Early human settlements in the Arctic

The carcass of a frozen mammoth with signs of weapon-inflicted injuries suggests humans were present in the Eurasian Arctic 45,000 years ago – ten millennia earlier than previously thought

HUMAN SETTLEMENT

Known northernmost Eurasian Paleolithic sites aged over 40,000 BP*

Early modern human fossil dated to 45,000 BP

ICE SHEET EXTENT

Maximum extent at around 60,000 years ago

Last Glacial Maximum† (20,000 years ago)

ARCTIC OCEAN

Sopochnaya Karga (SK) mammoth kill site in central Siberian Arctic, expands human populated area before 40,000 years ago, from
57°N to almost 72°N

Ural Mountains

SIBERIA

Laptev Sea

Lake Baikal

Chukchi Sea

70°N

Bering Sea

Advancements in mammoth hunting likely facilitated arrival of humans to New World before Last Glacial Maximum

Sea of Okhotsk

50°N

1,000km 620 miles

SK Mammoth: Injuries on tusk (1), jugal bone (2), mandible (3), scapula (4), and ribs (5), include dents likely from sharp weapon tips such as thrusting spears

Fifth left rib: Injury caused by slicing blow

10cm

Right tusk: Tip of tusk shows evidence that thin subparallel spalls were removed, presumably to produce long thin slivers of ivory with sharp edges to use as butchering tools

Tusk 20cm

Tusk tip viewed from different sides

*Before Present†Earth’s last glacial period when ice sheets were at greatest extension

Source: Science Magazine

Pictures: Pitulkov et al., Science (2016)