Pedra Furada

Pedra Furada is a site in Brazil's northeastern state of Piaui. The excavator is Niede Guidon. She started excavating in 1978. The work continued for over a decade, down through nearly 5 meters of deposits in which she identified two distinct periods of prehistoric human occupation. One was the Serra Talhada Phase (6,000 - 10,400 years ago). The artifacts were distinctive, well-made knives and tools. Extensive and complex rock art panels were painted on the shelter walls during this time. From the outside, the shelter looked like "hole in the wall." The floor has hearths and charcoal.

The other phase (Pedra Furada) is controversial since it represents a culture long before people were first thought to have emerged in America. The first people (discovered by archaeologist Edgar Haward from the University of Pennsylvania) were Clovis people, who had lived little more than 11,000 years ago. The Pedra Furada Phase dates back to 50,000 years ago. The debate which has held among archaeologists is about the 595 choppers, scrapers and cutting tools - whether they had been made by nature or by human.

Meltzer, David "Stones of Contention" New Scientist 24 June 1995 (p)31-35

http://www.science-frontiers.com/sf087/sf087a01.htm