Pedra Furada, Brazil, is a stratified rockshelter located in the Serra de Capivara Park. It has a Paleoindian occupation about 11,000 years old, and some ancient cave art dated at least 5,000 years old.
But Pedra Furada is best known for the tremendously old string of dates within its lower stratigraphic levels: the oldest at least 56,000 years ago. Sites in the Americas that are older than, say, 12,500 years ago or so, are generally called "Pre-Clovis", that is, they are older than the oldest universally-accepted sites in the Americas called "Clovis". The dates at Pedra Furada are not really much in debate: but the attribution of the really ancient bits to human activity is seriously in doubt. Click on a link below to find out why...
But Pedra Furada is best known for the tremendously old string of dates within its lower stratigraphic levels: the oldest at least 56,000 years ago. Sites in the Americas that are older than, say, 12,500 years ago or so, are generally called "Pre-Clovis", that is, they are older than the oldest universally-accepted sites in the Americas called "Clovis". The dates at Pedra Furada are not really much in debate: but the attribution of the really ancient bits to human activity is seriously in doubt. Click on a link below to find out why...
- Pedra Furada (Brazil), read more about the site
- PreClovis, a definition of the problem
- More PreClovis Sites
- Rock Art at Pedra Furada, Reinaldo Morales Jr.
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