Oldest Bone Projectile Point (Washington State) Found Stuck in a Mastodon’s Rib

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The oldest known bone projectile point in the Americas. (Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University)

It is rare to find archaeological evidence as far back as the Clovis or Adamic time periods of North America. No one knows the exact dates of anything archaeological, so be cautioned. It seems very likely the Manis Site may fit the Clovis timeline. Remember Adam was placed near Missouri before the Atlantic ocean split the Continents, and Missouri is also where the New Jerusalem will be built. Thus, the original oldest world is North America and that which historians call the Old World today (Israel area) is actually newer in time frame than the Missouri area of the globe. A fascinating subject to learn about.

Clovis Culture

The historical people of the Clovis Culture most closely fit the timeline of Adam and Eve’s posterity, what we sometimes call Adamites. No, there were no Pre-Adamites in Church Doctrine and no cave men. Adam was the first Man placed on this earth and it was about 4,000 BC that this happened. The material of the earth of course is billions of years old, in fact it was never created but organized, just as all mater has existed forever. To fully understand archaeological and intelligent dating, one should be familiar with the word of God that says, Man was also in the beginning with God. Intelligence, or the light of truth, was not created or made, neither indeed can be. D&C 93:29

I personally (Rian Nelson) believe that anything dated by historians or scientists today, that dates according to to them to be 20,000 or 13,000 or even 8,000 BC is most likely to be incorrect. I believe this could indicate a timing period close to the beginning of man or beast on the earth which in my opinion is 4,000 BC or later. If someone says a dinosaur is 1 million or 30 million years old I absolutely believe it to be false.

Yes our earth is organized with materials and matter that have existed for ever as it says in D&C above. That doesn’t mean this particular earth is that old, just the materials used to organize it have always existed. Man is eternal and has existed as an intelligence for ever as well, but as pertaining to this earth, man and woman’s intelligence were clothed with spirit and body and placed in Missouri area in about 4,000 BC. It says in D&C 93:33, “For man is spirit. The elements are eternal, and spirit and element, inseparably connected, receive a fulness of joy;…  Additionally in D&C 93:37-38 it says, The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth. Light and truth forsake that evil one”.

Additional Archaeological Dating information Here: https://bookofmormonevidence.org/lamoka-lake-clovis-period/


Oldest Bone Projectile Point in the Americas Found Stuck in a Mastodon’s Rib!

“Analysis of a 13,900-year-old bone projectile point has led to two major discoveries. First and most importantly, it is the oldest known artifact of its kind in the Americas! This archaeological treasure was uncovered at the Manis Mastodon site in Washington, USA during an excavation in the late 1970s, and it has now been put under the scanner, quite literally.

The bone fragments from the tip of the weapon reveals that it was crafted from the bone of a mastodon, a prehistoric relative of the elephant. The Manis bone projectile point, as it has been termed, was found lodged inside a mastodon rib. This relates to the second significant discovery about the artifact – this bone projectile point is not only the oldest artifact of its kind in the Americas, but it also provides the oldest direct evidence of mastodon hunting in the Americas.

The Manis mastodon rib with embedded bone projectile point. (A) Three views of the rib fragment with embedded point. (B) Close-up views of the embedded point. Note root staining on the bone and embedded bone point. (Waters et al. 2023 / Science Advances)

The Manis mastodon rib with embedded bone projectile point. (A) Three views of the rib fragment with embedded point. (B) Close-up views of the embedded point. Note root staining on the bone and embedded bone point. (Waters et al. 2023 / Science Advances )


Rib Tickling: A Weapon Stuck in an Uncomfortable Place

“We isolated the bone fragments, printed them out, and assembled them,” says Michael Waters, director of the university’s Center for the Study of First Americans and professor of anthropology at Texas A&M University. “This clearly showed this was the tip of a bone projectile point. This is the oldest bone projectile point in the Americas and represents the oldest direct evidence of  mastodon hunting in the Americas,” he added.

His team had employed a CT scan and 3D software, isolating all the bone fragments in the process, enlarging the image of each bone fragment by 6 times. They were then pieced together to show what the specimen would have looked like before entering the rib. Their study has been published in the newest edition of the journal Sciences Advances , and is available as open access.

“What is important about Manis is that it’s the first and only bone tool that dates older than Clovis. At the other pre-Clovis site, only stone tools are found,” Waters explained. “This shows that the First Americans made and used bone weapons and likely other types of bone tools.”

Reconstruction of the distal end of the Manis projectile point. (Waters et al. 2023 / Science Advances)

Reconstruction of the distal end of the Manis projectile point. (Waters et al. 2023 / Science Advances )

The preservation of the Manis specimen was an accident – the hunter missed, leading to the projectile getting stuck in a mastodon’s rib. It was crafted from the leg bone of another mastodon, shaped deliberately into a projectile point. The spear was thrown at the mastodon, penetrated the hide and tissue, eventually coming into contact with the rib.

