Nearly 13,000 years ago, long before the Pilgrims arrived, mammoth hunters in North America were crafting eyed bone needles from the skeletal remains of foxes, rabbits, and perhaps even an extinct predator. Archaeologists say the discovery is the first of its kind in identifying the species used for these tools, offering a deeper understanding of the life and culture of the region’s early inhabitants, about whom surprisingly little is known.
The newly discovered artifacts were unearthed at the LaPrele Mammoth site in Wyoming’s Converse County by archeologists from the University of Wyoming. Earlier this year the same team revealed the oldest known bead in the Americas, made of hare bone, at the same site. Now, “Our study is the first to identify the species and likely elements from which Paleoindians produced eyed bone needles,” the researchers write in their new paper.
The team collected 32 needle fragments and analyzed their composition of amino acids to see what animal bones they were carved from. This revealed various species, including red foxes, hares or rabbits, bobcats, mountain lions, lynx, and an extinct species of American cheetah (Miracinonyx trumani).
An eyed needle made from the bone of a red fox found at the LaPrele Mammoth archaeological site in Wyoming’s Converse County.
Image Credit: Todd Surovell
The presence of chipped stone artifacts and the bones of a Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) indicate the LaPrele site was likely a base used for mammoth hunting, making it one of the only mammoth butchery sites in North America. The mammoth was killed, or perhaps scavenged, for food – and what a meal the 10,000-kilogram (22,000-pound) beast must have been.
The researchers on the latest project speculate that the animals used to make bone needles were not primarily hunted for their meat, but for their fur and bones.
“Our results are a good reminder that foragers use animal products for a wide range of purposes other than subsistence, and that the mere presence of animal bones in an archaeological site need not be indicative of diet,” the researchers write in their paper.
The bone needles provide some hints of how prehistoric Americans fashioned clothes. Since textiles break down quickly and are rarely preserved in the archaeological record, we know very little about the clothing of prehistoric peoples. The researchers say the bone relics are evidence of “pelts sewn into complex garments”.
The LaPrele site was used by humans during the Younger Dryas, a period around 12,900 to 11,700 years ago that was marked by a sudden cooling in the Northern Hemisphere. Clearly, chunky fur coats were a must-have to endure the harsh drop in temperatures.
“Such garments might have looked comparable to those of the Inuit, who sewed furbearer pelts into the fringes of parkas whose base material was typically comprised of ungulate hide and used them for hats and mittens. The cold conditions of the North American Younger Dryas in northerly latitudes likely inspired a greater reliance on such garments, and the sparse Early Paleoindian archaeological record suggests a relative abundance of bone needles and furbearers in Younger Dryas-aged sites relative to periods before and after,” the study authors added.
The new study was published in the journal PLOS ONE.
Strong winds will hit part of the Cheyenne, Wyoming, forecast region Friday night and potentially impact traffic with tropical storm-force gusts.
The National Weather Service (NWS) office in Cheyenne issued a high wind watch on Thursday afternoon for the north Snowy Range foothills, including the cities of Arlington and Elk Mountain, and the central Laramie Range, southwest Platte County, and south Laramie Range, including the cities of Bordeaux, Vedauwoo, Pumpkin Vine and Buford.
Interstate 25 between Chugwater and Wheatland and Interstate 80 between Cheyenne and Laramie could be affected.
Impacts from the wind will be “mainly to transportation,” the alert said.
“Strong cross winds will be hazardous to light weight or high profile vehicles, including campers and tractor trailers,” the alert said.
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West winds between 25 and 35 mph are expected, with gusts up to 60 mph, equivalent to a tropical storm.
Tropical storm winds occur between 39 mph and 73 mph. Winds stronger than that are classified as a hurricane using the Saffir-Simpson wind scale. Although the winds in Wyoming are not related to a tropical storm in any manner, their speed could resemble a tropical storm.
It’s uncertain if the watch will be upgraded to a warning, as it’s still possible the wind gusts won’t reach the 60 mph threshold for the upgrade. NWS meteorologist Michael Charnick told Newsweek that the incoming winds are weaker than Wyoming can sometimes see, when winds as strong as 90 mph hit the I-80 corridor.
