May
22
/ 2022
Excavations that concluded in 2020 have confirmed an ancient mine in eastern Wyoming that was allegedly used by humans to produce red ochre 13,000 years ago! It is now officially the oldest known mine of any sort in the Americas, and the findings have been published in the May issue of the prestigious Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). An Ancient Origins report from 2020 had covered the previous oldest Paleoindian mine find from 12,500-10,000 years ago in Mexico, off the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. The research for that discovery was published in the leading journal Sciences Advances and focused on how red ochre was so valuable to the Paleoindians of the early Americas that they were
