and go about six miles. This will take you to what was believed
to be the oldest aboriginal site in North America. It is called Gypsum Cave and
was inhabited once by ancient ground sloths, then by ancient men. If you are ever in Clark County, Nevada traveling on Highway 15, turn
south at Apex and go about six miles. This will take you to what was believed
to be the oldest aboriginal site in North America. It is called Gypsum Cave and
was inhabited once by ancient ground sloths, then by ancient men.
The cave contains six rooms and is a total of 300 feet long and 120 feet
wide. When it was excavated in 1930-1931 archeologists found a mixture of human
and animal artifacts. Inside the dry and dusty cavern they came across dung and
also a skull, backbone, nine to twelve inch claws, and reddish-brown hair of
the extinct ground sloth. This bear-sized Shasta ground sloth became extinct
around 9000 years ago. The dung was radiocarbon dated to about 8,500 BC which
was about the same as what the tools found here dated. The people that lived
here though were not thought to have moved in till about 3000 BC when the
sloths moved out. Painted dart shafts, torches, stone points, and yucca fiber
string were some of the tools found in Gypsum Cave. Other bones, of prehistoric
horses and camels were also excavated in the cave.
The most interesting information from this site would have to be the ancient dung from the sloths. The caramelized feces has given information about what the environment and vegetation of the area was because the sloth was a herbivore. This ancient plant eater survived on capers, mustards, lilies, grasses and surprisingly grapes. Grapes normally grow near water; lakes, rivers, and such. This is unusual for the arid desert of Nevada, but this was also a time of ice ages which caused lakes and ponds to form. Even so, the geology of the area indicates that the nearest water source was six to twelve miles away. That’s quite a distance, even for a giant sloth.
This site gives an insight on using DNA recovered from ancient feces to find out more about ancient times. This can be used not only in Gypsum Cave for giant sloths, but also for any prehistoric beings.
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