The Arlington Springs man is a set of
Late Pleistocene human remains discovered in 1959 on
Santa Rosa Island, one of the
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey ...
located off the coast of
Southern California. The Arlington Springs
archeological site
An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology and ...
is protected within northern
Channel Islands National Park
Channel Islands National Park consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populated state, they have been relatively undevelope ...
, and in
Santa Barbara County.
History
Archaeology
In 1959–1960, two
femora
The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...
were excavated by Phil C. Orr, curator of
anthropology
Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
and
paleontology at the
Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History
The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Santa Barbara, California.
It reconnects more than 150,000 people each year (including their 5,700 members) to nature indoors and outdoors. Nestled in nature, the museum ...
, at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island. Orr believed the remains were those of a 10,000-year-old man and dubbed them the "Arlington Springs Man".
The Arlington Springs Man was later re-examined in 1989 by Orr's successors at the museum, Dr. John R. Johnson and Don Morris. The two came to the initial assessment that the Arlington Springs Man was actually the "Arlington Springs Woman".
Radiocarbon dating determined that the remains dated to 13,000 years
BP, making the remains potentially the oldest-known human skeleton in
North America. The term "Arlington Springs Woman" was used at that time to refer to these remains.
After further study, Johnson reversed his sex assessment in 2006, concluding that the remains were more likely those of a man, and the name "Arlington Springs Man" was again the more appropriate name.
Geology
The
Paleoindian Arlington Springs Man lived on the former
Pleistocene epoch Santa Rosae island. During the
last ice age, the four northern Channel Islands were held together as the one mega-island of Santa Rosae.
The weather was much cooler and the sea level was lower than today. His presence on an island at such an early date demonstrates that the earliest
Paleoindians had watercraft capable of crossing the
Santa Barbara Channel, and lends credence as well to a "
coastal migration
In the context of the recent African origin of modern humans, the Southern Dispersal scenario (also the coastal migration or great coastal migration hypothesis) refers to the early migration along the southern coast of Asia, from the Arabian Pe ...
" theory for the peopling of the Americas, using boats to travel south from Siberia and Alaska.
See also
*
Archaeology of the Americas
The archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of the Western Hemisphere, including North America (Mesoamerica), Central America, South America and the Caribbean. This includes the study of pre-historic/Pre-Columbian and histori ...
*
*
Buhl Woman
Buhla is the name for a skeleton of a prehistoric ( Paleo-Indian) woman found in a quarry near Buhl, Idaho, United States, in January 1989. The skeleton's age has been estimated by radiocarbon dating at 10,675 ± 95 BP, which confirms this as one o ...
–
*
Calico Early Man Site
The Calico Early Man Site is an archaeological site in an ancient Pleistocene lake located near Barstow in San Bernardino County in the central Mojave Desert of Southern California. This site is on and in late middle-Pleistocene fanglomerates ...
–
*
Cueva de las Manos
Cueva de las Manos ( Spanish for Cave of the Hands or Cave of Hands) is a cave and complex of rock art sites in the province of Santa Cruz, Argentina, south of the town of Perito Moreno. It is named for the hundreds of paintings of hands ste ...
–
*
Fort Rock Cave
Fort Rock Cave was the site of the earliest evidence of human habitation in the US state of Oregon before the excavation of Paisley Caves. Fort Rock Cave featured numerous well-preserved sagebrush sandals, ranging from 9,000 to 13,000 years old. ...
–
*
Kennewick Man
Kennewick Man and Ancient One are the names generally given to the skeletal remains of a prehistoric Paleoamerican man found on a bank of the Columbia River in Kennewick, Washington, on July 28, 1996. It is one of the most complete ancient ske ...
–
*
Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi
Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi (), or Canadian Ice Man, is a naturally mummified body found in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park in British Columbia, Canada, by a group of hunters in 1999. Kwäday Dän Tsʼìnchi means "Long Ago Person Found" in Souther ...
–
*
List of unsolved deaths
This list of unsolved deaths includes well-known cases where:
* The cause of death could not be officially determined.
* The person's identity could not be established after they were found dead.
* The cause is known, but the manner of death (homi ...
*
Marmes Rockshelter
The Marmes Rockshelter (also known as (45-FR-50)) is an archaeological site first excavated in 1962, near Lyons Ferry Park and the confluence of the Snake and Palouse Rivers, in Franklin County, southeastern Washington. This rockshelter is rema ...
–
*
Naia (skeleton)
Naia (designated as HN5/48) is the nameHer name is derived from a type of water nymph in Greek mythology—the Naiads. given to a 12,000 – to 13,000-year-old human skeleton of a teenage female who was found in the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico. Her ...
–
*
Paisley Caves –
*
Peñon woman
Peñon woman or Peñon Woman III is the name for the human remains, specifically a skull, of a Paleo-Indian woman found by an ancient lake bed in Pueblo Peñón de los Baños in Mexico City in 1959.
Discovery
Peñon Woman III was found on an isla ...
–
References
External links
NPS.gov: Channel Islands National Park — Arlington ManJournal from The Center for the Study of the First Americans: "The Mammoth Trumpet"— ''Volume 21, Number 4 September 2006''.
{{coord missing, Santa Barbara County, California
1959 archaeological discoveries
1959 in California
Archaeological sites in California
Channel Islands National Park
History of Santa Barbara County, California
Indigenous peoples of California
Late Pleistocene
Native American history of California
Natural history of the Channel Islands of California
Oldest human remains in the Americas
Paleo-Indian period
Pleistocene California
Pre-statehood history of California
Unsolved deaths