Ancient Proboscidean-Ivory Artifacts from Northwestern Venezuela

Abstract

For thousands of years, ivory has been used as a raw material to produce utensils and other tools in many regions of the world. Ivory artifacts have been recovered from Late Pleistocene archaeological sites throughout North America and South America. We report two proboscidean ivory artifacts found in northwestern Venezuela. These artifacts were likely used as tools, and their morphology is unique with no similarities to other artifacts reported so far in the Americas. We conclude they are likely associated with the Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene, although currently a younger age cannot be entirely ruled out due to an inability to radiocarbon date the artifacts