Archaeologists found mastodon bones at a site dated to around 130,000 years ago.
Notes on verification
The dating of the Cerutti Mastodon site to ~130,000 years ago via uranium-thorium dating is well corroborated by the original 2017 Nature paper and multiple independent science journalism sources. The claim as narrowly stated (mastodon bones found at a site dated to ~130,000 years ago) is not contested; only the interpretation that humans caused bone breakage is disputed among archaeologists.
Sources
- Have Humans Been in the Americas Longer Than We Thought? (daily.jstor.org)
- https://www.nature.com/articles/nature22065 (nature.com)
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/study-humans-north-america-130000-years-ago-shocks-scientists-180963434/ (smithsonianmag.com)
- https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/26/science/mastodon-fossil-early-humans.html (nytimes.com)