.
Richard Cerutti who discovered this was my grandfather. Pretty cool. Glad it's getting attention.
Cool!
I'm very impressed and fangirling right now that you are Richard cerutti sGrand. He knows what is and what I know and Have been collecting for a while now
How come there is a Wikipedia page about the dig but none about the man himself that it's named after?
Dang it feels surreal for people who become famous or infamous have lives and families who we meet everyday. It kind of opens your eyes in the same way Milo talking about early humans like humans and people rather than just societies.
@@JustJJ-9I know right. My friend’s grandfather invented the machine that makes curly fries… They walk among us.
Okay, mind blown; happy woman here. A few months ago I and two friends went and walked the Lehner Mammoth Kill Site in Sierra Vista AZ, just a bit north of the Mexican border. I live about 90 minutes' drive from this, and I and my friends go on local historical tours (cheap and educational!) put on by Parks & Rec or this historical society or the local O'odham tribes or whatever, and this particular walk had about 45 people show up for it-- lots of families with kids, which was encouraging-- and the guy who told us about the site and the bones that'd been found and the Clovis point in the bone (and I knap flint points for fun, so I freaking *LOVED* that bit), he knew what he was talking about. He led us down into a gully where we could see the Black Mat layer, had artifacts (some real, some cast resin replicas) laid out on a picnic table under a handy ramada so we could see what a bone shaft-straightner was like and handle points that I *hope* someday I'll be able to make mine as good as, and he explained atlatls and at the end of the walk we all got to throw darts from an atlatl. My throw was terrible, but one guy sent it a good 90 feet and almost took out the window of an SUV parked down where we supposedly weren't going to be able to reach. After that, I and my friends went back to their place near the San Pedro River and looked out across the brushy desert towards where we'd walked and imagined mammoths browsing in the long winter-brown grass.
.....and I had never heard of the Cerutti Mastodon Site. And now I want to go there SO BAD, and maybe I will. It's barely over 400 miles from my home; I could do that in less than 7 hours. ^___^ But what I'm curious about is this: How'd the hominids of the time kill the mammoth and the other large beasts? Atlatls only go back (so far as we know) 17.5K to 18k years ago-- is this a cliff kill? Were there marks in the bones that showed anything like that? Just curious; for all I know, the people who got their survival ensured for a little while longer by those kills found it being hamstrung by wolves and waited til the pack left. Don't care, just curious.
Anyway, thank you for this. I'm no archaeologist; I work for a hospital in case research and data retrieval, but I truly loved this, and now I get to show it to my two mammoth-loving friends so we can rave at each other about this. Primitive doesn't mean stupid-- damn straight, and I'd like to have *anyone* who believes that show me their fire-making skills. I *can* light a fire in a few ways my ancestors would recognize, and those ways make me say 'thank the gods for central heating!' I can knap reasonable flint and obsidian points and make them from the bottoms of beer-bottles too. And I've been to White Sands too, and actually spoken to the guy who found the footprints (we talked about sloth hunting) and have no problem whatsoever in believing that 130k years ago, someone sat down to a mammoth dinner in California and went to bed well-fed and hopefully happy. Thank you.
(loved your outro!)
Was the guides name alan? Lol
Hi, I know this is a few months after your comment, but I had some insight. Since the marks were seemingly from hammer/anvil-style tools, it’s likely that this wasn’t a kill site, but a scavenging site. While hunting doesn’t always leave marks on the bones, processing the flesh with tools would have left cut marks (entirely different looking than the percussion marks found) on the bones. The mammoth may have died naturally or been hunted by a predator and the hominids were just scavenging the marrow from the already partially-eaten and disarticulated corpse they’d stumbled upon. I have a degree in archaeology but obviously haven’t inspected these artifacts/ecofacts myself so it’s just my hypothesis based on the facts presented here and in the 2017 and follow-up 2020 articles.
Yep i was considering a scavenged mastodon too. Mastodons or mammoths were not actually hunted as much as people think. Sure in certain places it is well described but more often people had other prey species. The famous cave sites with art in Western Europe for example are not known for it even though those animals were depicted in their art.
I'm also thinking those primitive tools may not necessarily indicate primitive humans. When people are going through hard times or just new to an area they may have to improvise something simple for the time being. They would not be familiar with good flint sources or capable of using fancy knapping strategies. Scavenging fits in with that nicely as well and there are good examples of excellent knappers who simplified their technology such as the Badegoulians....
I swear these new channels are blowing old ones out of the water, Milo, dude, way to go. I cannot express how incredible it is to see someone encouraging that chase of knowledge, your channel is probably one of the top 3 new channels on this site, without a doubt. Thanks for all that you do, and I always appreciate the interesting lessons.
Damn this made my morning. I really still can’t wrap my head around the fact that people listen to what I have to say and the fact that I can inspire people to learn this stuff is the most humbling truth I’ve ever been bestowed. Thank you, friend.
@@miniminuteman773 Milo, when you said you were “killing it with the graphs today”, I immediately thought of Spicoli in Fast Times at Ridgemont High, that he put the bong down and went to college.
No shade, you really do break down complex aspects of these papers into understandable videos that anyone can watch and appreciate.
💯
I'd love to know what other new channels you really like! Milo is great but I tend to not find new RUclips channels on RUclips unfortunately
Would love to know what other new channels you recommend.
In regards to that last segment about early humans, what sticks out to me the most are the Cueva da las Manos hand paintings. One Twitter comment put it best, saying "It's like watching ancient people reaching out through time, saying "We were here. We were alive. We were human. We had feelings, thoughts, emotions, all just as complex as yours"." And I think that's such a beautiful thought that perfectly corroborates what Milo is saying, early humans are just that; humans that were from a time long long before ours. They too had an artistic sense that they used to quite literally paint a picture of the world they lived in for generations to come, potentially even eons after they've drawn their last breath
I love those hand paintings! They are beautiful!
I'll be honest, this made me cry a little bit. A lot of us today are lost and struggling for connections with others, and the thought that someone left a message hundreds of thousands of years ago that I would be able to connect with resonates with me a lot
It reminds me of a comic panel I saw ages upon ages ago.
"We're just as smart as you. We just don't have the same collective knowledge as you."
I appreciate Milo because he doesn't try to dumb his content down for his viewers. He brings his viewers up to understand his content instead.
Nah, his lectures surely were alot more complex and in detail. Summarizing and explaining comprehensively isnt "dumbing down" its good communication.
I do love his content however, please don't use these cycles were in to say we're.in a cycle isn't the best.
No he just misinformation the hell out of everything and and dismiss clear cut evidence that raise obvious questions. Waiting for his explanation on why Neanderthals and cro-mangnon are completely different with a chromosome capped off also. Geneticists cant explain so I know my main man milo the pedo can. 😂
27:35 i genuinely don't think i've ever been able to see so much wonder in a person's eyes. milo, your passion for archaeology is incredible and contagious, and i thank you for every single video you make
In 30 minutes you've gone and quadrupled my knowledge about the first humans in the Americas. I legitimately thought the Bering land bridge was a proven, uncontested fact and that human migration to the Americas was fairly linear. Also had no idea we were in an ice age. That's what I get for studying the arts lol.
I like to think of knowledge as one of the raw materials that goes into art. Never stop learning!
Well all of these theories still rely on the Bering land bridge and that's completely uncontested, the question is more about what happened after they crossed it, did they follow a corridor between two ice sheets or did they hop along the coast in short boat rides, or are both these theories irrelevant because humans actually got to North America 130kya?
@@hedgehog3180 no he literally said that the Bering land bridge is just one theory
@@unoriginal1086 Alright you clearly have no comprehension ability. The land bridge is what they used to pass from Asia to North America. From there, it's contested whether they went on a path between ice sheets through what is now Canada, or whether they followed the coast line all the way down into what is now The United States. The land bridge is the first step in BOTH of those theories. Don't come out saying "he literally said this" if it's not something that he said anywhere in the video.
Wait, you weren't taught the Bering "land" bridge was ice during an/"the" Ice Age? Just wondering, because in the 80s and 90s, we were taught it was an ice bridge during "the" Ice Age.
Your in depth report made my morning - I love new groundbreaking amazing discoveries BUT even better is critical analyses that make me question my own enthusiasm 😀
Keep up the awesome work 👏
Great that you donated but I think it's worth noting that RUclips takes a large percentage, I'd recommend Patreon if you were going to donate a second time
@@commemorative yes....but who would know at that point.....
U wasted 50 bucks lol
The red gave me a fucking heart attack I haven't seen color in 20 minutes lmfaoooo
50$ HOLY SHIT
I really love how you circle back to them being human and not the "knuckle dragging primitives" we've always been taught. I also appreciate it when you talk about early humans because you don't talk about them like they're just another artifact (although they are), you give them the same amount of humanity as if you are talking to a loved one. Your channel is so so underrated and one of my absolute favourites. Thank you so much for teaching all of us ( ˶ ᷇𖥦 ᷆ ˵ )
Basically all we do better is preserve, cook, and grow our food. Early humans would have been pretty clever to figure out how to do all of that, especially preservation, through basically trial and error.
And also a few of them as unbelievably stupid as some of us nowadays to have eaten some of the things some of them tried eating.
Jerky and cheese come to mind
Exactly, I gained so much appreciation for Milo's description of early technology when I tried to imagine myself coming up with these techniques. Maybe I could've discovered the right tpe of rock and the right point at which to shatter mammoth bones, but the standard and variety of Clovis points indicate that early people just as industrious, curious and ambitious as we are. I learn how to shape Python code from my elders in my community, they learned how to shape spearpoints from their elders in their community.
The modern myth that people in the past were all stupid and blissfully ignorant, and barely capable of making conscious choices and discoveries has done an incredible amount of damage in the last 300 or so years. It's always great to see somebody trying to dismantle it.
@@sock2828 it's actually kinda funny when you consider the fact that our biggest source of ancient history is ancient Roman historians doing the exact same stuff as modern historians do. And also letters of romans bitching about stuff.
