Observations Regarding the Cerutti Mastodon*

@article{Sutton2019ObservationsRT,
  title={Observations Regarding the Cerutti Mastodon*},
  author={Mark Q. Sutton and Jennifer A. Parkinson and Martin D. Rosen},
  journal={PaleoAmerica},
  year={2019},
  volume={5},
  pages={15 - 8}
}
ABSTRACT It has been argued that the Cerutti Mastodon site in southern California contains evidence of human activity 130,000 years ago. A brief examination of the materials did not support the claim of cultural artifacts or of bone processed by hominins. The assemblage from the site can be much better explained as a natural deposit, likely disturbed by other mastodons soon after the death of their comrade. Given the brevity of our study, it is important that future studies examine the data… 
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ABSTRACT A claim that an assemblage of broken mastodon bones and associated cobbles provides evidence of human behavior in North America dated 130 ka is not adequately supported. The article appeared…
Observations Concerning the Cerutti Mastodon Site
ABSTRACT My examination of the broken bone fragments in the Cerutti Mastodon Site collection indicates that the hypothesis of breakage by modern heavy machinery is invalid, as a thick precipitate of…
Reply to Holen et al. Regarding the Cerutti Mastodon
ABSTRACT This reply continues the contretemps between S. Holen et al. and myself regarding the newly reported Cerutti Mastodon. The Cerutti Mastodon materials may have been modified by hominins…
The Cerutti Mastodon Site: Archaeological or Paleontological?
ABSTRACT The newly reported California discovery of mastodon remains possibly altered by humans more than 130 ka is unprecedented and potentially transformational. It calls for a concerted effort in…
Broken Bones and Hammerstones at the Cerutti Mastodon Site: A Reply to Haynes
ABSTRACT Haynes [2017 “The Cerutti Mastodon.” PaleoAmerica 3 (3): 196–199] criticizes numerous aspects of our analysis of the Cerutti Mastodon (CM) site, but central among his points is the claim…
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TLDR
It is argued that the CM record is more parsimoniously explained as the result of common geological and taphonomic processes, and does not indicate prehistoric hominin involvement, and further investigations may yet identify unambiguous evidence of hominins in California around 130,000 years ago.
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Spiral ("green bone") breakage has been suggested as an indicator of human activity by some workers. Our examination of broken ungulate long bones from six paleontological localities in western…
Were Hominins in California ∼130,000 Years Ago?
ABSTRACT In a controversial study published in Nature, Holen et al. (2017) claim that hominins fractured mastodon bones and teeth with stone cobbles in California ∼130,000 years ago. Their claim…
Taphonomy of the Inglewood mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) (Maryland, USA): Green-bone fracturing of fossil bones
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TLDR
Three archaeological sites at Katanda on the Upper Semliki River in the Western Rift Valley of Zaire have provided evidence for a well-developed bone industry in a Middle Stone Age context, indicating that a complex subsistence specialization had developed in Africa by this time.
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