(Inside Science) -- The Americas may have been home to humans for more than 12,000 years longer than previously thought, new research finds.
The arrival of humans to the Americas from Asia marked a major step in humanity's journey across the globe, but the exact timing of this entry remains hotly debated. Based on stone tools dating back about 13,000 years, archaeologists long thought the first Americans were part of a prehistoric culture known as the Clovis. However, scientists have recently uncovered many sites that suggested humans were in the New World before Clovis, up to roughly 18,000 years ago. Now new studies extend that time to more than 30,000 years ago.