Though I suppose there's also the obsession with Rome being the peak of civilization
@@monty58 Largely because Rome had such great record making that we could trace the ideas and emotions of the Roman age. Contrast to Bob the Hunter 10k years ago.
No idea if you will see this but wanted to let you know. Thank you for making this video! I am also an archaeologist (though now i teach high school history) and i am teaching an intro biological anthropology course for the first time. A friend recommended I check you out when I was planning my unit on human evolution. (I also saw the lost lineage videos and those are great! Hope that series continues.) I needed more resources on the debate for how humans got to the Americas and needed something understandable for high schoolers. And your video is perfect! Thank you for summing up current knowledge and I love your breakdown of the archaeological evidence in this particular case (esp since i never got the time to go through it myself). I am looking forward to the debate this will hopefully spark in my class as well as to gettting to talk about archaeology specifically more! So thank you again and keep making videos please!
To be honest, I have rarely heard a more touching, insightful, interesting, and inspiring homage to people who are, although long dead, still amazingly inspiring today. I'm delighted that RUclips recommended to me your channel.
What you said...
Ditto.
I also choose this guy's recommendation algorithm.
We humans are INCREDIBLY clever and inspirational... when we are not at each others necks.
Maybe someday we can finally conclude the unionization of our species into one coordinating group that's been happening literally since the beginning of our time on this planet...
Then, it's off to the stars!
As an archaeology graduate myself I want to thank you. Firstly, for your objective integrity and secondly for taking me right back to my time in university. The migrations to the Americas was my area of research through proteomics and studying faunal assemblages so this was on point for me. Excellent.
It's a bit tragic that it's virtually impossible to search for more dig sites in the larger area as it has become a concrete jungle. Heck the remains, of whatever Hominin scavenged the Mastodon, might have been destroyed a long time ago. Finally, if other animals have crossed between Asia and North America multiple times, there should be no reason why other hominins couldn't have.
I was thinking the same, that they may even have chased mammoths there and gone back again before it sealed. 🤷♀️
If they're just as smart as we are, they'd remember the routes taken to get to America, they weren't aimlessly traveling, they were explorers, looking for new lands and opportunities just as we humans always have done. And word spreads just as it does today.
@@Chaos_Feyre Maybe but the haplogroup genetic markers don't seem to indicate that. Perhaps it was an entirely separate race of people who went extinct and the native Americans of today came in a second pulse.
@@praisesol2740 that’s what I was thinking. We can’t say every human got to America the same way, it could be that many groups ventured over here, from many routes, and probably over many many years. There’s no reason any of the different supposed paths can’t be true.
@@praisesol2740Part of the issue with this one is that many indigenous individuals are reluctant to get genetic tests- entire tribes. Caucasian attitudes, especially about land ownership, cause the indigenous to be skeptical of whether the truth would be followed or distorted to support false claims. Too many broken treaties and false assertions.
This is my favorite video of yours, Milo. You have other ones with funnier jokes, more biting clap-backs, or more gimmicks, but THIS video… I just love the information in it. There’s nothing else to say about it; I love this video purely for the things that it has taught me.
I hope that’s high praise for an edutainment channel, because you deserve high praise for how much you’ve taught me about archeology.
Thanks Teach! Growing up as a Native American in North Dakota I had teachers that would tell me I was wrong whenever I brought up ancestral stories that carried further back than the Land Bridge would support.
Very curious to know what those stories are!!
what tribe?
What stories? I am curious.
I love the 3 ppl calling this person out without being mean about it. Hahahhaha
I'd love to hear those stories
this video made me cry. the idea that early people, our ancestors, could have experienced the world so long ago, that we're just scratching the surface of understanding their lives and experiences, that there could be so much more to discover, brought me to tears. it's so beautiful to find that connection, thank you for talking about this.
What a wholesome, lovely comment. Thank you for posting something so vulnerable and genuine; it is rare these days, but greatly needed.
Have a good night, Stranger!
Was about to make a comment similar to this as well before finding this but yep, Milo's closing remark did make me also tear up which I absolutely didn't expect from an archeology video. Maybe because there's just a huge overwhelming feeling knowing that despite how long ago it was, our ancestors could experience the same level of emotion & fascination as we still do today & theres just something comforting to me about that.
same, Im crying rn
When I was growing up we were taught Egyptians was the oldest civilization and first writting.... then the BILLIONS of title shards were 'discovered' (aka picked up by a white scientist who finally noticed all the shards lying around for ... well literally thousands of years. Just lying there.. on the dirt to pick up - no digging needed) ------ and we found out about Mesopotamia. When people and wolly mammoths were both here; people were writing. - History has forgotten more than we'll ever know. We still have lace from the 1500s that no one can recreate. Even today with all our machines and artisans: we still can't figure out how to make lace people made 500 years ago.
@@Loralanthalas yeah but at least we can make better lace
(This is joke)
I love that someone is talking about this! And someone who sticks to facts, explores theories, and my favorite point. You're not afraid to admit when we really just don't know, which is 90% of everything we come across...Thanks for your content.
p.s. as you get older, you appreciate more simple things, that make life just a tiny bit better.
The hardest thing to do as a person is admit that we dont know. The world would be a better place if we were ok with admitting ignorance.
That’s why one of the important things to try and do is learn to notice and enjoy small things you might once have taken for granted. It’ll make you happier in the long run.
@@miniminuteman773 It took years for me to come to the realization that admitting I'm wrong about something, or I don't know isn't a failure on my part, but a chance to actually learn something. It is one of the hardest things for humans to come to grips to, but when you finally do, the world really opens up for you, and you get a chance to learn amazing shit!
i absolutely hate when any form of science just comes up with potential theories without any evidence whenever they don’t know how something works. i have max respect for any person that is able to admit they don’t know the answer to something instead of just saying “it could be this…” and i really appreciate these videos not having any bullshit like that
@@queenthot1438 Dude, “it could be this…” is 100% essential to the scientific process because it's literally part of every hypothesis.
thank you Gianfranco your editing was lovely and I appreciate the work you did on this
I’m a teenager who just got back from a high school archeology field school. We did real excavation and mostly my unit had lithics. I just loved when you said lithics because I have gotten used to having to explain to people what it is and such. But you know and it might be simple and stupid but I made me so happy
I mean it's not stupid if it makes you happy, is it?
@@Coastal_Cruzer true that
@@Coastal_Cruzer Sometimes the stupid things are the smart choice
Definitely not stupid. Enjoy lithium and any other part of archeology, geology and paleantology. They are each part of the whole story of the past. Milo is an amazing teacher. You might have glimpsed your future.
I remember reading about a Navajo creation story that said that one of their previous worlds was flooded and the people floated across the sea, encountering many islands, before finally landing on a coastline with tall, rocky cliffs which was their new home. I don't know how accurate this is, because it isn't easy to find any Navajo elders or historians that might have these stories to confirm their validity, but I always felt this lent much more credence to the theory that people got to the Americas by island hopping and following the coastline.
We’d have to compare that to Ahtna, Tanaia, Athapaskan, Hupa, and Apache stories to figure out which elements are original.
@@tompatterson1548 I'd honestly love to see someone list and compare a ton of old myths, legends, folklore, and religious stories. It sounds like a fun rabbit hole, especially if you add in any historical sites that were dated around the same time of some of them
There's a theory that islanders crossed the south Pacific ocean and landed in South America, it could be possible that it's in reference to that. I know that's very far away from where the Navajo tribe lived, but it's hard to say how far they might have spread.
There's Aboriginals in Australia with legends of when the seas rose creating the coral reefs, about 10,000 years ago.
Pleaides too is seen as being 7 stars, when now 2 have conjoined, they were last separate around 100,000 years ago
@@henelema It's further complicated by the fact that that Navajo are actually in an anomalous location compared to other nations in the Athabaskan language group, all of whom except for the Navajo and Apache live in western Canada and the American Northwest, and so probably didn't actually originate in the Southwest. Indirect Central and South American contact in the American Southwest isn't a completely crazy idea, as there was traffic back and forth between Mesoamerica and the American Southwest. The Hohokam were *heavily* influenced by Mesoamerican culture, even having ball courts similar to those built by Aztecs and there is even a theory that the Pueblo Kokopelli figure may have been a representation of a Mesoamerican merchant. But the Navajo weren't here then, having migrated from somewhere far to the north, about as far from South America as one can get. If this myth is a holdover from some historical account of island hopping, after which people spread out from South America, it would be especially odd for it to be preserved by the nation *furthest* from that site, while being forgotten by most in between.
I love how you talked about our ancestors of the past at the end of your video. What I like to think, is that we aren't much different today compared to thousands of years ago. The main thing is that we tend to build on the knowledge of our predecessors. It takes a genius to invent the first car, but it would have also taken a genius to invent the first cart.
A few years ago I began wondering who first came up with the genius idea of combining 2 knives to make scissors, so I started searching for the answer. Turns out it happened so long ago that no one knows; the name(s) of the inventor(s) weren't recorded (and I suspect that scissors were invented separately by many people in many different locations, shortly after they first figured out how to make knives from metal - when it's time for scissors, scissors will happen).
@@margretrosenberg420 "When it's time for scissors, scissors will happen" - There is so much more to that sentence than first glance would suggest
@@margretrosenberg420ot often a youtube comment gets me smiling. Well played good sir. Id never asked that question to myself or heard that before. Im thinking almost as soon as metal was first smelted.
@@hoghs1 Thanks. I'm a woman, though. My profile picture includes my late husband; it's the last picture I have of the two of us together and I haven't the heart to change it yet, or maybe ever.
@@GetawayFilms It's a variation on a quote that I can't quite track down, about how the same thing can be invented at approximately the same time, by different people, in different parts of the world, when the time is right. Kind of like convergent evolution.
