PreClovis

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Comment by Anjanette on February 11, 2009 at 3:24am

Very nice lithic castings. Also, there is a researcher at Utah State doing excavation above 10,000 ft and finding all sorts of interesting things, like large amounts of quartzite being used. I don't remember her last name, but I do know her first name is Bonnie.

Comment by Anjanette on February 11, 2009 at 3:14am

There is a big field school going on in Yellowstone NP thru the University of Montana Missoula. I found it online thru the AIA. Prehistoric area with a really good obsidian source. The obsidian has been found all the way to the east coast.

Comment by Charlie Hatchett on February 9, 2009 at 9:15pm

I love Eden points! Just beautiful to me:

http://lithiccastinglab.com/cast-page/edenpointtriplesmall.jpg

http://www.lithiccastinglab.com/postcard-pictures/hixtonedenearedhynek.jpg

(sweet sugar quartz!)

http://www.umanitoba.ca/faculties/arts/anthropology/manarchnet/chronology/paleoindian/eden.gif


Thanks for sharing!

Charlie

Comment by Anjanette on February 9, 2009 at 7:01pm

There have been numerous points found that are fragmented, but there are definitely two that I have seen that are identifiable. One is an Alberta style and one is an Eden style. there are some bison antiquus bones that show marks from butchering, and also some post holes have been found as well. The lead researcher this past summer has a theory, and as soon as we can get back there, we are going down to the Folsom strata. The area the dig is in would have been perfect for semi nomadic habitation over extended periods of time. It also sits right in the middle of an area of White River Chalcedony. The site is literally surrounded by forty miles of area where the chalcedony can be found. Also, it is three miles as a crow flies from Toadstool Geologic Park. Check out the websites:
http://www.mammothsite.com/
http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/e-resources/ebooks/records/edl7130.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toadstool_Geologic_Park
www.nebraskatravels.com/toadstool-geologic-park.html

The links that are available through these sites are amazing!
This photo is of the Badlands in SD, but they are just the bigger version of Toadstool. Three miles as a crow flies from Hudson Meng across the high plains of Nebraska. The trail is not that hard, if you go from Hudson Meng to Toadstool. If you start at Toadstool, its uphill all the way!!!!!!!!!!!

Comment by Charlie Hatchett on February 7, 2009 at 9:29pm

Anjanette wrote:

"...Also, check out this paper:

Evidence for Pre-Clovis Sites in the Eastern United States by Albert C. Goodyear
Paleoamerican Origins: Beyond Clovis
Paleoamerican Prehistory
Director of Allendale Paleoindian Expedition,
S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, 1321 Pendleton St.,
Columbia, SC 29208-0071; e-mail: goodyear@sc.edu..."

____________________________________________________________

Looks like Dr. Goodyear has provided an online copy of the paper for free:

http://allendale-expedition.net/publications/AL_ORIGN1.PDF

I love his opening quote:

Truth is the daughter of time.

–John Trapp, 17th-century Puritan writer

Comment by Charlie Hatchett on February 7, 2009 at 9:22pm

Thanks for the update on Hudson Meng, Anjanette. I'm sure you had a blast working the site! Did ya'll find anything possibly anthropogenic at the site?

Charlie

Comment by Anjanette on February 6, 2009 at 4:01pm

A very wise man at the Colorado State Archaeologists office once told us when you think you have hit bottom at a site when you are level with the base of the firepit, you are not done. You need to dig deeper under the firepit to see what they built it on top of. Some people have found stones that were obviously left under the firepit for heat treating. The common local material around here Parker Petrified Wood, turns a dark red when it has been heat treated.

This is a picture of an area at Colorado National Monument where there has been a lot of admix in the lithics, both Great Basin and Rocky Mountains intermixed. However, there is no Clovis or Folsom found here to date. Interesting if you look at a map that shows all the found Clovis sites to date.
Also, check out this paper:
Evidence for Pre-Clovis Sites in the Eastern United States by Albert C. Goodyear
Paleoamerican Origins: Beyond Clovis
Paleoamerican Prehistory
Director of Allendale Paleoindian Expedition,
S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, 1321 Pendleton St.,
Columbia, SC 29208-0071; e-mail: goodyear@sc.edu

Comment by Anjanette on February 3, 2009 at 5:31am

Hudson Meng is the largest known bison kill site in the western hemisphere. It was discovered in the late 50's by a rancher named Albert Meng and he was fairly certain he had found something unique. It took many years before the ranchers were able to get an archaeologist out to the area. This is a short rundown of the bison bed:the authors of the paper are listed
OLOCENE EPISODIC LANDSCAPE CHANGE AND THE HUDSON-MENG BISON KILL SITE, NORTHWESTERN NEBRASKA, U.S.A

BALMAT, Jennifer, BALMAT, Joshua W., LEITE, Michael B., and LAGARRY, Hannan E., Physical and Life Sciences, Chadron State College, 1000 Main Street, Chadron, NE 69337, jebalm@csc.edu

The Hudson-Meng bison kill site, located on a north-facing upland slope of the Pine Ridge escarpment in northwestern Nebraska, is an early Holocene mass death assemblage of Bison antiquus. Radiocarbon dates of the bone bed date it at 9,820 years b.p. +/- 160 years. The goal of this study is to identify and define sedimentary units preserved at the site to better understand the depositional environment and landscape changes before, during, and after deposition of the bison assemblage. The oldest unit, a clayey silt with mottled Munsell colors 10YR 4/2 and 10YR 5/3 containing fresh water snails and hackberry seeds represents a paludal environment. A fine sandy silt, color 2.5Y 4/2, indicates a change to an eolian depositional environment. This unit contains multiple thinly-developed paleosols; the bone bed rests upon the youngest. A massive, carbonate-rich silty fine sand, color 10YR 4/3, is eolian and preserves the bone bed. The fine to coarse poorly sorted sand, color range of 5Y 3/2 - 5Y 6/3 and 10 YR 3/2 - 5/3, represents eolian deposition with frequent colluvial additions. A very fine sandy silt deposit, colors 10YR 2/1 - 4/3, is eolian. A fine sand, color 10YR 3/1, contains the modern soil and is eolian. Colluvial cobble lenses found throughout the site can not be correlated. Except for the modern soil, the eolian units contain multiple paleosols, likely entisols, indicating intermittent periods of landscape stability during rapid landscape evolution throughout the Holocene.

Comment by Charlie Hatchett on February 2, 2009 at 8:46pm

Hi Anjanette.

I remember reading about Hudson Meng a few years back. Have researchers been able to tie human activity to the site?

I agree the new AMS dates on Monte Verde II are encouraging. Cactus Hill, Meadowcroft, and Gault are definitely strong evidence for preClovis occupation, as are Buttermilk Creek, Taima-Taima, etc…

Best Regards,

Charlie

Comment by Anjanette on January 26, 2009 at 5:18pm

I spent a glorious four weeks this past summer at Hudson Meng. I also have done quite a bit of research on Monte Verde for projects in class, and I agree that the radiocarbon dates are exciting. Also, the DNA findings if added to the research from Cactus Hill, Meadowcroft, and Gault can hopefully start more people on the path to believing in Pre Clovis peoples. In a more historic context, finding Viking village remains in Newfoundland proves Columbus wasn't the first. I have come to believe that we should not underestimate the people that existed before "civilization" because if they were not as intelligent or more intelligent than us, we would not be where we are today. They had an environment that was very hard to survive in, and they survived. We are living proof of that. Their innovations are the reason that we are what we are today.

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