Bluefish Caves

Bluefish Caves is an archaeological site in the Yukon Territory of Canada from which a specimen of allegedly human-worked mammoth bone has been radiocarbon dated to 28,000 years before present (y.b.p.).

The initial find of a mammoth bone spear point was made by archaeologist Jacques Cinq-Mars in 1978-79 [http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/northamerica/bluefishcaves.html] , but not radiocarbon dated and published until the early 1990s due to lack of funding. As the date of 28,000 y.b.p. obtained directly contradicts the Clovis-First theory which dominated New World archaeology until recent years, the research of Cinq-Mars was largely ignored by the archeological establishment, and he was unable to obtain funding for follow-up research until 2008 [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=2a31375e-e834-407d-b8db-2a0010ad4acf&p=2] .

Recently another team has discovered allegedly human-worked mammoth bone flakes in the Bluefish Caves area, radiocarbon dated to an even earlier period of 40,000 y.b.p. [http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/saturdayextra/story.html?id=2a31375e-e834-407d-b8db-2a0010ad4acf&p=2]

Despite a growing acceptance in the scientific community of sites dated somewhat earlier than Clovis, such as Monte Verde in Chile at 14,500 y.b.p, evidence such as that from the Bluefish Caves area or the Topper site in South Carolina indicating much more ancient dates remains radically controversial and unaccepted by mainstream archaeology.

Further reading

"The Significance of the Bluefish Caves in Beringian Prehistory" by Jacques Cinq-Mars, Archaeological Survey of Canadahttp://www.civilization.ca/academ/articles/cinq1_1e.html