BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA—The possible butchered bones of a glyptodont radiocarbon dated to some 20,000 years ago have been unearthed in Argentina, according to a Live Science report. The incomplete skeleton of the giant, extinct relative of the armadillo was found on the banks of the Reconquista River in Argentina’s Pampean region, near Buenos Aires. Paleoanthropologist Miguel Delgado of the National University of La Plata and his colleagues photographed and created 3-D scans of the bones in order to examine the 32 marks, some of which had a V-shaped cross section sometimes associated with tool use. Statistical analysis suggests that they could not be random, Delgado said. The study also ruled out carnivores as the creators of the marks, and natural weathering of bone exposed to the elements, he added. The researchers concluded that humans butchered the 600-pound animal and likely ate a large amount of meat from its pelvis and tail. “While we haven’t found any tools yet, it’s worth noting that we’ve only excavated a small portion of the site, and there may be more evidence, such as lithic tools,” Delgado said. The discovery could also push back interactions between humans and megafauna in the region by about 6,000 years. Read the original scholarly article about this research in PLOS ONE. To read about other butchered glyptodont remains uncovered in Argentina, go to "Around the World: Argentina."
