The Arlington Springs man is a set of Late Pleistocene human remains discovered in 1959 on Santa Rosa Island, one of the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

located off the coast of

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban a ...

. The Arlington Springs

archeological site An archaeological site is a place (or group of physical sites) in which evidence of past activity is preserved (either prehistoric or historic or contemporary), and which has been, or may be, investigated using the discipline of archaeology an ...

is protected within northern

Channel Islands National Park Channel Islands National Park consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. Although the islands are close to the shore of the densely populated state, they have been relatively undevelope ...

, and in

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

History

Archaeology

In 1959–1960, two

femora The femur (; ), or thigh bone, is the proximal bone of the hindlimb in tetrapod vertebrates. The head of the femur articulates with the acetabulum in the pelvic bone forming the hip joint, while the distal part of the femur articulates with t ...

were excavated by Phil C. Orr, curator of

anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of be ...

and

paleontology Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

at the

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History is a natural history museum in Santa Barbara, California. It reconnects more than 150,000 people each year (including their 5,700 members) to nature indoors and outdoors. Nestled in nature, the museum ...

, at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island. Orr believed the remains were those of a 10,000-year-old man and dubbed them the "Arlington Springs Man". The Arlington Springs Man was later re-examined in 1989 by Orr's successors at the museum, Dr. John R. Johnson and Don Morris. The two came to the initial assessment that the Arlington Springs Man was actually the "Arlington Springs Woman". Radiocarbon dating determined that the remains dated to 13,000 years BP, making the remains potentially the oldest-known human skeleton in North America. The term "Arlington Springs Woman" was used at that time to refer to these remains. After further study, Johnson reversed his sex assessment in 2006, concluding that the remains were more likely those of a man, and the name "Arlington Springs Man" was again the more appropriate name.

Geology

The Paleoindian Arlington Springs Man lived on the former Pleistocene epoch (geology), epoch Santa Rosae island. During the last glacial period, last ice age, the four northern Channel Islands were held together as the one mega-island of Santa Rosae. The weather was much cooler and the sea level was lower than today. His presence on an island at such an early date demonstrates that the earliest Paleoindians had watercraft capable of crossing the Santa Barbara Channel, and lends credence as well to a "Coastal migration (Americas), coastal migration" theory for the peopling of the Americas, using boats to travel south from Siberia and Alaska.

References

External links

NPS.gov: Channel Islands National Park — Arlington ManJournal from The Center for the Study of the First Americans: "The Mammoth Trumpet"
— ''Volume 21, Number 4 September 2006''. {{coord missing, Santa Barbara County, California 1959 archaeological discoveries 1959 in California Archaeological sites in California Channel Islands National Park History of Santa Barbara County, California Indigenous peoples of California Late Pleistocene Native American history of California Natural history of the Channel Islands of California Oldest human remains in the Americas Paleo-Indian period Pleistocene California Pre-statehood history of California Unsolved deaths

History

Archaeology

Geology

See also

References

External links