I'm Sicangu/Choctaw and have done extensive DNA testing (23andMe, GEDMatch, FamilyTreeDNA, MyHeritage, AncestryDNA, Illustrative DNA, genomelink, Nebula genomics, ADNTRO, and other private ones) and reviewed that of others in my immediate family, extended family, and very distant family (1cm or less) that are indigenous. We all have not only significant Neanderthal DNA but also significant Denisovan DNA markers. I ran Native North American DNA privately collected through Latin American DNA service called Somos Ancestria and we show up as closest to the (in order of closest to farthest relation) Mixteca, Zaptoec, Huichol, and Andean Peruvian Aymaras/Quechuas, Pimas, Triqui, and Tarahumara specifically. It's like seeing the migration pattern going from north to south (or south to north) . We also all have Central and South Asian DNA traces with some going as far as to specify Pakistan surrounding countries (not expected as the Mongolian and East Asian which was also present and is well documented) as well as significant reoccurring Austronesian DNA traces and markers. We also show up as having Malagasy trace DNA and markers. Multiple samples were from 70- 90 year old full blood Lakotas from the reservation and from full blood Choctaws living in Oklahoma. We have no Aleutian or Artic DNA. When doing DNA analysis I've also encounter 1-10% that is routinely unable to be identified and the pattern is specific to families and clearly inheritable. I think the peopling of the Americas happened quite a bit before 23, 000 years ago and archaeology has yet to unearth it (assuming there remans evidence and it wasn't all destroyed by rising sea levels in a Kelp Highway scenario). I think it happened in waves with some ancestral populations dying off and merging with new waves. Some had the Austonesia/Denisovan DNA and some had the Neanderthal and Ancient Siberian DNA and at some point they converged in the old world and possibly here. The Cerutti Mastadon Site could be evidence of that. Indigenous people throughout the Americas also have oral histories and legends of smaller human-like peoples here that I'm inclined to believe were probably a remnant population of one of the first waves of modern homo sapien admixed people with significant non-Homo Sapien ancestry and possibly unknown Hominini ancestry.
This is beyond awesome. Cool self study too if your family! Diné and Oneida here (and south Asian through dad) - it’s very obvious that South Americans came up to North America thousands of years ago and the trade network throughout the Gulf of Mexico was always in use between so many people. The colonizer anthropology is aggravating to say the least.
Stefan Milo has a great video about the traces of Austronesian DNA in certain South American groups that I think you might appreciate.
You ever think that maybe it's a bit sketchy to give your DNA to THAT MANY COMPANIES? some of which aren't that reputable?
Heck, ancestry just sold all their genetic data to China.
@@bluelagoon1980I missed that one. But I can tell you that the Polynesians absolutely had to have some contact with South American natives, as the kumara that many islands enjoy came from the South American sweet potato. And think about it. Polynesians could give a master class in long distance sailing. I would have been incredibly surprised if they didn't contact Western South American shores.
I wouldn't give so much burden of proof to oral tradition, specially when we are talking so far back that the people we descent didn't even look like us today, and their cultures so different we don't have any links to them
Man I always get a warm feeling when you talk about ancestral customs with that much passion, i would love if you covered the findings about neanderthals with healed bone fractures, which meant they were taken care of. Man, love really is one the core features of humanity
One thing people shouldn't ever forget: humanity isn't just homo sapiens. It's easy to forget that our ancestors and sister species were very similar in intelligence and thought.
The name homo sapien kinda gives a sense of superiority, (sapien -> sapient -> conscious) but in reality we just got lucky with who came out on top. I mean, heck, Neanderthals we're so similar to us we could cross breed.
They weren't stupid apes, they were human, and so were the rest of them, too
@@gabef.218 They weren't just able to, they did. We didn't kill them at all; In fact, they just interbred into us. Pretty much every anglo trait can be attributed to the Neanderthal.
"Love is a dangerous force." He shook his head. "Love killed the dinosaurs, man."
I'm pretty sure a meteor killed the dinosaurs, Thomas."
He shrugged. "There's a theory making the rounds now that when the meteor hit it only killed off the big stuff. That there were plenty of smaller reptiles running around, about the same size as all the mammals at the time. The reptiles should have regained their position eventually, but they didn't, because the mammals could feel love. They could be utterly, even irrationally devoted to their mates and their offspring. It made them more likely to survive. The lizards couldn't do that. The meteor hit gave the mammals their shot, but it was love that turned the tide.”
a passage from one of my favorite books
Same
@@lenorevanalstine1219 I might be reading that book soon, what is it?
As a avid outdoorsman, finding whatever is nearby for smashing truly embodies the craft.
People really underestimate what you can accomplish with some know how and rocks and sticks. You add some type of rope and you can do just about anything (plus a knife but technically you can make a rock into a cutting tool)
It should be the motto for humanity "have you tried beating it?"
Old school tvs being difficult? Beat it
Alarm clock wakes you up? Beat it
Siblings being annoying af? Yup beat them
We're doing it to this very day with particle colliders. "Smash'um together, see what happens"
@@petercarioscia9189 We've gone from smashing rocks together to smashing protons together in like 10,000 years! Progress!!
Hearing the part at 26:58 really made me stop and think about how small we as individuals are. Like, as a species, we have been human for quite literally as long as we have existed. We empathized and cared for the elderly and wounded, we buried our dead, we mourned our losses. It's staggering to know how long we as humans have been doing the things that we do.
We weren't any less intelligent, either. We just hadn't invented all the things yet. When you think about modern technology, it takes so long for certain things to be invented because of all the prerequisites. Check out the book How to Invent Everything, it's incredibly interesting.
These were things that pre-homo sapiens did, as well. Neanderthalis, for example. But even earlier pre modern human species, also did.
@@mixedmartialoddest less educated, but I'd say, if anything, more clever.
I feel like this is an under looked thing that is rear, very important to keep in mind with discussions of history. End of the future of what drove people to do the things that why they did the things they did were the consequences is thinking of that on a human level as if you were there cause it’s essentially there parts of us that are common to us. All are basic knees, and wants and desiresand emotions more useful when looking towards the future, and what can be done to all of those needs and fulfill those desires
@@alexcrazy1492 did you have a stroke?
My lifelong love of archeology has been given another shot in the arm!! You are a hilarious and transparent presenter!! Love this video!
Remember that a lot of the biggest discoveries in all fields of science started out sounding too incredible to be true. The way I look at it, two possibilities exist here: we're either fundamentally missing something about this site, or it will be regarded in the future as a huge discovery that rewrote some of what we thought we knew about hominid evolution migration.
(Of course the fact that it does sound so incredible means it deserves a LOT of skepticism and demands better evidence, but I'm excited to see where it goes 👀 )
Yeah, remember how that one lunatic claimed the firm ground under our feet was actually _moving around_ ???
@@johannageisel5390 Ancient Greeks talked about something like an atom, yet they obviously didn’t have the tools to observe said atoms. Just because they ended up being right (or close to) doesn’t mean it didn’t deserve skepticism.
@@johannageisel5390 that’s called an earthquake.
@@johannageisel5390 And genes were to randomly "jump" around the code for seemingly no reason. They laughed at Barbara McClintock when she proposed this.
Exactly, being overly sceptical to the point of being averse to any new ideas and being too quick to ascribe to new theories before there’s enough evidence are both dangerous approaches to potential breakthroughs
So as a historian, I never fail to be amazed at just how similar humans are to one another. I love your channel because every aspect of it exists to prove that humans and our hominid relatives are generally the same, that our modern divisions of people by various means is incompatible with scientific evidence of near universal similarity.
I would like to apologize in advanced for inability to properly convey and connect the concepts I am attempting to discuss in this comment. I've been trying to type it for at least 30 minutes as I seem to be suffering from a particularly dastardly case of writer's block.
Are you familiar with "The Species Problem" and the many different "Species Concepts"? For simplicities sake I'll just quote the Wikipedia entry on species concepts: "The species problem is the set of questions that arises when biologists attempt to define what a species is. Such a definition is called a species concept; there are at least 26 recognized species concepts.".
I feel that the species question is far more profound and significant when it comes to defining humanity. Where and how should we draw the lines between the current form of the human species and our closest hominid relatives, be they ancestors or contemporaries? Should neanderthals truly be considered a different species? They may not have looked exactly the same as us but we certainly interbred with them a significant number of times. We've known for awhile now that they were both tool-users and tool-makers. We've even recently discovered neanderthal jewelry and make-up! And this video taught me that they buried their dead with FLOWERS! The significance of them performing such an action cannot be understated.
While I can't remember the age of said burial site it opens up the possibility of cultural transfers between hominid species in a variety of ways. First and foremost is that the use of flowers in burial rights might predate both neanderthals and anatomically-modern humans(AMHs). The second is that the practice originated amongst neanderthals and was subsequently adopted by AMHs. The inverse is also possible, depending on the age of the burial site. The fourth possibility is that the practice was started by a third species which was adopted by one or even both neanderthals and AMHs.
When it comes to hominids there is just so much that needs to be considered when it comes to answering the species question. Between both the biological compatibility and possible cultural exchanges I have no idea where to begin.
You share more than 99.9% of your DNA with Adolf Hitler. Have a nice day, universalist.
What of course we're the same Is thought processing wise
Otherwise we would be specist Even a lot of other animals Do the exact same thing
What? What do you mean though? I mean yeah sure we’re “relatively the same” in that we breath air and use tools but and have various superficial similarities but the actual behavioral and biological differences are definitely not negligible. That would be like saying a chimp and a bonobo are “basically the same”. It’s really kind of missing the whole point of science and seeing what you want to see.
@@virtueofabsolution7641 exactly, there's a reason Species is the most specific classification in the hierarchy of taxonomic ranks. Being the same Genus is the "close enough" part of the classification and we then further separate by Species.
I talked with my anthropology professor about anxiety and depression often. There is interesting discussion on if one of the causes of anxiety and depression are the differences from our current social/work environment and the ones that we as a species adapted to. There’s really not a lot of reasons to think that our ancient homies weren’t having existential crises and worried for reasons beyond the actual threats they faced. Either way, it would suck to think exactly like we do today.
