Prehistoric discovery in Oregon cave older than Egypt’s Great Pyramid rewrites human history

The oldest known pieces of sewn clothing have been discovered in a cave in Oregon, potentially rewriting the entirety of human history.

US researchers have unearthed pieces of animal skin stitched together from the end of the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago.

This means that people in North America had advanced skills, especially in working with plants, animals, and wood, thousands of years before the construction of the Great Pyramid in Egypt.

The discoveries include a collection of ancient items made from materials that often decay over time, such as animal skins.

But they hid in several dry caves in the Great Basin region of northern Oregon, which helped preserve them.

Until now, researchers believed that the first humans in the modern-day United States were simple hunter-gatherers; The new artifacts were the best-preserved evidence of advanced technology, including sewn clothing, bent baskets, and wooden hunting traps.

Overall, University of Nevada archaeologist Richard Rosencrance and his team unearthed 55 artefacts from 15 different plant and animal species; These include some remnants that the study’s lead author believes to be clothing or shoes.

Rosencrance added that in a period before the Holocene Epoch, when early civilizations arose, Ice Age people in North America were innovative and adaptable, filling gaps in history by using everyday materials in clever ways.

The researchers determined that the well-preserved fibers date back to the last Ice Age, about 12,000 years ago.

The main discoveries came from Cougar Mountain Cave in Southern Oregon, where the oldest sewn animal skins and numerous braided ropes, knots, wooden trap parts and baskets were found.

Additional ancient fibers, including twisted plant cords, possible twisted structures, and some of the earliest bone needles used for sewing, have been unearthed at Paisley Caverns in central Oregon.

Other nearby sites, such as Connley Caverns and Tule Lake Rockshelter, also contained fine-eyed bone needles from the same period of the Ice Age, showing skillful sewing work.

These caves were used as primary shelter by early hunter-gatherer groups 12,000 years ago as they searched for food sources.

The artifacts in Cougar Mountain Cave were first excavated in 1958 by an amateur archaeologist named John Cowles, who excavated the site himself.

After Cowles passed away in the 1980s, his collection from Cougar Mountain Cave was given to the Favell Museum in Klamath Falls, Oregon, where the items have been stored ever since.

Artifacts from Paisley Caverns, Connley Caverns, and other sites have been professionally excavated by archaeologists over the years and preserved in university museums or research collections in Oregon.

Rosencrance’s work Published in Science Advancesre-examined these ancient collections using modern laboratory tests such as radiocarbon dating to prove how old and complex the finds really were.

Other artifacts found in the caves included tools carved from wood and bone, and hunting traps.

Local plants were used as laces and ties to sew clothing, including coats and shoes, demonstrating advanced craftsmanship skills during the Ice Age

Recent items included a piece of deerskin that had been cleaned, de-haired, and sewn together with cord made from plant fibers and animal hair.

The researchers said it was likely part of a tight-fitting jacket, shoe or bag, making it the oldest sample of sewn leather ever found. There are also strips of bison skin that were probably used as ropes or ties.

Dozens of braided or twisted ropes made from plants such as sage bark, dogbane and reeds were also examined. They are believed to be used for everything from sewing to binding things together.

Some were knotted or woven into simple baskets or mats; making them the oldest known examples of ancient American craftsmanship unearthed.

New findings from Oregon point to another example of advanced human societies living in the modern-day United States long before the rise of the ancient Egyptians.

In January, another research team found previously undiscovered wooden canoes at the bottom of a Wisconsin lake that predate the pyramids by hundreds of years.