Posted on 08/19/2008 9:53:04 AM PDT by SunkenCiv
Jarrod Barker... The Port Dover man has found several teeth in the shallow water along the shore of Lake Erie -- teeth that may be more than 10,000 years old. Barker is an avocational archeologist, someone who takes an interest in historic finds, but doesn't have a licence or formal training. He makes a habit of walking along the beach or in the surf with his head down, which is how he found the teeth... Barker's interest in archaeology was piqued after he dropped out of university and got a job on a ginseng farm... he took his finds to Gary Warrick, associate professor of indigenous studies at Laurier Brantford. Warrick said all the points Barker found turned out to be naturally-shaped chert, the rock used to make ancient arrowheads... Barker searched around and found an archaeologist who knows about fossils: Dan Walker, assistant state archeologist for Wyoming. Walker has held that position since 1975, and he specializes in fossilized animal remains dating back to the last Ice Age... the next three teeth Walker identified as probably belonging to a Pleistocene horse. The Pleistocene epoch lasted from 1.8 million to the end of the last Ice Age. The period ended with a mass extinction of large animals, including sabre-tooth cats, mammoths, mastodons and horses... fossilized horse teeth like Barker's are either a few hundred years old or more than 10,000 years old.
(Excerpt) Read more at brantfordexpositor.ca ...
???
Pleistocene man lugging his horse carcasses back south? Do you have some evidence of that? Or any evidence that would demonstrate the statement you bolded is false?!?
I can believe that there might have been pre-Clovis settlement to the north, wiped out by the Ashtabula advance (my terminology might be old...haven’t been in this field for a while). But I don’t know of evidence of it.
But to let my mind range free --
Lug the carcass back and forth? No, but skins and meat, the long bones for tools and splints would not be beyond their utilization. There is evidence that early man crossed from Asia to N. America on the land bridge that existed during the ice Age, and we know that some animals migrate both from cold to warm and warm to cold. Polar bears will move on if the temps get too high.
So, is it beyond possibility? My point being that all to often we see those who should investigate more thoroughly discount and ignore things that don't match their expectations.
There's no evidence that Pleistocene horses migrated further north than southern Ohio and western Virginia, putting Ontario out of their range.
Now there possibly is.
Don’t forget, Vikings made it into central Minnesota early enough to leave graffiti.
That’s because they landed at Vineland, New Jersey, made wine with the grapes, and needed some cheese! (So they missed Wisconsin by a little. Dead reckoning is so unreliable !!)
LOL
I often beach comb on horse back. I can get a larger view of the area at a good clip.
Although I do worry about somebody finding my teeth on the beach if my horse stumbles when we are at full gallop.
Ummmm...my first “find” on my first dig resulted in me digging up some Roman floor tiles (Samian ware), but then I found something I couldn’t quite place and it looked really cool...I was really stoked and thought that I had found something really cool...it turned out to be a horse tooth!;-)
Woo Hoo! That’s hilarious!
Which made the Vikings Vandals....
ping
Its me- from the article re: ice age horse teeth.
Some of you (fascist hawks! LOL) have decided to concentrate on the negative aspects propagated by the media (self interested doves).....”dropped out of university” does not mean “quackery” or worse: drug induced, patchouli stinkin’, disengaging music listening, tree hugging. Well I have hugged a tree once but thats beyond the scope of this reply. The article did not mention my return to college, the years I worked in the dentistry profession,my upcoming album based on my show in Los Angeles in April nor my current role in R and D at a bioscience company.
Ahem. Now I feel a bit better.
Now the facts: at least 1/2 of the artifacts I have saved from being lost due to wave erosion are just that, artifacts. These have been identified by the Ministry of Heritage and Culture, and independent professional and avocational archaeologists.
I have personally found more than one clovis point and associated unifacially flaked scrapers. I want to emphasize that two of the teeth were inland finds, kilometers away from the shoreline. Which goes against the suggested explaination by some of the brain trust at the ROM: teeth deposited on the shoreline from the ballast tanks of european freighters travelling Lake Erie! Now that is some hypotheses! Occams razor anyone?
I encourage you all to think twice about judging someones potential based on a skewed media article meant to discredit the discovery i.m.h.o. and protect someones bottom line.
I invite those of you who are legitimately interested in the truth behind the peopling of this great continent we inhabit to view my posts and posts from others like me at
www.archaeologyfieldwork.com
JBarker
Sept 12, 2008
As every archaeologists in “the know” knows, farms cover up major archaeological sites. I pursued that job strategically. Dr Warrick holds archaeology degrees not indigenous studies degrees, he is a world renown archaeologist working closely with South African authorities and has authored many books and texts regarding the first nations of Ontario.
Dr Walker has one of the largest ice age or pleistocene if you prefer repositories in the world. He is a go to for many researchers. None of us smell like patchouli.
Dang...first it was zebra mussels...now we can't be safe from an invasion of nonindiginous teeth! What's the world coming to?! ;-)
On a serious note...What interest does the ROM or the Brantford press have in this? Why would they want these finds discredited? Do you have a quaternary geologist looking at this?
Horse Feathers!
At least those will be carbon-dated, but of course, they could be from a different horse... ;’)
The ROM had an interest because I thought they would want to study the remains and the site. Maybe get a geologist interested etc. in identifying the teeth/site. Originally I thought they were bison teeth based on the information I had at my disposal. Needless to say, the newspaper reporter wanted to ensure that I wasnt some shady quack and wanted to get some facts. The importance of discovering pre spanish contact horse remains in Ontario should not be understated. I have recently learned of a culling policy in effect during the 19th century that may have been responsible for thousands and thousands of wild possibly indigenous horse deaths. Relations between natives and non natives in some areas of my province remain tense. This may be a sensitive issue. Even so, its science and these finds are important.
Im still looking for that geologist. I have offered to show the sites and artifacts to the ROM and have offered to send items for study. Its hard to get others interested in someone else’s finds but im optimistic. There may be lots out here to be discovered by accredited pro’s. Let ‘em rip!
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