It is kinda sad, but i also find it incredibly validating; humans in a totally different world, living within totally different circumstances, struggled with their mental health, and yet they continued on! We are here because they were their, living their life despite its challenges. Personally, i like to imagine ancient, anxious people received support from their social circles. Whether or not that was the case, it's a nice thought. If we don't know for sure, why not imagine a best case scenario?
Capitalism is why you feel like that, and it's new.
@@beesRsuperior I think they're being a little reductive, but it's true capitalism is part of the problem. Evidence does suggest that capitalism has problems, and a negative impact on individuals lower on the hierarchy. But that's a sociology discussion probably best suited elsewhere on the internet.
@@beesRsuperiorit isn't closed minded at all. It is closed-minded of you to write off the idea because it's been culturally labelled as radical. I encourage you to look into cultural hegemony and cognitive dissonance, because these are two concepts that are seriously clouding your judgement right now.
At its core, capitalism is merely a mechanism that allows a small portion of society to control pretty much everything (directly or indirectly) and to extract the majority of wealth created through all labour, rather than that wealth going back to the people who created it or back into local communities. That's it. How people can contort this into being an acceptable, fair or preferable system is beyond me. There's a hell of a lot of propaganda behind that, I can promise you.
Capitalism's only goal is to increase and centralise profits, which results in basic human needs becoming monetised, slave labour, manufactured poverty and the criminalisation of that poverty. It forces people to behave in opposition to our natural bahaviours, by forcing us to compete instead of cooperate, and encouraging us to live individualistically, rather than collectively.
Of course it has a massive impact on mental health. People k*ll themselves because they can't afford their rent, or to feed their kids, or they can't get a job, can't afford life altering surgery or mental health support. And we have absolutely reached a point in human history where none of these issues need to exist. We have more than enough resources to provide for everybody on this planet; instead we let 1% hoard more money than they could ever spend and they do it purely to maintain power and control over the rest of us so we remain in servitude to them our entire lives.
This is the one issue that causes or exacerbates every other issue. There can be no freedom or democracy under capitalism because capitalism is a corporate dictatorship.
So please, keep an open mind. There's a lot you don't know.
And remember, the most respected and accomplished philosophers and political commentators are socialist (Noam Chomsky, George Orwell, Martin Luther King Jr, Albert Einstein). It isn't for no reason.
@@beesRsuperior @beesRsuperior thank you for your measured and thoughtful response. I engage with anticapitalism/socialism a fair bit online and am often having to defend it against people who are very quick to dismiss, criticise or promote capitalism as 'the best we have', so you're right, I absolutely did assume that you were being dismissive. I apologise that I came across as patronizing - this wasn't my intention. Perhaps I'm a little jaded from conversations starting out respectfully but often devolving into insults and name calling towards me when I challenge others' beliefs. I find speaking in a more confident/direct way can be more effective in communicating my perspective as knowledge-based rather than merely a biased opinion (not that having an opinion is necessarily bad).
To be honest, I was less concerned with what you actually meant. I knew people might see your response as a defence of capitalism or dismissal of its potential role in depression/mental health issues, and so I decided to provide a counter-perspective for the benefit of other people reading the comments. A lot of people have no (or a brainwashed) understanding on what capitalism and socialism are so I like to frame it in a way that resonates with their lives.
It's nice to hear your perspective, particularly as somebody living in Sweden! I live in Australia, so I have it far better than, say, the average person from the US or the Global South, but we also still have a loooong ways to go. We get 3-4 weeks paid leave per year but our govt backs big business so more and more roles are becoming casualised with rights and benefits stripped. People always say Australia has universal healthcare but that's not exactly true. You'll be treated for emergencies but could be on a waitlist for years to get work done. My dad needs both his knees done and has been on the list for 4 years; he lives every day in pain and still has to work. The govt and healthcare institutes try to push everyone towards getting private health insurance "to take the pressure off the public sector" which only exists because they keep cutting funding while handing out billions to the wealthy and corporations. We pay high taxes, more than enough to cover healthcare but it doesn't go there, and if you don't have private health insurance by the time you're 30 you get taxed even more.
I agree with your points on depression. We absolutely can't be so reductive. Although I also suspect the commenter was probably just being brief and vague like you were, and then you made assumptions about it like I did 😅
Thank you for your response! It's a nice way to wake up, seeing a positive, insightful and respectful comment. I hope you have a lovely day 😊
Your combination of storytelling and insistence on credibility is a breath of fresh air both for both making such technical concepts accessible and for adhering to good science. It’s impressive and what academia needs
Hands down one of the most interesting videos I’ve seen in a while, Keep up the great work man!
Amognus
How dare you make me wait for this. I’ve been obsessed with this ever since Hancock mentioned it in America Before
Worse, now the ice is gone the meat is spoiling now. Lets get this done while theres still a coupla trees left in the amazon
Why are you listening to a thing that grifter Hancock says???
That charlatan is always cherry picking evidence for his stupid hypothesis, he has no credibility in archeology.
@@amycatass I haven't read any of his books, but he reminds me very much of Alex Jones:
A man who believes some very crazy things, but also some very true things, and some somewhere in between. The problem they both ran into, I suspect, is that they have always been told "That's crazy" whether or not they were actually wrong, and therefore they lose access to meaningful feedback (because they get told they're wrong whether or not it's true)
TL;DR: they're worth listening for kernals of truth, but never take them at face value
@@userequaltoNull There are some kernels of truth, and there is some popcorn.
I remember my Archeology professor laying out all the arguments that have been purposed for a site and letting the class discuss the pros and cons. He didn't give us the answer- probably because he didn't always have one, but would lead us through the ideas and how we can always misinterpreted the data. In my 400 level class with 5 others, he occasionally admitted when he might not know the answer or has changed his opinion on his own work.
Very based
Sounds like a man the field benefits from massively. You were extremely lucky to have their influence!
Taught you How to think not What to think.
Thank You! I appreciate what you do.
This video makes me appreciate my high school history teacher even more since he didn’t just cover the land bridge theory but he also presented us with this theory, the kelp, the Clovis and a few other theories in order to challenge what we had always thought of as fact and prove that there’s still a lot that we just don’t know about our history
Sounds like you teacher was more open minded than mister know it all boy
@itsadoggydogworld8974a agree. He's mentioned European oral history can't be trusted. But if you listened to native oral history you would know
Just remember most of what we know is fragmentary bits and pieces of what we find and dig up so odds are pretty high there's a ton we don't know.
Wish I’d had your history teacher. Not that mine wasn’t fantastic, mind you (did deep dives into the people who made history), but the natural history sounds… 🤯
I wish I had smart teachers in school... 😔
I realize it's a movie but the baby's father in the movie Ice Age was surprisingly depicted as a person; capable of love and ceremony and that's how I prefer to imagine early hominids.
The craziest thing to me is that I remember watching that movie as a kid and thinking something along the lines of "these guys are acting pretty civilized for a bunch of cavemen. That's not realistic." And it's crazy coming here now and learning that it's actually much more realistic than the common knowledge would have us think
I think a lot about how i could probably communicate with my ancient ancestors with smiles and gestures, i want to meet my primordial grandmother so badly. Maybe i will when i too am dead, and we can grunt and hoot together ❤
@@j0hn00the dinosaur ice age movie even shows the whole world without grass (grass was not a thing during the dinosaur age). They have fun but did their homework
😂😂😂😂ť
@@j0hn00 concepts like affection, compassion, and altruism aren't limited to humans. They're primitive aspects of mammalian neuropsychology that probably go even further back since fish even show signs of these traits. Even if life was harsher back then, and hard decisions had to be made far more frequently, it's what makes us who we are today that allowed our ancestors to become so prolific.
Understanding geological timelines is both awe inspiring and absolutely terrifying. The planet we live on is so old and has changed so much over the years, and our entire history as Humans is a blip on the map. If it's true that our descendants came to the Americas way before we ever imagined, then that'll just be swell
Logan Brown, I believe that you meant our predecessors ( those who came before) not descendants (those who came after).
@@celiabrickell2500 Or maybe ancestors?
@@henryknox4511 I would go with predecessors in this case since there's an off chance they weren't even homo sapiens
@@SahharBM They would still be ancestors regardless.
@@henryknox4511 Unlikely - though it's possible there was some admixture when H. sapiens arrived, as there was with Neanderthals, Denisovans and others.
An archaic American population wouldn't have been ancestral to most of our species though.
That's part of what's so weird about this find and why it's so hard to accept. It's so old and there are no other traces. What's seen here is incredibly primitive technology compared to what other human populations were using at the same time or even much earlier and we don't find any examples of those old stone tool kits in the Americas. This is just "Looks like these rocks were used to hit things with". Not even the level of the Oldowan tool kit, which is millions of years old.
Now, obviously they could have also used that technology (or later versions), but just not left any at this site, but we also don't see any elsewhere in the Americas. If they were here for a hundred thousand years, why not? We've found ancient stone tools all over Africa and Eurasia.
Had this population regressed? Lost even the skill to shape stone tools?
You just presented something I wouldn't have thought much about, and you made interesting. And presented it in a scientific manner, without an excess reliance on ancient aliens. Great job! 👍
The closing minutes of this video were absolutely beautiful, Milo. Well done to you and the editor for striking such a wonderful balance between fact and theory with respect to the history of humanity's ancestors, this was a jaw dropping watch :)
I would have preferred the word 'hypothesis' in this context, as while it was beautiful, it undercut the difference in scientific theory and common theory (in being scientific theory= fact and common theory= hypothesis)
@@littlebigbiddy thank you holy shit. The speech was beautiful but when someone uses the more common definition of theory while talking about science it always bothers me a little.
28:20 reminds me of something one of my lecturers said to me when I was at university "Non-existent evidence is not evidence of non-existence."
The possibility of the Cerutti Mastodon site being a human kill site is where that phrase applies, where the find and arguments around it are so convincing that the only thing getting in the way is that we've found nothing else like it, but the site's alternative explanations just don't seem to be enough compared to it.