The hunter clearly wanted to hit the spear between the ribs and bust the lungs, but missed and hit the rib instead. The rib and its dating had been part of a 2011 study by Waters and his colleagues that was published in Science.

A mastodon with an arrow pointing to the trajectory of the spear. (Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University)

A mastodon with an arrow pointing to the trajectory of the spear. ( Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University )

Disproving the Clovis First Hypothesis

At 13,900 years old (Remember the dating can be inaccurate), the Manis point is at least 900 years older than the Clovis projectile points, stone tools which had also been studied by Waters. The Clovis spear points have been found in Texas and other parts of the country, dating from 13,050 to 12,750 years ago, according to a press release by Texas A&M University.

The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleoamerican culture, from roughly 11,500 to 10,800 years BP. It is characterized by the manufacture of “Clovis points” and distinctive bone and ivory tools. The theory known as “Clovis First” had been the predominant hypothesis among archaeologists in the second half of the 20th century.

Clovis points in the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist collection. (Billwhittaker/ CC BY-SA 3.0)

Clovis points in the Iowa Office of the State Archaeologist collection. (Billwhittaker/ CC BY-SA 3.0 )

According to that theory, the people associated with the Clovis culture were the first inhabitants of the Americas, who’d crossed over from the Bering Strait (Wrong, man came by ship as believers in the Book of Mormon learn), from Siberia to Alaska during the last Ice Age. The primary support for this claim was that no solid evidence of pre-Clovis human habitation had been found…yet. The theory has been challenged and disproved several times in the last couple of decades, with the emergence of new and exciting evidence . The archaeologists behind the new study have provided another example, writing:

“The Manis point, made of mastodon bone, shows that people hunted megafauna with osseous weaponry in the Pacific Northwest some 900 years before the emergence of Clovis technology. The use of osseous weaponry like the Manis point and the different stone projectile points of this age found at sites across the rest of North America may signal that the earliest people to enter and explore the Americas (Jaredites) brought with them a diversity of technologies and tools that they adapted to the local environments they found and inhabited.”

So how they did those early inhabitants of the lands that would become known as the Americas arrive? Waters, who has extensively studied this time period and culture, postulates that it was probably by boat, perhaps a coastal route along the North Pacific, before moving south, reports Arkeo News. (This is what the Book of Mormon supports)

These people would eventually get past the ice sheets covering Canada and touch base in the Pacific Northwest, evidenced by the cluster of sites found there – Idaho has the 16,000-years-old Cooper’s Ferry site, Oregon has the 14,100-year-old site of Paisley Caves, and to add to thisthe 13,900-year-old Manis site.

All of these cultures and sites predate Clovis, suggesting that the first people to arrive in the Americas were the ones responsible for the culture in the northwestern USA between 16,000 and 14,000 years ago, at the end of the last Ice Age. (Most likely Jaredites in about 2200 BC).”

Top image: Prehistoric hunters. ( anibal / Adobe Stock) Insert: The oldest known bone projectile point in the Americas. ( Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University )

By Sahir Pandey https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/oldest-projectile-point-0017890

Jaredites Landing?

Our friend and long time archaeology expert Wayne May, feels strongly the Jaredites landed at the St Lawrence River which is absolutely possible.

However the articles above support a theory that the Jaredite barges very likely landed from the Pacific Ocean near Washington State in about 2200 BC. (Opinion of Rian Nelson, not Firm Foundation as a whole). Also supporting the Jaredite landing theory is Kennewick Man, whos skeleton was found in Kennewick Washington and is known as the oldest Native American skeleton found in the Americas. There are also over 35,000 ancient mound sites found in the State of Washington. Obviously it is your decision to decide the Jaredite landing for yourself, as there is no Church Doctrine on the subject. For more information, See blog here:

BP refers to “Before Present”  “BP is a system commonly used by geologists and archaeologists for the purposes of carbon dating. Because carbon dating become popular in the 1950s, BP essentially means “before 1950.” To estimate, I just think of it as “years ago.” So if you have 15,000 BP, it would be about 15,000 years ago. If you wanted to be more exact, it would be BP + (current year – 1950), or 15,067. In the grand scheme of things, 67 years is generally not a big deal, so I find it’s easier to say “years ago.” Kat Sanders Founder and Blogger at Pawsitive Research (2015–present)

Without a doubt the Book of Mormon is the word of God. If read and studied carefully, you may know more truths not taught as doctrine in our wonderful Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

By Ken Corbett

President Nelson said, “You don’t have to wonder about what is true. You do not have to wonder whom you can safely trust. Through personal revelation, you can receive your own witness that the Book of Mormon is the word of God, that Joseph Smith is a prophet, and that this is the Lord’s Church. Regardless of what others may say or do, no one can ever take away a witness borne to your heart and mind about what is true.

I urge you to stretch beyond your current spiritual ability to receive personal revelation, for the Lord has promised that “if thou shalt [seek], thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things—that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal.” Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives by President Russell M. Nelson