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.
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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.
Paleolithic tailored clothing production helped early humans to migrate
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.
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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.”
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Animal bones at prehistoric sites hold new meaning
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.
Activists in Utah and Wyoming held rallies this week urging state regulators to scrutinize a document they believe will raise energy bills for hundreds of thousands of Westerners, and worsen air pollution across the northern Rockies.
The subject of the gatherings was Rocky Mountain Power’s 2025 integrated resource plan, a roadmap for electricity generation and transmission from the largest utility in both states, and a subsidiary of PacifiCorp, which is owned by billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. This year’s integrated resource plan, which is updated every two years, forecasted slowing investments in wind and solar power and battery storage—increasingly inexpensive ways of delivering electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions.
Residents and environmentalists in both states, where fossil fuel production helps keep residential tax burdens low, have objected to these plans, arguing that failing to invest in renewables—especially before Republican cuts to clean energy tax credits kick in next year—will make energy bills unnecessarily expensive.
“We are being sold a monster,” said Luis Miranda, a senior campaign organizer with the Sierra Club, ahead of a rally in Salt Lake City. “We hope this kind of pressure brings a bit of accountability or sense of responsibility from PacifiCorp.”
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David Eskelsen, a spokesperson for PacifiCorp, said the company “does not usually comment on the content of statements made in public witness hearings.” In testimony filed with its regulator in Utah, the Public Service Commission, PacifiCorp disputed the need to build tax-advantaged renewable energy as it had already planned for fossil fuel resources to stay online in Utah.
At a hearing in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, Utah public service commissioners responsible for deciding whether to accept the document heard comments from 15 members of the public, none of whom supported PacifiCorp’s plan. Some testified in the spirit of Halloween.
“My name is Dr. Frankenstein,” one costumed commenter said, reimagining the character as a “Pacifi-Corpse” executive. “My 2025 IRP creation is a monster. … You do have the power to stop this IRP before it grows stronger. You could tell Pacifi-Corpse to go back to the lab and to build something clean and affordable.”
“I can’t resist the temptation to wish you a happy Halloween,” David Clark, a commissioner, responded.
Other critiques were less abstract. Tilden Warner, a college student who attended the meeting on crutches and in a walking boot for a broken leg, testified that he is worried PacifiCorp’s plan, with its continued reliance on coal and other fossil fuels, will contribute to increased environmental degradation in Utah. He lamented the ongoing loss of islands in the Great Salt Lake, which are becoming connected to the lakeshore as water evaporates.
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“By the time I have kids and they are born here and they grow up, there may be no lake at all,” he said.
Emma Verhamme, a pregnant woman living in Salt Lake, spoke about how she mourns the world her daughter will be born into. Air pollution, climate volatility and higher energy costs all weighed on her.
“I know that I’m not giving her the same world that I was born into,” she said of her daughter’s future. “I can’t put clean air and reliable and affordable energy on my baby shower registry. That’s why I’m here asking you, Public Service Commission, to represent the needs and wants of the people and reject Rocky Mountain Power’s disappointing and seemingly self-serving integrated resource plan.”
If the Utah Public Service Commission accepts the plan instead, the utility could use it as evidence that the commission supported the proposal when applying for rate adjustments associated with it in the future. While PacifiCorp can still pursue the plan if it is not acknowledged, it would be more difficult to claim any costs associated with the plan are prudent, the Sierra Club’s Miranda said.
“I think the community is hopeful because of how the Public Service Commission has reacted over the past year and a half,” Miranda said. “They have been very reasonable and fair, and frankly outstanding.”
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A Sierra Club gathering in Laramie, Wyoming, kicked off just a few minutes after the hearing in Salt Lake City ended. Recent Rocky Mountain Power rate hikes in the Cowboy State have been the subject of intense political scrutiny ever since 2023, when the utility applied for a near-30 percent increase. Residents expressed hope Wednesday that their Public Service Commission would soon hold a hearing on Rocky Mountain Power’s integrated resource plan, and how it might affect what they pay for electricity.
John Burbridge, secretary and chief counsel for the Wyoming Public Service Commission, told Inside Climate News there would be a hearing, but it had not yet been scheduled. Burbridge did not comment on the rally in Laramie.