CMIIW, let me see if I get this right. At first we thought it was homo sapiens, right? And then after the site was dated to be >100k years old, we concluded that it wasn't h. sapiens because h. sapiens were still in Africa back then. So now we think it's probably other hominids, not strictly h. sapiens.
But why stop the possibility at hominids? Couldn't it be there were other sufficiently smart species from other genus who did it? I mean, we've seen plenty of non-human animals smart enough to use tools.
@TheGlassesPro Unfortunately, it really is though. You can take, for example, the evidence for the existence of even the rarest species, and then compare that to Bigfoot. I mean, we should by all accounts have TONS of evidence if Bigfoot existed. "But they live off WAY in the wild, where people don't live." Well where people live WAS the isolated wild only a couple of centuries ago! And the vast majority of sightings ARE where people live! So the fact that the evidence seen in the cases of even the rarest species does not exist for a Bigfoot is strong evidence against its existence.
@@rekagotik2785 Not smart enough to use them to kill massive prey like mastodons. That requires a level of planning and effort that even pack animals like dire wolves might not be able to pull off. It was a hominid.
All unfalsifiable claims meet the definition of "absence of evidence doesn't mean evidence of absence".
Although logically sound, that phrase is usually used in an attempt to represent an unfalsifiable claim as something likely or reasonable to believe just by the virtue of it being unfalsifiable. It's a one-size-fits-all rhetorical tool to justify belief in any wackadoo shit that you can't prove lol. Not everything logically sound is practically applicable or reasonable to apply in any context.
@@rekagotik2785 anything's possible when you have such little practical evidence... just don't fall too far into the other trap of letting you imagination run wild because, well, we have such little practical evidence
Could it have been a non-hominid species? i mean, yes, in theory. But we have absolutely no corroborating evidence that any creature advanced enough to do something like this existed on the American continent, or any other continent for that matter. So as of right now it's incredibly unlikely until such evidence is uncovered.
Everything this find suggests could ultimately turn out to be a 'false positive', so this is why good science requires both an open mind AND a healthy skepticism of single-source 'conclusions'.
Can't wait to see your take on this! I've had many arguments over this site.
I am very excited to hear your thoughts on it! Needless to say its a pretty controversial one so I'm really excited to see everyone's opinions.
Me finding out two of my favorite archeology channels follow each other 0_o
Ancient Americas is a great RUclips channel
Ok, so this is my take. First of all, an excellent job discussing this! You made a very balanced evaluation of the site whilst still preserving your usual flair. Second, I don't object to the archaeology of this site but rather to the interpretation. I'm a guy who likes to see hard evidence that is very difficult to refute like what was found at white sands or monte Verde and the evidence from cerutti is a bit too vague. It can be interpreted many ways, one of which evidences humans. Speaking of Monte Verde (and third I guess?), Tom Dillehay, the guy who led the excavations at Monte Verde and knows all too well about making a paradigm-shifting discovery and defending it to the bitter end, co-authored a response that I read a long time ago that is very short and worth a read. The article is titled "Were Hominins in California ∼130,000 Years Ago?" and he and the other authors raise very good points about the site's interpretation and what evidence we ought to be looking for to make such a bold claim. I won't rehash the points here because it's a very short read and the authors put it better than I could. This is all a long winded way of saying that this site is a huge outlier not just for the Americas but for all human migration. For me to take this more seriously, I would like more supporting evidence from other sites that can place this into a better context. I know I'll sound like an old fart when I say that "this doesn't fit into the bigger picture of human evolution and migration" but that's how I look at cerutti. Great video though and I completely respect your view!
@@AncientAmericas I'm not an Archeologist I studied Neuroscience (MS) and Medicine (MD) so I am familiar with the process of science and evaluating papers.
I don't necessarily understand how this site would disagree with the bigger picture of human evolution and migration. H. hidelbergensis has been found in China and Spain, supporting the idea of an early human peopling across the Eurasian continent. While it can't be confirmed they used language the existence of a hyoid bone and a reasonable suggestion of handedness strongly suggest they had the capacity for language, which from a neuroscience perspective is indicative of a more or less functionally equivalent brain despite the fact they weren't anatomically equivalent. While H. hidelbergensis was definitely gone by the time of this proposed migration there is evidence of populations of Neanderthal and Denosovian presence in eastern Russia and China before and after the time of this potential migration.
While I agree it cannot be confirmed until more evidence is found I think the statement that it doesn't fit into the bigger picture of human evolution and migration is somewhat hyperbolic to the suggestion that a small group of early humans migrated at an earlier date then died out, as the conditions existed for such a migration to occur. The evidence of the site itself plus the conditions that make such an occurrence possible makes it a reasonable hypothesis to propose that shouldn't be dismissed immediately out of hand.
Edit: Just to be clear, the only part I am taking issue with in the comment I'm replying to is the suggestion that it is incompatible with the current larger picture of human evolution and migration, and I am inviting them to reply and explain why I am wrong.
It takes confidence to say, 'I don't know.' Wish more professionals were comfortable with that thought. Your knowledge to minute ratio needs a new graph with revised intervals. Outstanding, and thanks for sharing the passion.
“why are you crying?”
the innate human nature to explore, love, and create got to me ok
edit: if I wasn’t an artist, I would be an anthropologist with a focus on early Paleolithic art and culture. I love that humans have always been creatures that feel so deeply that there is an innate drive to create and commune with eachother. I think that’s why I have such an issue with people who don’t see the arts as important. You’re telling me that art, the thing we did before we invented WRITTEN LANGUAGE, is useless??? To the pits with you
thank you for explaining in simple words why i am sitting here sobbing over my psych homework
I have always found ancient negative handprints to be godamn awe inspiring. These are people who lived, breathed, loved, fought, triumphed and struggled so similarly and yet so different for us. These not so different from us today people made and enjoyed art. and one of the most prolific of these arts is the negative handprint. a marking completely unique to the artist who made it and has thus screamed across the eons
"I was here!"
when everything else has vanished.
“To the pits with you” YES I AGREE WE HAVE THE SAME THOUGHTS DUDE
Thumbs up from a fellow artist.
Early Paleolithic recreation artist
Delightful video. It gave me the same feeling as I got when I heard about those 700,000 year old rhino bones found in the Phillipines that showed signs of butchering. I warms my heart whenever a discovery is made that hints at other hominin species being capable of more than we previously thought like migrating to North America, or in the case of the rhino bones, to the Phillipines.
about the chalk: im autistic and the sound of chalk is usually torture (but i enjoyed milos videos so much i watched anyway), and i had no idea that it was possible to have chalk that didnt sound horrible. i still dont like the sound, but this chalk is actually so much better that i dont even flinch when i hear it. whoever sent it in, i love you lmao
I’m not autistic and fucking despise the sound of chalk. Erasers on the blackboard is even worse. Just thinking about it makes my hairs stand up.
@@danh6720i hate even touching it
@@danh6720 might be misophonia , anyone can have it even if you're not neurodivergent
@@anny8720 oh for sure that’s what it is. Was really just pointing that out, can affect anyone to the point of detracting from the info actually being conveyed. Still, it’s a me problem. It sucks, but you can’t accommodate for everything.
Your videos are F-in amazing! You’ve got a great skill in conveying actual scientific information in an engaging and fun way. I’m going through your videos in order and I’m absolutely loving it!
15 years ago I did my 4th grade final history project on the Clovis tip, so it's safe to say this video was absolutely devastating to me.
Man I love how he explains things very thoroughly with all the big words but I still feel like I understand and have a great time. Wish I had him as a teacher back in school.
You’re a superb story teller Milo. Your enthusiasm and thorough analysis with detailed documentation surpass nearly all other educational channels that I’ve encountered on the internet. I eagerly anticipate your future productions.
I'm glad you included the section about us always being human. I think of that human skeleton that was found that had an individual that likely was born disabled and couldn't walk. But they grew to early adulthood because their community cared about them. Their teeth had cavities because their family fed them fruit. Our ability to care for others makes us human. And while yes the world sucks, don't despair. Because we have always taken care of each other, and hopefully we will now
Chilling and watching this right after visiting the La Brea Tar Pits and learning a whole bunch about mastodons there definitely puts me in a place where I've learned more about mastodons in the past week than in the previous 27 years of my life.
I really get the amount of frustration you get when people refer to our early ancestors as primitives. Whenever I hear it I think to the grad paper I'm writing, and thinking about the evidence of early dentistry during the neolithic period and I'm talking about drilled teeth at like, 7,500 to 9,000 years back. Or even the dental bridges that are estimated at about 4,500 years back. Though I should note that they were probably placed post-mortem and the earliest functional bridge is estimated at about 2,400 years ago. And while 9,000 is very little compared to 100,000 , it is till staggering.
I can never understand this urge of people to always compare themselves to the earlier generation with the desire to come off as better, rather than learn from them. And I'm saying that because I believe our early ancestors exhibited some better dental practices than whatever the fuck we had going on in the 18th century. I had to look at an early 18th century dentistry manuscript and that shit shaved years off my life.
I wonder about stuff like this. Dentistry and just generally how the idea of providing a service rather than a physical thing arose to be a viable professional pursuit. Like, how did barbers come about? The only reason most of don’t cut our own hair or go to family is largely cultural…but….how far back in the culture? Was there such a thing as a Neolithic barber? Could a Neanderthal with a bum foot have started trimming hair to earn his meals?
Dude people just 500 years ago figured out shit i would have thought was fucking magic. I hate when people assume that just because people were from like...you know a long time ago means they were primitive and stupid. We benefit alot from public education and shared knowledge.
Honestly, this is the reason I fucking hate the Ancient Aliens show and "theory" so much. Beyond all the bad history, bad logic, bad theorizing, bad archeology and sometimes just naked racism, there's a deeply misanthropic streak to the show. It treats early humanity and early civilization as fundamentally unintelligent in every aspect, as beings that knew and wondered and thought nothing, beings that weren't social creatures, they were nothing more than drones to be enslaved by these extraterrestrials of unfathomable technological advances. It genuinely hurts and angers me to see those ideas because, while yes, humanity has done some deeply, deeply awful things for very little reason, we've also found evidence of just the most basic human connections that we still, to this day, practice from the earliest examples of our species. The fact that we find footprints of children with their parents, just living, and sites where we treated each other because we were sick or hurt is amazing. It pains me to see such disinterest with and unintrospection of our own god damn history and such unwillingness to seek connection with our own pasts.
