A research group from IDEAus-CONICET found the oldest human remains in Patagonia and among the oldest in Argentina. These are two individuals dated respectively to 9200 and 9700 radiocarbon years before the present (BP), which is equivalent to an age of between 10,400 and 11,000 calendar years. The discovery took place in Shrimp, a small coastal town located south of the province of Chubut.
The research was carried out by a team made up of scientists Julieta Gómez Otero, Ariadna Svoboda, Anahí Banegas and Gabriela Millán, all of them from the Institute of Diversity and Southern Evolution (IDEAus, CONICET), which operates under the orbit of the CONICET-CENPAT of Puerto Madryn. The study was funded by CONICET and a grant from the Society for American Archeology, intended for pre-Columbian archaeological research.
The announcement took place on Friday, April 19 in the Auditorium of the Perón de Camarones Family Museum, within the framework of the Indigenous Peoples Week. The authors of the work participated in the event, along with the mayor of Camarones, Claudia Loyola; the representative of the Tehuelche Mapuche community Ceferino Namuncurá Valentín Sayhueque, Rubén Romero Sayhueque; the Secretary of the Government of Camarones, Mario Arriagada; the person in charge of Culture, Horacio Yancafil; the mayor of the Patagonia Austral Coastal Interjurisdictional Marine Park (PIMCPA), Juan Duro and the vice director of the CONICET-CENPAT CCT, Pablo Bouza.
The remains were found in October 2020 by a group of bricklayers, while they were carrying out excavations for the installation of gas in a house under construction. Faced with this situation, the owners of the land filed a complaint at the local police station, from where they notified the authorities of the Undersecretariat of Culture of Chubut, who, in turn, summoned the IDEAus professionals and the representative of the Provincial Directorate. of Indigenous Affairs. This was done in accordance with the provisions of the provincial law for the protection of archaeological, anthropological and paleontological heritage (Law XI/11) and the Protocol for the treatment of archaeological human remains (Law V/160).
“Although we initially thought the remains were about 3,000 years old, the dating They surprised us with a much older age.”commented a CONICET researcher to Radio 3.
“This discovery is especially significant due to the scarcity of such ancient human remains in America,” so your discovery could transform our understanding of the peopling of America from Asia about 15 thousand years agohe estimated.
The researcher highlighted the impressive discovery since it “provides new perspectives on the settlement of America and supports the theory of an early entry of human beings to the continent,” he finally stated.
