used similar stone tools to those later found in North America, and suggest that seafarers may have travelled to the continent during the last ice age, bringing this stone technology with them. 

This adds weight to the theory that the first Americans arrived much earlier than previously thought.

“We can now explain not only that the first Americans came from north-east Asia, but also how they travelled, what they carried and what ideas they brought with them,” Loren Davis, a professor of anthropology at Oregon State University, said in a statement. “It’s a powerful reminder that migration, innovation and cultural sharing have always been part of what it means to be human.”