The egyptians performed eye surgeries
@@beancheesedip8337 and those people would rather believe aliens visited as technology gods than that their own ancestors travelled, invented, interacted and interbred almost from the beginning.
Thank you for mentioning that the First Nations people have stories that go far far back in history. This is a fascinating story and is an amazing find
It wasn't a Homo sapien find, so not the ancestor of native americans
@@TrueNativeScotthey most likely would have interbred though like how Neanderthals did in Europe with Homo sapiens
@TrueNativeScot just because it wasn't an ancestor doesn't mean people can't have stories of them.
And given that some aboriginal stories have lately been found to be spot on, as well as some polynesian oral history, we should probably take it more seriously
this was more in reference to the older human site mentioned before the mastodon site @@TrueNativeScot
Love your insights and your series. Please work on sound quality, the echo is making this hard, other episodes are good soundwise. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for bringing up the interglacial period.
Also, I love that you define things. Having been a teacher, that's key to understanding what's being studied.
I'm fascinated to hear about so many different and age specific dating methods. Stay crafty.
I know you laughed about it, but the fact that you are able and willing to actually go through all those scholarly papers and translate it into a way that the rest of us can understand is truly special. You're doing God's work, and we need more people like you. Historic and scientific liaisons to the people are something we truly need, and don't have enough of. I don't know what your actual job is, but you would make an amazing teacher if you're not already.
As a California Native and Super History Nerd, I think this is one of the coolest history discoveries and videos i have seen in a while. For sure earned a like and share to every other history nerd I know.
Also, Thanks for the work, Franco!
As someone whose interested in science and history, agreed. As a New Mexican, please stop taking our cool stuff, we don't have much as it is.
I subscribed about a month (or two?) ago and I'm gradually going back over all of your videos, and I just wanted once again to thank you for doing all of this, working to spread real scientific knowledge, contribute to education, and combat woo, lies, and anti-intellectualism.
can you notice how the light has left his eyes since
Native New Mexican here (yes it means both) my particular tribes oral tradition is very well aware of the rough area our ancestors came from before settling in New Mexico. Our tribe ( jicarilla apache) migrated from Canada down to new Mexico.
The distribution of related languages alone proves this unequivocally
That's pretty cool
Weird question here if you'll even see this, but is the location in Canada also passed down in oral tradition? Like from the western, central, eastern or wherever regions. Just curious as to if theres anything interesting with migrations up there
@@friedchickenloverr I'm not entirely sure, i know we came Frome the more western parts of Canada near alaska. as for the Canadian side I'm not sure if the oral tradition has anything about the migrations
Jicarilla. Hmmm.
I know if an execution method stated to have been used by the Jacarilla.
Very cruel. Sewing the tip of penis to the scrotum... and and while sun slowly tightens the wet drying collar to strangle the condemned... The condemned is also loaded up with peyote and while slowly being strangled by collar... A maiden shakes her naked coochie in the condemned man's face...triggering an erection...which tears the scrotum as penis enlarges. Bringing the ants and other critters for dinner.
Vicious. I like it.
Hi, paleoanthropology nerd here, this is SUCH A COOL THEORY!!!! I think my favorite part about it is that it slams people who believe in homo sapien supremacy and/or that other early hominids were somehow “less fit” (if we’re talking in social Darwinist terms). Thinking about the possibilities that would come about if this theory were proved correct is so mind blowing and exciting and I can’t wait to learn more
Tierzoo would like a word with you. If their builds were as optimized as ours then don't you think _they_ would've developed a civilization before we did?
@@benthomason3307 We're not optimized, we're jacks of all trades and we lucked out on our ancestors beeing inquisitive.
Also there's only so much civilization you can make when you don't have opposable thumbs, and only so much civilization-development you can have when you don't have a motivation to actually clump together.
Our rivals in civilization would actually be, believe it or not, the hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps IIRC) order, which we're only just starting to understand aren't just preprogrammed robots and have actual subtleties in their social structures and inter-colony communication.
Source on "not optimized, jacks of all trades": go look at ANY animal's eyes. Check how it works, check optimization and the drawbacks of each, then compare it to us. We have, by all rights, middling sight, but what we make up for in how MEH our sight is, is that we're champions at being UNspecialized; we don't have the extreme long-range sight of raptors, but we also don't have their shitty close-distance blindness. We don't have the extreme low-light vision of nocturnal animals, but we also don't have their shitty color vision. We don't have the insane FOV of compound-eyed insects, but we also don't have their shit depth-perception. And so it goes for quite literally every adaptation we have.
I've found like ONE animal whose eyes have an advantage over a middling build like ours without sacrifice and it's the helmet crested gecko, who managed to have SO MANY color receptors they can see in the dark without a cost to their color vision.
We evolved to be the most AVERAGE of all creatures we could be instead of minmaxing.
@@neoqwerty you're confusing the word "optimized" with "specialized." but other than that you have some good points. We did luck out over out neanderthal siblings, but _Homo sapiens_ in general was still the only hominid who ever managed to invent tools fashioned from multiple originally-separate objects.
unless the other hominis all died out well before we got anywhere near that point, in which case I concede complete defeat.
Hate to break it to you, but this is a hypothesis. A theory is generally a well reviewed paper where most people agree. The Clovis site was a theory (in regard to earliest hominin inhabited site in North America) until it was "disproved" by better evidence.
For your further reference. of scientifical tier list.
1. Fact: I.E. the sun exist. not real disputing that unless you go deep into quantum mechanics which blows up all reality anyway
2. Law: can't be directly observed, but there is enough evidence such as gravity, or thermodynamics, or Newton's laws of motion. can't be directly observed so to speak, but repeatably backed by much evaluation (Laws are basically goated theories)
3. Theories: These are hypothesis put forth that are generally accepted by communities archeologist, mathematicians etc. Generally they are conclusions that are based on repeatable experiments, or multiple source findings. If they were to find a similar archeological site nearby, then it would have better backed findings probably making it a theory.
4. Hypothesis: a Hypothesis is generally and educated guess to explain a situation back by evidence at hand, so what the content creator is describing in the video is a hypothesis. There needs to be more evidence for it to be "promoted to a theory" Regardless theories are often not all encompassing either (think E=M(C^2)) Einstein's theory of relativity. It is generally regarded as being correct in Physics, but has many cases where it is proven incorrect for observations in nature.
Please know that I do not desire to bash you on the internet, more I want to help you be effectively educated on how to effectively perceive scientific material. Also don't take my word for this. Do futher resaerch and reaffirm what I am saying is correct. 🤙
@@Thoromian Laws are not above Theories, and neither are Facts. Facts are point like, this mammoth died ~130 kyears ago. Great, but what does that even _mean._ While Laws are formulations patterns in facts, which can then be reliably followed for missing evidence to suggest how to find further evidence. The Law of Gravitation explains only _how_ a thing falls, but it doesn’t explain _why_ a thing falls, or even by what mechanism it falls. Grimm’s Law says inter alia Bʰ → B → P→ F in Germanic languages which is how Vater /fater/ in German but Pater in Latin, but it doesn’t explain why, when, where or anything other than just a pattern of facts. I mean, if P → F, then why is it Pastor in English, rather than Fastor? Huh? Checkmate linguists!
You need hypotheses and theories then to explain how laws connect together, when they happened, and basically anything and everything else beyond the boring “Bʰ → B → P → F”.
I don't have much of a relationship with archeology other than "hey finding stuff out about our history is rad as fuck and might one day help people better understand one another" but I am absolutely floored by this. Seeing the second chart you drew of the time scales between the three sites really put it all i to perspective.
as an indigenous american that is also super interested in archaeology, thank you for talking about us and having so much respect and fascination for our prehistory. it means a lot to me.
I'm a brazillian history graduate, and in my second semester while studying the "pre-history" (I also don't like this term) of America (the continent aka actual America) we discussed confirmed archeological evidence of human occupation in Chile that dated back to 14 or 15000 years, and even some disputed sites in the Amazon rainforest that, if confirmed as evidence, would be over 40000 years old, that were discovered like in the 80s. Even considering the low estimate of 14000 would render the Clovis First theory unequivocally obsolete, and we've known about it for decades. Our professor constantly mocked the "Clovis first" crowd, comparing them to religious fundamentalists. Of course it's still amazing to know that even the 40000 mark that some thought to be improbable is still pretty recent compared to 130 fucking thousand years
I like the petroglyphs in the Serra da Capivara and in the Serra dos Galâpagos. Fine collections of pieces of art.
It’s not hard to understand their ardour tho. For so very long the indigenous population has been disparaged for lack of continuity and conspiracy theories are nothing knew. So Clovis culture has been labelled by the inept and unknowledgeable as lacking bothers distinction and integrity. Pro-Clovis supporters have been fighting long against the deniers, it’s hard to give up the fight. More sites with better dates and artefacts is all we need.
I like your emphasis on “I don’t know but here’s the evidence. Stand by while we slowly continue to thrash this out”, which beats the “God did it, it says that in the Bible, boom, that settles it” approach of most theists.
When you said it’s a possible theory that Homo sapiens weren’t the first to migrate to the Americas…chills literal chills down my spine 😩. That makes me incredibly hyped. It’s equally exciting to hear someone talk about ancient humans with a deep sense of empathy. They literally learned how to survive & passed it on down to us.
A point to your comment about being uniquely human; I think we’ll find out soon that we are all just animals, not in any demeaning sense, but rather that animals think more similarly to us. They have culture. They grieve. We communicate with them non verbally all the time. I know it causes some people to stress about the ethical implications that has, but it’s still very possible.
