BURNS, OR -- Archeologists will start digging again next week in the Burns area for signs of life from more than 15,000 years ago. In past digs, scientists uncovered volcanic ash dating back to an eruption of Mt. St. Helens, about 15,800 years ago.

The find challenges previous belief that the Clovis people were the first human inhabitants of North America. Scott Thomas, Archeologist with the BLM office in Burns, tells KBND the discovery is controversial. "Now, the theory has changed dramatically, and there are these early sites that are pre-Clovis, which means before 13,500 years ago. And, those people we think probably came from the same general area, but they got here earlier, and actually Clovis is not first, anymore. And, that's pretty well accepted by many archeologists in North American, but some are still holding out."

Thomas adds, "We didn't go out to find one of the oldest sites in North America. We didn't expect to find ash that dated to 15,800 years ago. As a matter of fact, we were totally shocked when we found out about it. I think a lot of people that find these really old sites, aren't digging for old sites, they just stopped excavating when they run out of seeing cultural materials like flakes and charcoal or hit bedrock, and that's essentially what we did. We dug until we hit bedrock."
 

Twenty archeologists withe the Bureau of Land Management and the University of Oregon Archeological Field School will start digging again on Monday. In previous efforts, scientists at the site near Riley discovered tools with bison blood on it, and fine, black hair.