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."
Sheeshe!
I really misread the title mistaking underwater with underwear and I noticed the 9,000 year old ‘stone’ reference.
and thought ???????????
Good article bad skimming by me...
9k years?
Not that exciting considering the rocks they’re sitting on are around 4.5 billion years old.
That obsidian flow is pretty neat, went there a few years back.
https://www.usgs.gov/volcanoes/newberry/big-obsidian-flow
PING
So they show us a picture of bubbles? I suppose that resolutely concludes that they are underwater, but not much else.
9,000-year-old stone tool artifacts ... 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
At 9,000 years (7,000 BC) the were made long after the Ice Age ended and after the Younger Dryas Event (10,800BC- 9,800BC) which ended 2,800 years prior.
Drive by writing.
I believe that the most significant fact concerning these obsidian artifacts is that their original source was on the West Coast, in Oregon and was found in the Great Lakes.
Lithic artifacts moved considerable distances during the Paleoindian era, but mostly from the East toward the West, with many of them ending up in caches that were never recovered in antiquity. This tells us that ancient people in the Great Lakes traded with people from the West Coast, or that there was a trading network that connected these people to exchange this obsidian.
The clinton's claimed their underwear too .... and there are stupid people in the world accepting THAT.
SUVs around Lake Huron 9000 years ago buried these artifacts in rising ocean levels???
Oh those evil cave dwellers!
or Noah’s flood had a current
obsidian flakes are tools ?
—
Yes they have razor sharp edges and if an edge breaks its very easy to make a new edge. The were used for every thing from weapons - spear, arrow, axe - to hide scrapers and meat cutters.
That's about 2485 miles away !
They chose a site almost 2500 miles away to chip the obsidian/ chert into projectile points or some other form ?
Possibly demonstrates some form of trade in existence some 9,000 years ago ?
Nope.
The most significant fact is that the water level rose that much with no burning of fossil fuels and no SUVs.
Now, that’s a supply chain!
It’s not like any single person is likely to have carried obsidian all the way to Lake Huron from Oregon, but like today, they probably had raw material suppliers, distributor, manufacturer, and retail, trading the whole way.
Just like a modern free market economy.
I found a piece of obsidian when I was in 2nd grade in Trenton NJ. I showed it to my teacher/nun and she told me what it was. Wish I still had it. I also found some when I was at NTC (Mojave). I have a box of flint and chert from there
The indians must have gotten lost...
“Many moons ago, tribe leave Massachusetts because Pilgrims ruin neighborhood! Tribe travel west, over stream, over river, over mountain, over mountain, over river, over stream!
Then come big day... tribe fall over cliff. That when Hekawi get name. Medicine man say to my ancestor, “I think we lost. Where the heck are we?”.
“Where the heck are we?” became “We’re the Hekawi”
Ping
...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.
—
The see was 100 feet lower before the series of meltwater pulses following the end of the last Ice Age. 10,000 years ago these was no North Sea. England was attached to Europe in a single landmass.
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