Maybe, (if you’re interested), make a video about the domestication of animals 🐶 🐱 🐦 🐴 🐷 🐮
I completely agree that we are just animals and that the only reason we had to get really good at making and using tools is because we don’t have any other advantage over potential prey and we wouldn’t have been such a domineering force on this planet if we had a more ape like muscular structure, jaws and teeth more suitable for hunting with, or longer stronger nails to act as claws. I think it’s very condescending to look at animals as stupid because they can’t use tools or anything else we do but we completely gloss over their genius when it comes to hunting and their communities and groups, and if looked at animals with a lens that we are animals that had to develop and use tools to compete for food we aren’t as different as the other top predators that are masters of hunting, or our ability to build massive structures is completely outshined by termites, ants, bees, and wasps that can build completely massive(to scale with the specific insects) and intricate structures with similar efficiency to us with our heavy machinery.
@@freddylisy10 we are animal either you look at animals with a lens or not
Animals definitely do not have real culture
@@deviljes666 I brought up the lens to change how we view other animals cause we tend to look at other animals as beneath us and stupid which a lot of them aren’t and we really aren’t that much smarter than a lot of animals and it’s really only our top minds that are a lot smarter not the majority of the population
@@deviljes666 Whether*
As an aspiring marine biologist who also is a history buff, learning of archeology from you is the closest I'll get to a middle ground of them on youtube
im the same thing lol..
Marine archaeology/paleontology is a field that needs more people, if that interests you!
Yup same
Iirc, Schmidt ocean institute hosted a team that was searching for anything along where the California shore line would be in the past with a remotely piloted submersible.
I feel as if everything mesh's together well.
I've watched only a couple of your videos so far but i really appreciate how you call out the racism and biases that exist around history and archeology as we know it. Its really refreshing to hear someone talking about it outside the people who are affected by it
i am so unendingly fascinated with and curious about humanity's deep history. what did they believe? what languages did they speak? what was their relationship with other early humans of different species? (the fact that we used to live alongside other species of humans is something else that blows my mind) and what were the cultures of those other human species like? their languages, their beliefs, their practices? there's so, so much we don't know yet and so much more that we will never know because it's been so thoroughly lost. discoveries like this that threaten to completely overthrow our entire understanding of humanity's furthest past really demonstrate how much we just don't know. it's humbling and awe-inspiring.
the idea that other human species might have made it to the americas before us and had hundreds of thousands of years to themselves to develop in an isolated fashion is just mindblowing, and i'd love it to be true, and i'd love to know they were like. i swear to god this whole concept is like some shit straight out of some early 20th century pulp fantasy novel a la conan the barbarian.
i'm a linguistics nerd, so the idea that they may have had over a hundred thousand years for their languages to evolve completely isolated from those in the old world excites and fascinates me so much. i'd chop off a limb if it meant i could learn about any of the lost and forgotten cultures and languages that existed around the world in our earliest history, but ESPECIALLY this hypothetical one.
god i fucking love archaeology and anthropology. sorry for the essay, this comment just turned into some kind of nerd explosion. shit gets out of hand fast when i start talking about humanity's prehistory.
These are my feelings exactly. It's so insane, I can't even begin to grasp it
What did they know? Do they know things? Let's find out!
I’m also deeply fascinated by the languages and cultures of early humans and it makes my heart twinge when I think that their is a high likelihood that I will die without ever knowing anything about these early humans.
I was going to like your comment, but then i saw how many likes it has… nice.
The Robert Frost quote makes me image a group of early humans splitting up at the land bridge, one group would stay while the others ventured out to find better living ground. Maybe a storm or a long bought of heavy weather came by so the exploring group had to press on deeper into this new land. A few generations go by and a small click of them go out in what is now California and hunt down a mammoth that would be found hundreds of thousands of years later.
In undergrad, I did a semester exchange at University of Alaska Southeast, where I took a course in Alaska Native Studies. I distinctly remember my professor (himself Tlingit) challenging me on my conclusion that indigenous peoples migrated across the Bering Land Bridge, and asked me to consider the oral histories of several Alaska Native Peoples regarding their origin/creation stories. After being confronted with the white sands footprints and this, I find myself ever more convinced that Indigenous Knowledge far exceeds Western Science's understanding of the origin of peoples in the New World.
Before there were libraries, there were stories and legends. They all come from somewhere, and all have some truth or knowledge hidden inside
First you'd need to convince me that the genetic evidence is trumped by a tribes game of telephone.
@@minutemansam1214 denvoian is it found in Native DNA
Very true! Just remember that these alleged 130k prints are very likely not from modern natives. Maybe from denisovans or maybe even a late population of erectus. I wonder if they survived to see the true ancestors arrive, or if they died out long before than. The possibilities are fascinating.
Such a fascinating video! I'm a historian, and I love watching your channel to learn more about our prehistoric past. I gotta say though, the nomenclature of "clovis culture" or "clovis points" always throws me for a loop. My brain just glitches for a split second and goes "...the King of the Fanks? In North America?"
This is incredible. I'd love to see you make a video on our current understanding of humanity's departure from Africa to provide insight as to why this site may not have been left by homo sapiens.
I have my Ancient Origins series which I talk about all the human evolutionary ancestors! Im working on the second episode now and will certainly be covering this later!
@@miniminuteman773 that's awesome, cause yeah I know a bit about it but I guess my question is why could this not just move the timetable? I trust there are good reasons and I'm excited to hear them
@@WoodrowSkillson From what I've seen there's two reasons, first DNA, the first exit of Africa had not lasted, from DNA research, we know that two waves out of Africa are the result of all non-african humans today, one 60 000 years ago, and one 30 000 years ago.
The second, is just what we'e found, there ae remains of Homo sapiens as far as 190 000 years afo out of Africa, but they're mainly in the Middle East, and it's like one bone each 30 000 years.... The eastern remain of Homo sapiens is in China, and is dated at 118 000 years ago, so way later than this site ^^
@@miniminuteman773 I am so excited about this. I'm dying to get my hands on one of your cool rings
I am super excited to hear your take on one of my favorite (potentially) archaeological sites in America, but I'm concerned about the thumbnail.
Even the original researchers were very clear in stating that this is not a kill and butchery site, but rather a scavenged bone quarry.
This is a detail that I found to be absolutely critical in understanding the features of this site, and I see it glossed over in many of the Cerutti debunking videos and articles.
I stand corrected. Milo Rossi just went to bat for the Cerutti Mastodon Site.
No notes. Brilliant presentation.
@@reedeppelheimer4967 So, yes butchery site then?
@@williambell3304 when I think "butchery", I think food.
If you want to call breaking bones for the purpose of making bone tools "butchery" then yeah, its butchery. I think of it as quarrying.
I only mean to say that I don't think 'food' was the primary use of this mastodon and i dont think they killed the animal either, based on what I have read.
@@reedeppelheimer4967 Well you break bones to get at the marrow, so there is a possibility for food there. Someone here has stated that from their experience butchering animals, the breaks in the leg bones seem optimally placed for that, for what it's worth.
I remember finding this guy on TikTok, and now that he has a RUclips channel I’m so so so happy that he has longer form videos. Funny as hell, easy to understand, and also super informative. Im both grateful to find this channel, but also sad that I can’t binge watch more hours of content. Keep it up.
-soon to be patron.
I'm 42 years old and I truly enjoy your channel!
This so far is my favorite episode, great job Milo and Team! As someone who’s been interested in archaeology and anthropology since early childhood, it’s always amazing so see such a passion put into it 🙂
So stoked you did a video on this. I first heard about this site referenced Metis academic by Paulette Steeves in an interview. I couldn't find anything else on it so it's great to hear more details.
I also feel that conspiracy impulse when learning about this site and especially since I got this information from Paulette Steeves. She argues quite emphatically that up until recently pre-clovis cultural sites were suppressed because archeology and anthropology get a lot of grant funding from the oil and gas industry. According to her this industry and state actors, what to discourage the widespread knowledge of pre-clovis sites because clovis and the Berring strait hypothesis have been used in court cases to argue that indigenous people do not have full title to their lands. This is because the treaties on which those claims are made, assumed indigenous people had been in the Americas forever.
Believing any type of conspiracy makes me very nervous but I am excited that the clovis hypothesis is crumbling and that kernels of truth about indigenous settlement of the Americas is much more complicated and longer than we intially thought. The idea that other hominids made it here too, both makes sense and is super cool.
When it comes to corporations, and especially the fossil fuel industry, when we know they hid evidence of human caused climate change for decades, it isn't a conspiracy to think they would would subvert archeology to benefit their bottom line.
@@kuryamtl I certainly don't put it past them.
Maybe this site just tells the sad story of a suicidal mastodon beating itself to death against a rock, no need for anyone else to be involved... but seriously, this site has some incredible implications. The fact that no other sites have turned up such ancient dates is perhaps just a reflection of archaeological bias - nobody expects to see anything relating to hominins this early, so they've never looked. It will be interesting to see if any further evidence emerges, but in any case, this does seem to be a sad story after all, as whoever this was, they don't appear to have lasted (unless they were the ancestors of big foot?!).
Do you suppose megafauna could get something like chronic wasting disease that we have in deer today?
Yup, that's probably part of the trouble finding more sites; it could have just been a little group desperately scavenging a dead animal that some other predators wanted too, and their little experiment in starting a new life ended with their bones eaten up by wolves...
Is it possible that a group of hominids found the old mastodon bones, broke them open to see if there was any marrow (human curiosity and optimism) and maybe took some bones away that they saw a use for and left what was found? I mean, we've found huts built out of mammoth bones (and there's that one gas station cabin made from fossils out in Wyoming) so a bunch of big bones lying out in the open might have been useful enough to check out and see if anything could be done with them regardless of their age.
@@gl15col That and the fact that archeological sites that old tend to be difficult to find in general. Especially given how primitive the stone tools would have been, which would indicate a larger reliance on tools made from biological materials, eg. wood, bone, and antler.
Given that, I'd tend to see this as more likely a group kill, and the reason for the small number of bones is that some parts were carried away from the site after crude butchery.
