Washington: New evidence shows humans lived in North America more than 14,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than had previously been known.

Discovered in a cave in the West Coast state of Oregon, fossil feces yielded DNA indicating these early residents were related to people living in Siberia and East Asia, according to a report in yesterday's online edition of the journal Science.

"This is the first time we have been able to get dates that are undeniably human and they are 1,000 years before Clovis," said Dennis L Jenkins, a University of Oregon archaeologist referring to the Clovis culture, well known for its unique spear-points that ave been studied previously.

Humans are widely believed to have arrived in North America from Asia over a land-bridge between Alaska and Siberia during a warmer period. A variety of dates has been proposed and some are in dispute.

Few artifacts were found in the cave, leading Jenkins to speculate that these people stayed there only a few days at a time before moving on, perhaps following game animals or looking for other food.

The petrified poop -- coprolites to scientists -- is yielding a look at the diet of these ancient Americans, Jenkins said.

While the analysis is not yet complete, he said there are bones of squirrels, bison hair fish scales, protein from birds and dogs and the remains of plant such as grass and sunflowers.

The oldest of several coprolites studied is 14,340 calendar years old, said co-author Eske Willerslev, director of th Centre for Ancient genetics at Denmark's University of Copenhagen.

Source : PTI