Posted on 08/17/2004 6:05:45 PM PDT by blam
RAWLINGS, Md. -- Robert D. Wall is too careful a scientist to say he's on the verge of a sensational discovery. But the soybean field where the Towson University anthropologist has been digging for more than a decade is yielding hints that someone camped there, on the banks of the Potomac River, as early as 14,000 B.C. If further digging and carbon dating confirm it, the field in Allegany County could be among the oldest and most important archaeological sites in the Americas.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
GGG Ping.
There's so much we don't know. Interesting discoveries made every day.
golden plates...quick call Mr. Smith
Ping!
Here in eastern MA, there's a small, underground cave lined with fieldstone...under what would have been colonial farmland. Local legend and some poking around by a Harvard historian/archeologist a few years ago says it dates back to the Stone Age. Who knows? But this is one small town, nothing important...and it makes you wonder what knowledgeable people would find in other places.
bumparunie
bump
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Thanks. Interesting read.
If enough of these are found and confirmed by competent researchers, it is going to impossible to deny. And once denial is pushed aside, and 'legitimacy' granted, who knows how much work will be able to be done, and what will be found.
Not all the "fossils" are buried yet.
Too bad carbon dating isn't reliable past 5,000 years otherwise this would be all the more interesting.
Actually the low end of carbon 14 dating is on the order of 50,000 years.
bump
The ruins at North Salem, NH seem to be 3000 years old and European. The round stone structure in Florida is fairly old, too, although I don't recall what the date was. The cave could be related. If there was one site, why couldn't there be more?
Exactly. If one site, why not more? Every time the house and land here in Harvard is sold, there's talk about closing it up so little kids won't go in and dislodge stones, hitting themselves in the head, but so far this cave is just there. People keep quiet about it, although anthropologists know it's there.
If you're talking about the Miami Circle, it's only about 2,000 years old.
Oh, sorry. Didn't mean to bring up current events.
"Actually the low end of carbon 14 dating is on the order of 50,000 years."
No. 5,000 years is as accurate as it can get because we have enough knowledge to make the necessary adjustments. Since we lack knowledge beyond that - climate etc. it's guesswork.
Well you are wrong. Carbon dating is routinely used throughout archealogy, paleontology, and other sciences for dating far beyond 5,000 years. We have plenty of other callibration tools such as tree rings and ice cores that continually provide confirmation of the accuracy of carbon dating.
"Well you are wrong. Carbon dating is routinely used throughout archealogy, paleontology, and other sciences for dating far beyond 5,000 years. We have plenty of other callibration tools such as tree rings and ice cores that continually provide confirmation of the accuracy of carbon dating."
Imagine what you like but carbon dating is not reliable beyond 5000 years. It's sheer guesswork. It maybe "routine" however this doesn't make it accurate.
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