Archaeologist's Find Could Shake Up Science (Topper Site)

SP Times ^ | 1-7-2007 | Heather Urquides

[blam]

Archaeologist's find could shake up science

By HEATHER URQUIDES
Published January 7, 2007

Archaeologist Albert Goodyear is working on the find of his life.

Based on radiocarbon tests and artifacts he's found along the Savannah River in South Carolina, Goodyear believes that humans existed in North America as many as 50,000 years ago, shattering the long-held notion that the earliest settlers arrived here about 13,000 years ago in Alaska via a lost land bridge.

Not everyone is convinced, but Goodyear believes further excavation and testing at the South Carolina location, known as the Topper site, will confirm his findings.

He's taking a break next week to come to St. Petersburg for a talk at the Science Center about Florida's first inhabitants. It's a coming home for him. After all, it was here that his interest in all things old first began.

You're from St. Petersburg?

I was born in St. Petersburg. I went to Boca Ciega High School, graduated in 1964.

What drew to you archeology?

I think it was in second grade, at Mount Vernon Elementary, we had a unit on Florida heritage. You study the state tree and the bird and all that, and we studied the Seminole Indians. I was really captivated. I thought, 'Hmm, that's the way to live.' I think that sort of predisposed me. When I was 8, my grandmother pulled out an old family trunk with an Indian arrowhead. That really fired up my imagination.

Your work at the Topper site in South Carolina showed that humans existed in North America far earlier than previously thought. Why does that matter?

People, just regular people, are extremely interested. ... I think it taps into a deep curiosity that humans have about their origins. I don't care whether you're in France or South Africa or South Carolina.

Do you think the Topper site will be your greatest discovery or is that yet to come?

I hope it is. Not just for our site, but for the sake of the program. The profession is slowly moving along to accept that there really were people here before the Clovis (roughly 13,000 years ago). The Topper site is unique ... it looks to me like it's the oldest radiocarbon site in North America. That's a huge statement. We're still working on it. Just to have literally found a site of that antiquity, the implications are just enormous. It does say, if it's that old, that people were getting into the United States the same time they were getting into Australia. That's part of that very old migration story. Literally, if it all works out, and I'm convinced that it will, obviously it will be the find of my lifetime.

What's it like to now be the one that people come to listen to?

It comes with the notoriety of the Topper site. ... People are curious about it and want to know what it is, and is it true? I try to cover that when I give these presentations. For me it's fun. It's pretty gratifying because I've always liked working with the public - especially amateur archeologists, since I started out as one.

Heather Urquides can be reached at hurquides@sptimes.com or 892-2253.

If you go

What: Albert Goodyear talks about "Florida's First Peoples"

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Where: Science Center, 7701 22nd Ave. N

Details: Tickets are $6. For more information, go to www. sciencecenterofpinellas.com or call 384-0027.

[SengirV]

True, I should have said young earth/universe creationists.

[DOGEY]

Since this was the remnants of created artifacts, and would come from her productive middle age period, they actually quite later than when she was "born".

Makes sense. She looks older than that.

[RobbyS]

About how many of you are in the field? I mean anthropology. How much money is behind your investigations?

[Coyoteman]

About how many of you are in the field? I mean anthropology. How much money is behind your investigations?

We're a small private company. We have clients ranging from people building single family dwellings to government agencies.

[norton]

"Until the recent challenges to the Clovis theory, it was unusual for archaeologists to dig deeper than the layer of the Clovis culture, on the grounds that no human artifacts would be found older than Clovis."

Mostly true?

I'd say it defined the current state of scientific academia quite well...
My/our theory maintains that...(the earth is flat/square/roundish/tarnished, warming/cooling/flipping over/over populated/under populated/ whatever is popular)....and dissent will NOT be tolerated!

[little jeremiah]

Thanks.

There are a lot of "old earth" creationists! ;-)

[timer]

The 6000 year figure was arrived at by a certain irish bishop named Ushur, using the bible as the only data-set of his scientific study. His middle name was probably MURPHY. This proves once again what Marilyn Von Savant(IQ 230)said : You can convince a 5 year old(in sunday school)of ANYTHING, and a 95 year old of NOTHING.

