The Paisley Caves complex is a system of four caves in an arid, desolate region of south-central Oregon, United States north of the present-day city ofPaisley, Oregon. The caves are located in the Summer Lake basin at elevation and face to the west in a ridge of Miocene and Pliocene era basalts mixed with soft volcanic tuffs and breccias, from which the caves were carved by Pleistocene-era waves from Summer Lake. One of the caves may contain archaeological evidence of the oldest definitively-dated human presence in North America. The site was first studied by Luther Cressman in the 1930s. Scientific excavations and analysis since 2002 have uncovered substantial new discoveries. These include materials with the oldest DNA evidence of human habitation in North America. The DNA, radiocarbon dated to 14,300 years ago, was found in subfossil human coprolites uncovered in the Paisley Five Mile Point Caves in south-central Oregon. The caves were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.
Recent finds
A field school from the University of Oregon has been examining the site since 2002 and analyzing its pre-Clovis artifacts. In the summer of 2007, they identified the oldest human DNA yet discovered in the American continents. This assertion is based on analysis of several samples of coprolite found in the Paisley Caves complex. Since then, other authors have questioned the authenticity of these findings by arguing about the relevance of the evidence gathered from ancient DNA and stratigraphy on the one hand, and from the morphological assignment of the coprolites to humans on the other. The coprolites were found in Paisley Five Mile Point Cave at the same level as a small rock-lined hearth some below the modern surface. Also discovered at that level was a large number of bones from waterfowl, fish, and large mammals, including extinct camel and horse. Radiocarbon dating places these coprolites between 12,750 and 14,290 calendar years before the present, probably representing a pre-Clovis occupation. DNA analysis provides apparent genetic ties to Siberia or Asia. Evidence at other archaeological sites — as well as previous work at Paisley Caves in the 1930s — had been thought to provide such evidence, but questionable excavation techniques clouded the issue. Knowing this, the University of Oregon team worked carefully to avoid the mistakes of the past. The theory that pre-Clovis immigrants traveled to North America down the Pacific Coast suggests that the travelers would have passed through the hinterlands of what is Oregon today. DNA from coyote, fox, and dog was found as well. Later, hunting tools were found in the caves. Special projectile points known as 'Western Stemmed points' were recovered. These are quite different from the Clovis points. No evidence of diagnostic Clovis technology was found at the site. In 2002, a team of researchers from Oregon State University found evidence of human presence on the southern Oregon coast, dating from more than 10,000 years ago — more than 2,000 years older than previously known archaeological sites on Oregon's coast. Carbon dating of artifacts had suggested an origin of approximately 12,000 years ago.
