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Luminescence dating pushes Mammoth Site age back more than 100,000 years
New dates published in Quaternary Research suggest the mammoths found in a South Dakota sinkhole were more than 160,000 years old, not roughly 26,000 years old as long accepted.
BriefPublished 13 September 20261 min read1 linked source · 3 checked factsRevision 4
The Mammoth Site in South Dakota holds remains of dozens of mammoths that died in an ancient sinkhole. Their deaths had long been accepted as occurring roughly 26,000 years ago.
Luminescence dating now suggests the ice-age giants were more than 160,000 years old, according to dates published in Quaternary Research. The finding shifts the timeline by more than 100,000 years.
Our view
The report gives the revised age but not the dating methods or uncertainty estimates, so how firmly the new figure is pinned down remains unclear.
What the reporting says: New dates published in Quaternary Research suggest the mammoths were more than 160,000 years old, whereas their deaths had long been accepted as having occurred roughly 26,000 years ago.