[therut]

Would that mean the Indians wiped out the white man first. And instead of us stealing and occupying their land we were just reclaiming what was ours from the beginning. No surely NOT. The only one who will care will be the liberals as their myth story will have to change in their religion.

[therut]

Well not really. Not all creationists believe the earth is 6 millon years old. Most probably believe in some aspect of evolution of all of evolution and still find it compatable with The Creation.

[RobbyS]

Question: three hundred years ago, the Appalachians were covered with very tall trees, most of which were cut down as part of settelment. How much of the deposit along rivers running into the Atlantic is that recent?

[RobbyS]

Is that why there are so many toy dinosairs in Toys R Us?

[Coyoteman]

Question: three hundred years ago, the Appalachians were covered with very tall trees, most of which were cut down as part of settelment. How much of the deposit along rivers running into the Atlantic is that recent?

Sorry, I know nothing about that part of the country. My area is the western US.

[2111USMC]

Ping to 28

[2111USMC]

ROFLMAO!

[timer]

LOL Kids are fascinated by BIG dinosaUrs, maybe it has to do with our reptilian lower brains and the feminine nesting urge.

[RobbyS]

But dinosaurs are not, lik elephants, for instance, living animals. I think kids take to them because, like dragons, they are the things of myth.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks Blam.

To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. Thanks.

Please FREEPMAIL me if you want on or off the
"Gods, Graves, Glyphs" PING list or GGG weekly digest
-- Archaeology/Anthropology/Ancient Cultures/Artifacts/Antiquities, etc.
Gods, Graves, Glyphs (alpha order)

[blam]

"Question: three hundred years ago, the Appalachians were covered with very tall trees, most of which were cut down as part of settelment. How much of the deposit along rivers running into the Atlantic is that recent?"

Renfield, can you answer this question for RobbyS?

[timer]

Ah yes, the power of MYTH : chinese dragons = dinosaur skeletons : vampires = rabies : Noah = hurricane : Greek Gods = greek wannabes : Aryan superiority = hitler's self deception : Sherlock Holmes = the detective in all of us.

There was an excellent show on PBS by a philosopher : The Power of Myth, some years ago. All cultures have essentially the same myth of the HERO going forth and slaying the dragon/beast, and rescuing the fair maiden in the process.

It comes from the deep neanderthal-past : cro-magnon as the brave hunter taking on mastodons/big critters, and bringing home the bacon; ginned up into LEGENDS and MYTHS.

[gleeaikin]

"Three hundred years ago, the Appalachians were covered with very tall trees"

Actually, there were significantly large areas such as the Shenandoah Valley, and the Barrens of Kentucky which had been burned out by the Indians and were maintained in a grassland state as a Buffalo common for all to hunt on. Don't know what changes there were as a result of European settlers, except that they killed off the buffalo.

Regarding the common age of 50 thousand years ago (kya) as a possible age for the Topper Site, and the Australian settlement.

Around 74 kya, the great Toba Caldera was formed by a gigantic volcanic eruption (18 miles by 65 miles in diameter). Scientists now believe that human kind was reduced to no more than 5 or 10,000 individuals. There was also a significant worsening of the ice age. Then around 50 kya we begin to find significant traces of a resurgent human population. It therefore makes sense that human remains would start to show up in many places again after all that time. My question: What will they find if they start looking to before 74 kya for remains?

Regarding scientific orthodoxy: Yes, the attitude of nothing before Clovis was widely held and dissent was strongly discouraged. No grant money? This was the same attitude held by the archeology establishment regarding undersea archeology, despite the fact that most major settlements are built near the ocean or where rivers enter the sea. Since sea levels for much of the past 100 ky was 300-400 feet lower than it is now, it stands to reason there must be interesting things there. Graham Hancock has spearheaded inquiries in this direction. Now all kinds of research is being done along various coast lines. Can't wait to see what the next 10 years dredges up.