“You definitely can see trucks get blown over, or lightweight trailers,” NWS meteorologist Rob Cox previously told Newsweek. “They completely blow over.”
On Thursday morning, the NWS office in Cheyenne said the winds would prevail through Saturday.
“Breezy to windy conditions will prevail, especially for the wind prone locations, through Saturday,” the office posted. “Expect a slow warming trend through Monday. Skies will be sunny today, Sunday and Monday, and partly cloudy for the Friday and Saturday. It will remain dry.”
Wind-prone areas in Wyoming can see strong gusts of wind up to 90 days out of the year.
“It is pretty common here in Wyoming, we probably see wind across these areas three to four months out of the year,” Cox said. “It’ll happen on a consistent basis from October to March.”
The best chance for strong winds will occur on Saturday morning, Charnick said. Some snow is present in the impacted areas, and winds could cause blowing snow.
Charnick suggested motorists should be aware of road closures, as sometimes I-80 and I-25 are closed due to high winds.
As of Thursday night, according to animated weather footage from windy.com, the strongest gusts in Wyoming were near Wheatland at around 35 mph.
CASPER, Wyo. — Happy Thanksgiving! This Thanksgiving (and every Thanksgiving), we’re thankful for Wyoming morning skies, like this one, captured by photographer Lisa Tescher.
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Wyoming archaeologists found 13,000-year-old eyed needles used to make garments at a prehistoric site, in a significant (and sophisticated) first.
At LaPrele near Douglas, Wyoming, Spencer Pelton and a team of archaeologists had already explored an area where a Columbian mammoth had been killed or scavenged.
However, an unlikely suite in the excavations, sharp needles complete with thread holes revealed that the early Americans used the game for much more than food.
It doesn’t come as any surprise that Paleolithic humans consumed the whole animal for far more than sustenance, as harsh conditions would necessitate warm clothing, but the 32 needles made of bone recently discovered reveal an intricacy of craftsmanship and detail into the lives of our human ancestors.
Moreover, they pinpoint a fascinating intersection between clothing and innovation that equipped early humans with the means to move to colder climates and even survive them. However, analysis had never been performed on these types of tools before.
In a new study, Wyoming State researchers reported “the first identifications of species and element used to produce Paleolithic bone needles,” and also the “oldest known bead” ever to be found in the Americas.
Between 2015 and 2022, Wyoming State researchers recovered 32 bone needles and one sole bead from the LaPrele Mammouth site to examine further. After all, it’s easier to manufacture clothes where the animal is rather than dragging the body back.
Using zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry (ZooMS) and Micro-CT scanning, they analyzed the chemical composition of the bone, according to a recent press release.
Comparing the peptides, they established an impressive range of animals that provided the bones to make the needles: red foxes, bobcats, mountain lions, lynx, the American cheetah, and hares or rabbits.
In presenting evidence for tailored garment production, researchers are highlighting an crucial innovation, as clothing that binds closely to the skin traps heat more effectively than draped clothing, along with stitched seams.
Though the physical remains of Paleolithic clothing are sparse, “bone needles are a well-established archeological phenomenon evidence” in North American research, study authors explained.
More strikingly, this evolutionary step in dress “partially enabled modern human dispersal to northern latitudes and eventually enabled colonization of the Americas.”
However, “despite the importance of bone needles to explaining global modern human dispersal,” they continue in a press release, “archaeologists have never identified the materials used to produce them, thus limiting understanding of this important cultural innovation.”
“Our results are strong evidence for tailored garment production using bone needles and fur-bearing animal pelts.”
Bone needles emerged in Eurasia beginning circa 40,000 BP and in North American Paleoindian sites between 12,000 and 13,000 BP.
“The bones of fur bearers have received less attention as an indirect proxy for tailored garment production.”
Some animals possess pelts with tightly spaced hairs that trap a layer of stationary air near the skin’s surface. They are classically difficult to hunt, so their appearance in “archaeological assemblages” has been “hard to explain.”
The bone needles provide “compelling evidence that the earliest North Americans routinely trapped game.” They went out of their way to catch these trickier animals because of their skin.
“Our results are a good reminder that foragers use animal products for a wide range of purposes other than subsistence and that the mere presence of animal bones in an archaeological site need not be indicative of diet,” study authors conclude.
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