Posted on 06/15/2021 2:12:08 PM PDT by LibWhacker
An underwater archaeologist from The University of Texas at Arlington is part of a research team studying 9,000-year-old stone tool artifacts discovered in Lake Huron that originated from an obsidian quarry more than 2,000 miles away in central Oregon.
The obsidian flakes from the underwater archaeological site represent the oldest and farthest east confirmed specimens of western obsidian ever found in the continental United States.
"In this case, these tiny obsidian artifacts reveal social connections across North America 9,000 years ago," said Ashley Lemke, assistant professor of sociology and anthropology at UT Arlington. "The artifacts found below the Great Lakes come from a geological source in Oregon, 4,000 kilometers away—-making it one of the longest distances recorded for obsidian artifacts anywhere in the world."
The unique study was a multi-faceted pursuit with divers in the water and researchers in the laboratory from UTA, the University of Michigan, Lake Superior National Marine Conservation Area, the University of Missouri Research Reactor Center, the Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory and the University of Georgia. Their combined work, "Central Oregon obsidian from a submerged early Holocene archaeological site beneath Lake Huron," was published last month in the journal PLOS One.
Because the site was underwater and undisturbed, researchers systematically and scientifically recovered the obsidian, a form of volcanic glass that was used and traded widely throughout much of human history as a prized material for making sharp tools.
"These are very small pieces that have very large stories to tell," Lemke said. "Obsidian from the far western United States is rarely found in the east."
Lemke is a leader and innovator in the field, serving as the chair of the Advisory Council on Underwater Archaeology, an international group dedicated to underwater archaeology and the preservation of underwater cultural resources. She is an expert on submerged ancient sites in the Americas and has researched other areas such as the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean.
The find in Lake Huron is part of a broader study to understand the social and economic organization of caribou hunters at the end of the last ice age. Water levels were much lower then; scientists have found, for example, ancient sites like stone walls and hunting blinds that are now 100 feet underwater.
"This particular find is really exciting because it shows how important underwater archaeology is," Lemke said. "The preservation of ancient underwater sites is unparalleled on land, and these places have given us a great opportunity to learn more about past peoples."
PS ... ALL Pisceans are politically incorrect.
Absolutely, trade is essential to the life and development of civilizations.
Yes, so much water locked up in glaciers then.
Too funny.
Reminds me of the joke,
Pa where do we get our names from?
Well son, after a child is born, the fatther looks over the land, and the fist thing he sees gives him an idea of what the Child’s name should be.
Why do you ask 2 dog’s *#@^ing?
By the way, as of today, the rock I showed you, is worth almost $600. According to a few rock sites that sell puny pieces of obsidian on their web site. I guess if a person were real serious, they could make a pretty penny breaking them up and selling them like some places sell Mt St Helens ash in test tubes.
That looks pretty beautiful to me.
Every tool I’ve ever found, flint or otherwise is precious to me. Never bought one, never sold one. That is a beautiful stone. If I had found it, it would have made my day.
You should see the arrow heads and add heads I found in my back yard when I lived in Chico Ca
Our house was built on land that was once an Indian village for Indians who worked for Keifer’s saw mill in the late 1800s
You’re lucky. I found 2 points and 1 celt in my back yard. Imagine how many generations were here before us. I tell my son that you never know where you will find something.
You should see the arrow heads and add heads I found in my back yard when I lived in Chico Ca
Our house was built on land that was once an Indian village for Indians who worked for Keifer’s saw mill in the late 1800s
I agree,
I love history and especially the true ingenuity many people of the past had to survive
99% of humans alive today would be dead within a Month if they lost the ability modern technology offers them
Thus the reason we as a society are so easily swayed into being sheep to those who wish to control us
They fear what may happen if they lose what they have
( Many of my collection)
(This one shows how it was chiseled by someone,
and could have been used as a hatchet head maybe)
(The next three are the same, but taken at different angles.
It looks like it was fashioned to be attacked to a spear)
(What follows are the petrified items)
(petrified walnut)
( Petrified wood from Yellowstone Park)
I wish I knew how to post pics I could show you some of my points and other tools I have found. I deliver newspapers in a valley, all farmland. I stop sometimes by a cornfield and just walk a couple of hundred yards along a stream and sometimes I get lucky.
Mahantango Creek- Place where there is much venison. Where I deliver.
Mahanoy Creek- Place where deer lick salt. It is behind my house, it is tinged orange from coal mine water leeching into it. It holds a healthy fish pop. beautiful trout.
It is a large stream and it was probably crystal clear before coal. I know the natives lived and camped here for generations.
Thanks for the pics. I will look at them closely.
I just hope who ever created them were indigenous to the area and didn’t come from somewhere else.
Acting all high and mighty. Saying their way of worshipping the stars was the only true way to worship the stars.
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