The thing is, most humans peopleing didn't last. Homo neanderthalensis died in Europe 40 000 years ago, Homo errectus died in Indonesia 100 000 years ago (although he produced dwarf species, floresiensis and luzonensis died 50 000 years ago), heck even Homo sapiens seems to have died seveal times, because we found traces of an early exit of Africa around 100 000 years ago, but we found no follow up of these populations after in modern DNA, or in fossil record ^^'
Evolution history in general is sad, almost everything died, and there's only a handful of cases where it's a massive explosion or mankind or some other catastrophe that caused it, often it's just a subtle climate change (Megalodon probably died because of a few degrees drop of ocean's temperature), or the arrival of a new species....
Honestly, you are the first RUclipsr I've seen credit their patreon followers as sponsors
I have to share this video. Trying to explain to some people that if we could pluck a baby from 300k years ago and raised it today no one would be able to tell. That functionally we have been the same for a long long time. I frocking love the idea that humans moved so much earlier than could have been imagined! I hope I love long enough to see this if not proven at least opened up for more scientific possibility. Your a cute kid sir! Thanks for the video.
The baby from 300k years ago would probably die of the common cold or whatever, though. Its immune system would be orders of magnitude more unprepared for modern diseases than Indigenous people in the Americas and Australia were for measles and smallpox, and those had a 90% lethality in many areas.
@@mamasimmerplays4702 conversely the baby would likely spread diseases our bodies haven't had to counter for 250,000 years.
Also just because it would be "homo sapiens" doesn't mean it would be anatomically modern. You would definitely be able to tell that it was different, especially if you were black (as it would appear superficially african due to human populations being in africa only 300k YA).
@@userequaltoNullunless it wasn’t even a homosapian.
@mamasimmerplays4702 well yeah, but seeing as we can't actually do that experiment I don't think it's particularly relevant to the question of whether ancient homo sapiens were as mentally capable as modern ones
If one thinks about it enough, and perhaps lets the imagination go a bit, there is something that has an ineffable sadness to it. Could we be seeing evidence of a group of Humans or Human relatives making it into North America before the drowning of Beringia, thus finding themselves isolated from the rest of the Human family, surviving for who knows how many generations, before perhaps environmental pressures or simple bad luck saw them dwindle away, to leave behind a continent filled with silence, until once more our ancestors managed to break into the continent, totally unaware that long distant ancestors had come and passed before themselves? Damn. That was a long sentence, and fairly convoluted. ANYway....
There could have been a continent-wide population of 'em still around to interact with the sapiens when they arrived, and we'd just not know because we haven't found the evidence yet. Perhaps some of the Denisovan DNA in Native Americans today comes from them, eh?
which is funny, because they never left. Where do you think Native Americans and Southern American tribal cultures came from? They were always there but Europeans genocided the descendents of these ancient humans when they found the Americas again
@@shivapranavkarnam9535 Native Americans and Southern Americans came from those ancestors who "managed to break into the continent" around 23k years ago. There's no evidence for human habitation between the one site from 130k years ago and the white sands prints from 23k years ago, which seems to be the "continent filled with silence" John the Rambling Scriblerian is referring to.
The Europeans didn't show up to ruin stuff until the 15th century (aside from, likely, some Greenlandic Vikings who didn't stay long).
Someone probably thought they were the last human alive.
@@9Johnny8 ehhh theres no evidence between clovis and white sands either. Evidence of anything that old is gonna ne rare. I see no reason to think they were wiped out
I am going to be totally honest, you have inspired me to want to be a history or a geography teacher, I am 14 and I have a job plan already. Love your videos btw
This made me smile, you’ve got this!
Thanks!
As someone who’s never been particularly interested or knowledgeable about archeology, this channel has been a really fun way for me to break into it. You have a talent for making these discoveries and ideas compelling, and I’m glad I just subscribed
I am blown away by this and spent an hour telling my partner about the whole thing. 140,000, holy sh#t man. That just so blows away the timeline I have considered to be slightly variable but more or less agreed upon relating to hominids in NA, and in general. Thank you for this, love to see someone who shares the excitement these finds bring.
This actually begins to make the case the humans evolved in North America, and crossed the land bridge into Asia.....
@@generalkayoss7347 lol not quite. We have ancestors 7 million years ago in Chad.
@@josephmatthews7698 i appreciate you correcting them so kindly. I would have called them a fool
@@piperbarlow1672 hah thanks for noticing man. I made a recent resolution to assume everyone I talk to online is 13 until proven otherwise.
@@josephmatthews7698Something I should take to heart, as an older fan of cartoons aimed at 8 year olds
If this was indeed another hominid I wonder if some populations lasted long enough to encounter modern humans crossing into North America, and if those ancient encounters are hinted at in folklore. Very interesting stuff.
Yeah like what if the hydra was really just a conjoined twin snake
I mean there's a lot of genetic evidence that ancient Homo sapiens not only met other hominid species, but got to know them biblically.
@@mimisezlol Yeah but not in America. The Americas had no native Hominids. Even the Non-Human Hominids that would've maybe been there wouldn't have been FROM there.
Well there does exist the popol vuh that's the Mayan creation myth and it does talks about the existence of early men(not really humans but still (like wooden men mud men and the like))
I'm not an expert on native folklore, but am still somewhat knowledgable. I'd say if it exists, it's very much not widespread. There may be some examples of those mythological motiffs, but I'm not familiar with any, and certainly not a widespread pattern across NA (unlike the Thunderbird, which I will contend till the day I die was a memory Terratornis encountered in the late pliestocene)
As a mastadon lover, I am so here for this video. I know I'm late but I only discovered your channel a few weeks ago! 🤣
Milo your channel is honestly one of the best on RUclips right now. I’m an engineering student but I’ve always been fascinated by this kind of stuff, and every video just keeps getting better!
I’m super psyched to see where this goes and if it ends up re-writing the history books :D
So sorry about your loss. Very happy to see you back and I hope that you're okay.
Uhh what did he lose???? Is he okay?
@@NebulousWarrior One of his pet ferrets passed away. It's a heartbreaker when a pet dies.
@@michaelg2529 oof sorry to hear that
Great video!! I've been out of touch for a little while. I graduated from CU Denver with an Anthropology (archaeology) degree in Dec 2012. I have a career (scientific glassblower) so I didn't need to work as an archaeologist, though that is one of my passions. On the first of February, 2013, I decided to contact Steve Holen to see if I could volunteer for some of his projects as I knew he was at the forefront of pre-Clovis human presence in North America. Those theories you've mentioned all seem likely given the human penchant for exploration and bettering one's station in life. But Steve Holen had retired from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science two weeks prior to my attempt to contact him. Career, family, and other interests took over and I lost touch with the community here in Colorado. I am certainly glad Holen is still going after it!
My interest in pre-Clovis was sparked by a professor at UCD. He showed the class a bunch of red dots signifying Neandertal presence in Europe and Asia, with a lone red dot far to the east in Siberia in a direct line to the Beringia land bridge. The site was dated about 35,000 BCE, which coincides with another exposure of the land bridge. So when I asked the professor of the possibilty that the Neandertals followed the animals across the bridge, he adamantly said, "No, there is no evidence." He refused to even acknowledge the possibility, so I was hooked at that point. Homo presence in NA is far older than we know, and slowly, the evidence is beginning to show itself.
Scientific glassblowers are the best, thank you for all you do!
I've watched this so many times and it blows my mind every time. My dog is named after this site. Absolutely incredible, thank you for sharing!!
Years ago I remember hearing reports of homo-erectus like hand axes in the SW US. It was of course discredited, but it would be interesting for someone to reinvestage that site or relook at the "hand-axes." I probably read about it in a fringe science book 40 years ago and it was probably talking about samples that was found 20 years before that.
Any alleged pre-clovis site was routinely "humphed at" until the last 15 years or so and it took a huge amount of really detailed archaeological work to really get past that barrier. If this current site is truly evidence of 100k+ homo inhabitation in the American, both of us will be dead before consensus will catches up.
Enjoyed your video.
There's a lot of evidence that Homo Erectus migrated to East Asia, so it's possible
Now you know hand-axes were created by the interdenominational extraterrestrial pygmy bigfoot. Did you not see that documentary they made about it in the 80s. ALF. Where normal family putting the entire earth at risk of extraterrestrial viruses. After he was captured by the government that's how they created covid. 🤣🤣🤣😆🤣😅🤣
@@overlycaffeinatedsquirrel779 LOL - yes, I have my doubts about them plus all I remember is a short paragraph implying a conspiracy. But over the years I do wonder if they were dismissed just because it really unlikely and it would be interesting if the objects would be looked at with modern techniques.
@@henelema about 15 years ago I read a general science history that discussed specifically talked how far and fast that homo erectus travelled - so it would not surprise me if they somehow made it to the americas. But I do find it unlikely.
11:57 - Came for mastodon bones, stayed for wholesome couple interactions.
I love your channel! This is so hype! I don't know a lot about archaeology but you make it both fun and accessible to learn :3
Edit: My mind is being blown every two minutes, jesus fuck
I’d love a series or even just a single video about stuff like that ancient burial site you spoke of with the flowers. That’s super interesting and emotionally powerful and I’d love to hear about more instances of that, as always gray video
I'm no expert in this field, but I love jumping in on discussions like this because I do love learning about history. The way I see it is that the climate has fluctuated so much in the time between now and 130,000 years ago. I mean, that amount of time is pretty mind boggling and hard to wrap one's head around. As you said, that time would line up well with the last inter-glacial period. I do believe that there are many more sites similar to this one in that area. Most of these places are simply happened upon by pure luck. With how much the land has shifted in the last 100,000 years thanks to the fluctuating climate and another glacial period, most of these prehistoric sites will be buried under layers of sand, silt, and rock. With new technologies like LIDAR being developed, these sites may become much easier to find in the future. I'd be willing to put money on the possibility of there being evidence of an encampment somewhere near that kill site. Somewhere where early humans settled during the journey to find better hunting grounds.