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 that heavy equipment broke the bones and stones that we interpret as evidence of ancient human activity. This notion can be discounted primarily because most of the relevant CM fragments were found coated in thick crusts of pedogenic carbonate clearly showing that breakage occurred thousands of years ago. Haynes also raises questions about site stratigraphy, radiometric dating, and absence of other artifactual evidence. The stratigraphic context of CM bones and rocks is well-defined, and the Pleistocene site stratigraphy remained intact before excavation. Knapped stone tools are not a requirement in bone processing archaeological sites. In the absence of other plausible explanations for the multiple lines of evidence, we maintain that hominins broke the CM bones using stone hammers and anvils.