2023年2月3日

由德克薩斯農工大學教授領導的研究小組已經確定，馬尼斯骨彈射點是美洲迄今為止發現的最古老的由骨頭製成的武器，有13900年的曆史。邁克爾·沃特斯博士是德克薩斯農工大學人類學傑出教授和第一批美國人研究中心主任，他領導的團隊的研究結果發表在本周的《科學進展》雜誌上。研究小組研究了嵌在乳齒象肋骨中的骨頭碎片，該肋骨最早是由卡爾·古斯塔夫森發現的，他於1977年至1979年在華盛頓州的馬尼斯遺址進行了挖掘。通過CT掃描和3D軟件，沃特斯和他的團隊分離出所有的骨頭碎片，以證明這是一種武器的尖端——一種由乳齒象骨骼製成的彈射物，乳齒象是大象的史前親戚。沃特斯說:“我們分離出骨頭碎片，打印出來並組裝起來。”“這清楚地表明這是骨頭拋射點的尖端。這是美洲最古老的骨頭拋射點，代表了美洲乳齒象狩獵最古老的直接證據。”沃特斯說，馬尼斯點有13900年的曆史，比發現的與克洛維斯人有關的投射點要早900年，他也研究了克洛維斯人的石器。克洛維斯人的矛尖可以追溯到13050年到12750年前，在德克薩斯州和全國其他幾個地點被發現。“關於馬尼斯的重要之處在於，它是第一個也是唯一一個比克洛維斯更古老的骨骼工具。 At the other pre-Clovis site, only stone tools are found,” Waters said. “This shows that the First Americans made and used bone weapons and likely other types of bone tools.” He said the only reason the Manis specimen was preserved is because the hunter missed, and the projectile got stuck in the mastodon’s rib. “We show that the bone used to make the point appears to have come from the leg bone of another mastodon and was intentionally shaped into a projectile point form,” Waters said. “The spear with the bone point was thrown at the mastodon. It penetrated the hide and tissue and eventually came into contact with the rib. The objective of the hunter was to get between the ribs and impair lung function, but the hunter missed and hit the rib.” Waters studied the rib bone previously, presenting findings in a 2011 paper published in Science, in which radiocarbon dating determined the bone’s age and a genetic study of the bone fragments determined that they were mastodon. “In our new study, we set out to isolate the bone fragments using CT images and 3D software,” he said. “We were able to create 3D images of each fragment and print them out at six times scale. Then we fit the pieces back together to show what the specimen looked like before it entered and splintered in the rib.” Not much is known about the people who used the Manis spear point other than they were some of the first Indigenous people to enter the Americas. Waters said the Manis site and others are giving archaeologists some insight. “It is looking like the first people that came to the Americas arrived by boat,” he said. “They took a coastal route along the North Pacific and moved south. They eventually got past the ice sheets that covered Canada and made landfall in the Pacific Northwest. “It is interesting to note that in Idaho there is the 16,000-years-old Coopers Ferry site, in Oregon is the 14,100-year-old site of Paisley Caves. And here we report on the 13,900-year-old Manis site. So there appears to be a cluster of early sites in the Northwestern part of the United States that date from 16,000 to 14,000 years ago that predate Clovis. These sites likely represent the first people and their descendants that entered the Americas at the end of the last Ice Age.” By Lesley Henton, Texas A&M University Division of Marketing & Communications ###