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“What Rocky Mountain Power invests in in this [plan] is ultimately going to affect your rates,” said Emma Jones, a community organizer with the Sierra Club in Wyoming, during that event. “The Public Service Commission needs to hear more from people like you.”
Wyomingites gathered in Laramie as they ask the Public Service Commission to hold a hearing on PacifiCorp’s 2025 integrated resource plan. Credit: Kai Haukaas/Sierra Club
Affordability was at the center of the rally’s proceedings. “I’m concerned about the future,” said Madeline Dalrymple, a Laramie resident. The current plan “will increase our cost of living and make Wyoming more expensive.”
Both federal and private-sector estimates have shown wind and solar energy projects, and battery systems to store their electricity, are cheaper to build than natural gas and coal power plants.
“We see a plan that is trying to hold on to a world that just doesn’t exist anymore,” said Tanner Ewalt, another Laramie resident. “The market itself is determining that coal and oil aren’t the future.”
Elsewhere in the West, other groups are concerned by what they describe as a regional fracturing of PacifiCorp’s system, which stretches across six Western states. Fred Heutte, a senior policy associate with NW Energy Coalition, said he was surprised to see the company propose confining some of the costs on its system to specific regions.
He and Miranda are concerned that a more localized grid will lead to higher costs for consumers. If PacifiCorp built renewables in Oregon and Washington, Utahns and Wyomingites would miss out on that more affordable energy without a suitable transmission connection to bring that energy from west to east—which Heutte said PacifiCorp claims is the case. And Oregonians and Washingtonians, whose states have clean energy mandates, may disproportionately shoulder the capital costs of building new renewable energy operations that should benefit the whole system.
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“The reality is, it is a single system, and the new resources that provide the most customer value, wherever they are, are the ones that should be developed,” Heutte said.
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Jake Bolster
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Jake Bolster reports on Wyoming and the West for Inside Climate News. Previously, he worked as a freelancer, covering climate change, energy, and the environment across the United States. He holds a Masters in Journalism from Columbia University.
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — Visit Cheyenne CEO Domenic Bravo is stepping down to become the new executive director of the Wyoming Office of Tourism, prompting a leadership change at the Laramie County destination management organization. To ensure continuity, the Laramie County Tourism Joint Powers Board has appointed current Vice President Jim Walter as interim president and CEO, effective Nov. 1.
Board Chair Anthony Ortiz commended Bravo’s impact on local tourism.
“Domenic’s leadership has elevated Visit Cheyenne’s profile, strengthened partnerships across the region, and positioned Laramie County as a premier destination for travelers,” Ortiz said. “We are incredibly proud of his appointment to lead the Wyoming Office of Tourism and know he will continue to advance our state’s tourism industry.”
Walter assumes day-to-day leadership with over 22 years of experience in destination management and tourism marketing. Walter joined Visit Cheyenne in 2013 and has served in several roles, including director of convention sales and vice president for the past five years.
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Walter has been instrumental in shaping many of the organization’s most successful initiatives and events, including the Hell on Wheels Rodeo and Chuck Wagon Dinner Series, while leading the marketing and sales efforts to bring more visitors to Laramie County.
“I’m honored to continue the important work of Visit Cheyenne and build on the strong foundation Domenic and our team have created,” Walter said. “As we head into the holiday season and close out another successful year, we remain focused on serving our community, supporting local businesses, and welcoming visitors to experience the best of Cheyenne and Laramie County.”
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Wyoming Highway Patrol recently reported that it responded to a single-vehicle rollover on Interstate 80 in Cheyenne at mile marker 362.
When troopers arrived on the scene, they found that a commercial dump truck was traveling east when it began to drift to the right side of the road. A release from the WHP states that the truck struck the jersey barrier on the front passenger side, spun, then tripped and rolled off the roadway.
The WHP said that the driver of the truck was wearing their seat belt at the time of the crash and suffered only minor injuries. The driver admitted to falling asleep at the wheel. Because of this, they were cited with careless driving, among other commercial violations. No other vehicles were involved and no other injuries were reported.
“The Wyoming Highway Patrol reminds all drivers that driving tired is the same as driving impaired,” the release states. “Switch with your passenger if possible, or, at the very least, find a safe spot to pull over and get some rest if you are feeling sleepy while driving. Be at your best — get some rest.”
