Posted on 01/27/2006 1:05:10 PM PST by blam
7:27 am PT, Thursday, Jan 26, 2006
Using New Methods, Oregon State University Archaeologists Uncover 10,000-Year-Old Coastal Site
By Mark Floyd, 541-737-0788/OSU
CORVALLIS, Oregon - Researchers from Oregon State University have analyzed a second archaeological site on the southern Oregon coast that appears to be about 10,000 years old, and they are hopeful that their newly fine-tuned methodology will lead to the discovery of more and older sites. Results of their study were just published in the journal Radiocarbon.
The site, located on a bluff just south of Bandon, Ore., included a large number of stone flakes, charcoal pieces and fire-cracked rock, according to Roberta Hall, professor emeritus of anthropology at OSU and principal investigator in the study. There also is evidence of a stone hearth, Hall added.
"There are a lot of rock outcrops nearby that would make good sources for tools," she said, "and it appears that tool-making is one of the activities the site may have been used for. We only dug two pits, each two meters long by a meter wide, so there is potential to find much more there."
Funded by Oregon Sea Grant, the project builds on a 2002 study when the OSU researchers analyzed a site in Boardman State Park north of Brookings, Ore., which eventually was dated at nearly 12,000 years old, making it the oldest coastal archaeological site in Oregon. Both sites are unusual, not only because of their age but in how they were discovered, Hall said.
The OSU research team - which included anthropologist Hall, geoarchaeologist and field work supervisor Loren Davis, graduate student Samuel Willis, and soil scientist Matthew Fillmore - developed a model using geologic features, soil type and radiocarbon dating to pinpoint locations most likely to include the oldest sediments. Their theory: these older sediments hold the greatest potential for holding late Pleistocene (older than about 11,000 years) or early Holocene sites.
The discovery of a second ancient site in this manner validates their methods, the scientists say.
Most archaeological sites are unveiled by the discovery of early signs of human activity - the finding of a projectile point or stone flakes. But the Oregon coast is a notoriously difficult place to conduct archaeological research because of the weather, changing sea levels, and tumultuous geologic events, including earthquakes and tsunamis.
Humans may have come to Oregon earlier than 12,000 years ago, the researchers say, but finding evidence of their habitation is agonizingly difficult.
"At that time, the ocean was much lower and the shoreline was a few kilometers west," Hall said, "meaning that any site that was on the coast during the late Pleistocene is now under water."
Rarely do the sites include any bones or other organic matter, she pointed out. The combination of wet weather and highly acidic soil hastens decomposition. However, sites that contain a lot of mollusk shells - particularly clams, mussels and barnacles - will often include bones because the shells lower the acidity of the soil, slowing decomposition.
But the farther away sites are from where the old coastline lay, the less likely researchers are to find mollusk shells.
"It can be quite frustrating," Hall said. "Likewise, the river valleys are difficult to excavate because they either have so much alluvium on top you'd need to dig down the equivalent of a three-story building, or all the material has been washed away in floods."
The Bandon-area site was excavated down to 235 centimeters - which is considered very deep - and the OSU researchers discovered charcoal in all but the uppermost levels. Artifacts, primarily stone flakes, were found as deep as 215 centimeters, which corresponds to a date of just over 10,000 years old. More sophisticated stone tools were found at a shallower depth and obviously were younger.
Findings of charcoal and fire-cracked rock were abundant.
Absent from the site was evidence of much obsidian, which was plentiful at the Indian Sands site near Brookings, though it was not local in origin. Indian Sands, however, is closer to potential sources of obsidian, including the Klamath area and northern California.
"The Bandon site is important not so much for what we found," Hall said, "but in how we found it. And it adds to our knowledge about coastal habitation in general."
Hall said the OSU research team hopes to secure additional funding to look for other ancient sites along the Oregon coast.
"We know they're out there," she said. "And now we know better how to find them."
About the OSU College of Liberal Arts: The College of Liberal Arts includes the fine and performing arts, humanities and social sciences, making it one of the largest and most diverse colleges at OSU. The college's research and instructional faculty members contribute to the education of all university students and provide national and international leadership, creativity and scholarship in their academic disciplines.
&
A coastal archaeologists ping.
/almost kidding
I learned that in grad school! If you want a 10,000 year old site, better find 10,000 year old dirt.
LOL.
I'm reminder of Al Goodyear (Topper Site). He said he stopped digging there when he hit the Clovis level. Only later did he decide to dig deeper. Guess what, he found more human mfg artifacts at the deeper level too.
The Clovis (Only) folks will say the gophers buried these things .
***Humans may have come to Oregon earlier than 12,000 years ago,****
Years ago, on a National Geograohic special, L.S.B. Leakey, of Kenya fame, came to the U.S. and toured a site that was estimated to be about 12000 years old. Out of his African element, he declared the artifacts were actually 120000 years old.
No one there believed him but no one corrected him because he was the patron saint of evolution.
Yup. Leakey was involved with dating this site in California years ago.
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LOL. It's frusratating to witness such a group of rusty wheels. It seems their life goal is to freeze knwledge based on what they learned in grad school.
With time, knowlege and facts will override PC pleas for grants. Hopefully.
This is in MY neighborhood!
http://mapper.acme.com/?lat=43.030485&long=-124.41528&scale=15
I'm 4 miles south of Bandon on Hwy 101
About 1 1/2 miles due west to the ocean,
I can hear it at night.
PING
As for their 'theory' of when man arrived and how early, I reserve my right to be very skeptical.
Great. Go over there and give us a first hand report.
"The site, located on a bluff just south of Bandon, OR"
"Go over there and give us a first hand report."
Exactly what bluff, LOL
We've been telling them here at FR for years now that the earliest migrants came by sea probably before or during the last Ice Age. If I was in a freezing cold boat of some kind I'd want to put ashore wherever I could to build a fire, whip up some Pleistocene equivalent of cioppino or oysters Rockefeller and rest for the next stage of the trip south to the warm country.
The oldest human remains in California, maybe in North America, were found just a few miles from where I live in the Channel Islands. Arlington Springs Woman So was a pygmy mammoth (which seems to excite researchers much more than the significant human remains!)
Working on that assumption it might be wise (to paraphrase Sam Kinnison) to Go Where the Artifacts Are!
Could be. I think Ainus/Polynesian likely. They were likely the first to come to the Americas.
I've often wondered if they knew going south would lead to warm weather.
"The oldest human remains in California, maybe in North America, were found just a few miles from where I live in the Channel Islands. Arlington Springs Woman."
Arlington Springs Woman is the oldest skeleton ever found in the Americas. Previous to this accurate dating Luzia (Brazil) was the oldest.
"So was a pygmy mammoth (which seems to excite researchers much more than the significant human remains!)"
Some believe those pygmy mammoth bones had been cooked.
I agree.
If you'll take the Journey Of Mankind developed from DNA studies by professor Stephen Oppenheimer, you'll see that he places humans at Meadowcroft 25,000 years ago and then, they became isolated there during the Last Glacial Maximum(LGM) 18-23,000 years ago. I think these were from Jomon/Ainu stock. These people also likely contained the so called X-gene (European).
Also, Keep in mind that the oldest (undisputed) Mongoloid skeleton ever found is only 10k years old. (Re: Oppenheimer)
There's no way to ever truly know, of course, but I think they did. Those ancients were close observers of nature and I'm convinced they understood at least the essentials of celestial navigation and the north/south climate concept. Also I believe their travels weren't simply one way, and after the first hardy souls arrived south of the ice, some went back to spread the word.
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