The initial colonization of the Americas remains a highly debated topic 1 , and the exact timing of the first arrivals is unknown. The earliest archaeological record of Mexico—which holds a key geographical position in the Americas—is poorly known and understudied. Historically, the region has remained on the periphery of research focused on the first American populations 2 . However, recent investigations provide reliable evidence of a human presence in the northwest region of Mexico 3 , 4 , the Chiapas Highlands 5 , Central Mexico 6 and the Caribbean coast 7 – 9 during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. Here we present results of recent excavations at Chiquihuite Cave—a high-altitude site in central-northern Mexico—that corroborate previous findings in the Americas 10 – 17 of cultural evidence that dates to the Last Glacial Maximum (26,500–19,000 years ago) 18 , and which push back dates for human dispersal to the region possibly as early as 33,000–31,000 years ago. The site yielded about 1,900 stone artefacts within a 3-m-deep stratified sequence, revealing a previously unknown lithic industry that underwent only minor changes over millennia. More than 50 radiocarbon and luminescence dates provide chronological control, and genetic, palaeoenvironmental and chemical data document the changing environments in which the occupants lived. Our results provide new evidence for the antiquity of humans in the Americas, illustrate the cultural diversity of the earliest dispersal groups (which predate those of the Clovis culture) and open new directions of research. Chiquihuite Cave (Zacatecas, Mexico) provides evidence of human presence in the Americas between about 33,000–31,000 and 14,000–12,000 years ago, and expands the cultural variability known from sites of this date.

中文翻译：

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末次盛冰期前后墨西哥人类占领的证据

美洲的最初殖民化仍然是一个备受争议的话题 1 ，第一批到达的确切时间尚不清楚。墨西哥最早的考古记录——在美洲拥有重要的地理位置——鲜为人知且研究不足。从历史上看，该地区一直处于研究第一批美国人口 2 的边缘。然而，最近的调查提供了可靠的证据，证明在晚更新世和早全新世时期，在墨西哥西北部地区 3、4、恰帕斯高地 5、墨西哥中部 6 和加勒比海岸 7-9 中存在人类。在这里，我们展示了最近在墨西哥中北部高海拔遗址 Chiquihuite Cave 的发掘结果，这些结果证实了先前在美洲的发现 10 – 17 可追溯到末次盛冰期（26,500–19,000 年前）的文化证据 18 ，并将人类传播到该地区的日期推迟到 33,000-31,000 年前。该遗址在 3 米深的分层序列中产生了大约 1,900 件石制品，揭示了一个以前未知的石器工业，它在几千年来只经历了微小的变化。超过 50 个放射性碳和发光日期提供了时间顺序控制，遗传、古环境和化学数据记录了居住者居住的不断变化的环境。我们的研究结果为美洲人类的古老提供了新的证据，说明最早的分散群体（早于克洛维斯文化）的文化多样性并开辟新的研究方向。Chiquihuite Cave（墨西哥萨卡特卡斯州）提供了大约 33,000-31,000 到 14,000-12,000 年前人类在美洲存在的证据，并扩大了这一时期遗址已知的文化变异性。