The Americas were originally populated 15,000 years ago by at least two distinct cultures. How do we know this? Three words: Really old poop.
Researchers have discovered that two distinct ancient American civilizations may have co-existed by extracting DNA from coprolites—fossilized human feces—found in Oregon's Paisley Caves. Scientists have long believed that the so-called Clovis people were the Americas' original visitors. But digging down deep enough to rule out contamination from newer human feces and rat urine—boy, this story just keeps getting better and better—the study's team found coprolites alongside arrowheads of the Western Stemmed Tradition, one thought to be of a younger civilization than the Clovis.
Carbon-dating showed this prehistoric poo to be at least as old as Clovis coprolites and DNA tests yielded a genetic path back to Siberia. Clovis specialist Michael R. Waters said of these new findings that they, "really provide solid evidence." So, saying this study was "full of crap," is sort of true and false at the same time.
