A team of UF Materials Science & Engineering faculty, including Kevin Jones, Ph.D., Jack Mecholsky, Ph.D., and Jerry Bourne, Ph.D., co-authored a recent publication verifying the earliest example of Ice Age art discovered in the Americas.

The fossilized bone fragment, discovered in South Florida, has an engraving of a mammoth or mastodon and is believed to have been carved approximately 13,000 years ago.

Using optical and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in both secondary and back-scattered imaging modes and chemical (energy dispersive x-ray) analysis, the team showed no indications the carving was modern. The Journal of Archaeological Science publication is co-authored with other scientists at UF, the University of Texas, and the Smithsonian Institution. A press release from the Smithsonian Institution on this discovery can be found at http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/06/110621131334.htm.