Researchers claim that the 50,000-year-old artifacts discovered in the "Pedra Furada" cave in northern Brazil were produced by capuchin monkeys and not by humans, as per a press release.
The study was led by archaeologist Agustín Agnolín and paleontologist Federico Agnolín from CONICET, Argentina's National Scientific and Technical Research Council.
'Brown Capuchin Monkeys' (Sapajus libidinosus) are seen on a tree on the banks of the Paraguay river, in Caceres, Brazil, the gateway to the Pantanal, on August 28, 2014. Often referred to as the worlds largest freshwater wetland system, the Pantanal, is a stunning biodiversity sanctuary which extends through millions of hectares in central-western Brazil, eastern Bolivia and eastern Paraguay.
Pedra Furada Tools
The question of when the first humans arrived on the American continent is one of the most contentious topics in archeology. According to the majority of scholars, the first Americans crossed the Bering Strait to connect Asia with North America around 13,000 or 14,000 years ago.
They argue that the tools discovered in the Pedra Furada cave and other locations in Brazil are of human origin to support the claim that the American population has been much older, potentially between 20,000 and 50,000 years ago.
However, the new study says otherwise.
"Our study shows that the tools from Pedra Furada and other nearby sites in Brazil were nothing more than the product of capuchin monkeys breaking nuts and rocks some 50,000 years before the present," F. Agnolín said in a press release statement.
Monkey-Made Stone Tools
The researchers compared the stone tools made by capuchin monkeys today with those that were discovered in Pedra Furada.
They were surprised to learn that there was no distinction between the modern monkey tools and the alleged human tools from 50,000 years ago.
The study conducted by the researchers is consistent with previous recent studies from Brazil that demonstrate the usage of rock tools by capuchin monkeys, according to CONICET.
These studies claim that the monkeys went to rounded rock quarries and chose any rock as a hammer to crack nuts. A bigger, flattened rock would also accompany this to serve as an anvil.
F. Agnolin said that their analysis of the evidence shows that monkeys, rather than indigenous Americans built prehistoric sites in Brazil. This calls into question the theories that suggested an old settlement of South America.
He also claimed that capuchin monkeys and their predecessors engaged in highly prehistoric rock tool-making activities.
"Our work reinforces the idea that the human settlement of this part of the American continent is more recent and is in line with the studies that determine its arrival some 13,000 or 14,000 years before the present," A. Agnolín said in a statement.
The findings of the study are published in The Holocene.
Related Article: Archaeologists Find an Extremely Rare 1,300-year-old Gold and Gemstone Necklace From a Medieval Woman in England
