Bluefish Caves facts for kids
 Location in Canada
|
|
| Location | near the Vuntut Gwichin community, Old Crow |
|---|---|
| Region | Yukon, Canada |
| Coordinates | 67°09′N 140°35′W / 67.150°N 140.583°W |
| History | |
| Founded | 24,000 BP |
The Bluefish Caves are an important archaeological site in Yukon, Canada. They are located about 54 kilometers (34 miles) southwest of a community called Old Crow. This area is home to the Vuntut Gwichin people.
What makes Bluefish Caves so special? Scientists found a horse jaw bone there. This bone was worked by humans and is about 24,000 years old! This discovery is very exciting. It suggests that people might have lived in North America much earlier than many scientists first thought. There are three small caves at this site.
Discovering the Bluefish Caves
Local First Nations people knew about the Bluefish Caves for a long time. They were first brought to wider attention in 1976 during a fishing trip. Later, researchers began to study the site more closely.
The site has three small caves. Each cave is between 10 and 30 cubic meters in size. In the first cave, scientists found many animal bones. It seems that predators, like wolves, dragged these bones into the cave. However, researchers also found marks on some bones that were made by tools. They even found some tools themselves. These findings suggest that humans were also present in the caves.
Close to the Bluefish Caves, about 75 kilometers (47 miles) northeast, is another important area. It's called the Old Crow Flats. This area also shows signs of early human presence.
How Old Are the Bluefish Caves?
An archaeologist named Jacques Cinq-Mars led excavations at the site. He worked there between 1977 and 1987. Initial tests on the findings suggested the site was about 24,000 years old.
This idea was quite controversial at the time. Many scientists believed in the "Clovis-First theory." This theory suggested that the first people arrived in North America around 13,000 years ago. The findings from Bluefish Caves challenged this widely accepted idea.
In 2017, scientists reviewed the site's age again. They confirmed that the findings were indeed 24,000 years old. This new evidence supports a different idea. It's called the "Beringian standstill" hypothesis. This idea suggests that the ancestors of Native Americans lived in a place called Beringia for a long time. Beringia was a land bridge that connected Asia and North America. They stayed there during the Last Glacial Maximum, a very cold period. After this time, they then spread across the Americas.
See also
In Spanish: Cuevas de Bluefish para niños
