Arlington Springs Man

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Arlington Man is the name given a set of human remains. In 1959-60, two femora were excavated by Phil C. Orr, curator of anthropology and natural history at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, at Arlington Springs on Santa Rosa Island, off the coast of California. Orr thought the remains were those of a 10,000 year old man. Hence, he dubbed them the "Arlington Springs Man," after the location of the find.

The Arlington Springs Man was later re-examined by Orr's successor at the museum, John R. Johnson. Johnson came to the initial assessment that the Arlington Springs Man was actually the "Arlington Springs Woman". Radiocarbon dating determined that the remains dated to 13,000 years B.P., thus making the remains arguably the oldest known skeleton in North America. The term "Arlington Springs Woman" was used to refer to these remains.

However, the Los Angeles Times recently reported (Sept. 2006) that Johnson had reversed himself, and based on still further work, had concluded that the remains were more likely those of a man, and the name "Arlington Springs Man" was now the more appropriate.^[1]

The Arlington Springs Man lived on Santa Rosae at the end of the Pleistocene. His presence on an island at such an early date demonstrates that the earliest Paleoindians had watercraft capable of crossing the Santa Barbara Channel, and lends credence as well to a "coastal migration" theory for the peopling of the Americas.