SEMINAR: UWA Archaeology Seminar Series

The Cerutti Mastodon (CM) site has compelling evidence for in situ hammerstones and stone anvils in spatiotemporal association with fragmentary remains of a single mastodon (Mammut americanum). The CM site contains spiral fractured bone and molar fragments, indicating that breakage occurred while fresh. Several of the bone fragments also preserve evidence of percussion, including notches, cones and cone flakes typically associated with human activities to (1) produce bone tools; and (2) to extract bone marrow. The occurrence and distribution of bone, molar and stone refits suggest that breakage occurred at the site of burial. Five large cobbles (hammerstones and anvils) in the CM bone bed display use-wear and impact marks, and are hydraulically anomalous relative to the low-energy context of the enclosing sandy silt stratum. 230Th/U radiometric analysis of bone specimens using diffusion–adsorption–decay dating models indicates a burial date of 130.7 ± 9.4 thousand years ago.