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

ICE SHEET EXTENT

Known northernmost Eurasian

Maximum extent at around

60,000 years ago

Paleolithic sites aged over 40,000 BP*

Last Glacial Maximum†

(20,000 years ago)

Early modern human

fossil dated to 45,000 BP

ARCTIC

OCEAN

Chukchi

Sea

Bering

Sea

70°N

Laptev

Sea

Sea of

Okhotsk

50°N

Lake

Baikal

1,000km

620 miles

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

Advancements in mammoth

hunting likely facilitated arrival

of humans to New World

before Last Glacial Maximum

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

4

2

5

3

1

5

Fifth

Tusk tip viewed from

different sides

left rib:

Injury

caused

by

slicing

blow

10cm

1cm

1

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

*Before

Present

Tusk

20cm

†Earth’s last

glacial period

when ice sheets

were at greatest extension