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Oregon Rock Shelter Yields Stone Tools Dated to About 18,250 Years Ago
University of Oregon researchers uncovered two orange agate scrapers at Rimrock Draw that predate the Great Pyramid by roughly four times. Radiocarbon dating of nearby animal remains placed the tools at about 18,250 years old. The findings, which remain unverified by peer review, challenge the conventional timeline for human arrival in North America.
Jul 12, 10:43 AM·1m read1 source
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University of Oregon researchers have dated stone tools found at Rimrock Draw rock shelter in the Oregon mountains to approximately 18,250 years ago, GB News reported. The team recovered two stone scrapers made from orange agate. The implements lay beneath volcanic ash deposited by Mount St.
Helens more than 15,000 years ago. Radiocarbon dating of tooth enamel from extinct camels and bison found near the tools produced the 18,250-year figure. One scraper still carried traces of bison blood, indicating it had been used to process animal carcasses.
Because the tools rested below the dated remains, researchers concluded the implements are older still. The discovery has not yet undergone peer review. If confirmed, it would place human presence in the region thousands of years earlier than the long-accepted date of roughly 13,000 years ago.
David Lewis, professor of anthropology at Oregon State University, said the date aligns with tribal oral histories that describe encounters with geological events such as the Missoula floods between 18,000 and 15,000 years ago. Patrick O'Grady, the University of Oregon archaeologist who led the fieldwork, called the volcanic ash identification shocking and the enamel dates even more startling.
