Pendants made from giant sloth bones point to much earlier human settlement in Americas

Display of a skeleton of the extinct giant ground sloth which lived in the grasslands of South America until about 10,000 years ago. Photo: Universal History Archive/UIG/Getty Images

Christina Larson

New research suggests humans lived in South America at the same time as now-extinct giant sloths, bolstering evidence that people arrived in the Americas earlier than once thought.

Scientists analysed triangular and teardrop-shaped pendants made of bony material from the sloths. They concluded that the carved and polished shapes and drilled holes were the work of deliberate craftsmanship.