The first humans in the Americas lived with “giants”

A study carried out in Brazil suggests that the first humans in the Americas coexisted with huge species of megafauna for thousands of years.

This discovery challenges the theory of Pleistocene overkillwho argued that early human settlers caused the extinction of these large animals through overhunting.

The discovery was made at the archaeological site of Santa Elenain Mato Grosso, where researchers found bones of giant sloths with clear signs of human manipulation.

In an interview with , researcher Mírian Pacheco says that some of these bones had perforations and polished surfaces, which indicates that they were probably used as ornaments by our ancestors.

Dating back approximately 27,000 years, the evidence suggests that humans worked on the bones shortly after the animals died, ruling out the possibility that they were just reused fossils. Similar evidence was also found for mastodons e toxodonts – two other species of megafauna.

For decades, the dominant theory proposed that humans arrived in the Americas about 15,000 years ago, crossing a land bridge from Asia across the Bering Strait. These groups were thought to have hunted megafauna to extinction as they expanded across the continent. However, discoveries at Santa Elina and elsewhere are beginning to upend that narrative.

In addition to fossilized bones, writes , Santa Elina showed other signs of prolonged human activity, including rock art and stone tools. This evidence points to a harmonious relationship between early humans and megafauna.

These findings also suggest that humans may have arrived in the Americas much earlier than previously believed – possibly more than 10,000 years earlier.