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Divers Retrieve Prehistoric Wood from Lake Huron
Science News ^ | December 12, 2011 | adapted from Diane Swanbrow, U of M

Posted on 12/15/2011 9:38:43 AM PST by SunkenCiv

Under the cold clear waters of Lake Huron, University of Michigan researchers have found a five-and-a-half foot-long, pole-shaped piece of wood that is 8,900 years old. The wood, which is tapered and beveled on one side in a way that looks deliberate, may provide important clues to a mysterious period in North American prehistory.

"This was the stage when humans gradually shifted from hunting large mammals like mastodon and caribou to fishing, gathering and agriculture," said anthropologist John O'Shea. "But because most of the places in this area that prehistoric people lived are now under water, we don't have good evidence of this important shift itself- just clues from before and after the change.

"One of the enduring questions is the way the land went under water. Many people think it must have been a violent event, but finding this large wood object just sitting on the bottom wedged between a few boulders suggests that the inundation happened quickly but rather gently. And this in turn suggests that we'll find more intact evidence of human activity in the area."

With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), O'Shea and U-M colleague Guy Meadows began exploring the area in the middle of modern Lake Huron several years ago. In 2009 they reported finding a series of stone features that they believe were "drive lanes" used by ancient PaleoIndian hunters to funnel caribou to slaughter, a technique still used today by the Inuit. These drive lanes were located on the Alpena-Amberley Ridge, a land connection across the middle of modern Lake Huron that linked northern Michigan with central Ontario during the low-water periods of the Pleistocene and early Holocene ages.

(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: godsgravesglyphs; michigan; wood
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To: Impy; fieldmarshaldj; Perdogg

Looking for the Lost Ark or Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls perhaps?


21 posted on 12/16/2011 6:35:35 AM PST by GOPsterinMA (And who doesn't have baggage?)
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To: Springman; sergeantdave; cyclotic; netmilsmom; RatsDawg; PGalt; FreedomHammer; queenkathy; ...
MICHIGAN PING LIST

Please freepmail me if you wish to be added or dropped from the mitten ping.

22 posted on 12/16/2011 11:39:04 AM PST by grellis (I am Jill's overwhelming sense of disgust.)
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To: afraidfortherepublic

I used to make shipwreck furniture years ago. It is beautiful White Oak that is stained from the iron pins used to hold the pieces together.The ship it is from was built in 1847, so the tree could’ve been around in the Revolutionary War era.


23 posted on 12/16/2011 12:18:37 PM PST by gigster (Cogito, Ergo, Ronaldus Magnus Conservatus)
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To: gigster

Pictures?


24 posted on 12/16/2011 1:39:39 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
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