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The Pleistocene Carved Bone from Tequixquiac, Mexico: A Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Luis Aveleyra Arroyo de Anda
Luis Aveleyra Arroyo de Anda*
Affiliation:
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Mexico, D.F.
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Abstract

A carved sacrum from a fossil camelid was found near Tequixquiac in 1870 in Upper Pleistocene deposits of the Valley of Mexico. At that time it was described as one of the first discoveries that proved the co-existence of man with extinct fauna in the New World. The specimen was apparently lost at the end of the 19th century and serious doubts have been expressed about its authenticity. This carved bone was rediscovered in 1956, and recent studies of the specimen tend to demonstrate its authenticity and scientific value. A survey of all known examples of similar finds in North America suggests that the Tequixquiac bone is probably the only example of true art that has yet been found in Paleo-Indian levels in the New World.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , January 1965 , pp. 261 - 277
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1965

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