Four Stone Hearth XXII @ Hominin Dental Anthropology

The latest edition of the anthropology blog carnival 4SH has gone live over at HDA, so many thanks to Jason for putting it all together. I'm glad to say that it's once again an excellent compilation, and I discovered a couple of very interesting looking sites I hadn't previously encountered, namely Archaeozoology and Primate Diaries.


As ever, all the entries are worth reading, so head on on over to Hominin Dental Anthropology to check them out.

Next stop for Four Stone Hearth is at John Hawks, a couple of weeks from now, on September 12th, see you all there.

image - teeth of Ardipithecus kadabba from here

Researchers Say Italy's 5,000-year-old Iceman Died From Head Trauma, Not Arrow

The International Herald Tribune is running a story detailing research into what exactly killed Ötzi, the enigmatic man whose 5,200 year-old preserved body was found eroding out of the ice, high in an alpine pass in 1991.

There has been much written recently about the flint arrow-head lodged in his shoulder, and it had been commonly supposed that a ruptured artery resulting from the injury would have caused him to bleed to death. But now there is speculation that a blow to the head may have been the coup de grace, dealt by his unknown assailant, after the arrow had already been fired. As we see...


"...radiologists, pathologists and other researchers, using new forensic information and CAT scans, said Tuesday they believed that the blood loss from the arrow wound only made Ötzi lose consciousness. They believe he died either by hitting his head on a rock when he passed out or because his aggressor attacked him again with a blow to the head...

...In a statement Tuesday, the academy said the findings reopened the debate over Ötzi's cause of death, particularly since they took into account the rather unnatural way in which his body was found: face down, with his left arm across his chest.

The researchers believe the Iceman fell over backward, but was then turned over onto his stomach by his aggressor who then pulled out the arrow shaft while leaving the arrowhead embedded in Ötzi's shoulder."


In previous posts, I've discussed the way in which it was believed that the Copper Age Tyrolean was injured in a skirmish down in one of the valleys, and had fled upward to the mountain pass, before succumbing to his wounds, and dying alone.

This newly proposed scenario paints a different picture, whereby his assailant - and that might be plural, because traces of more than one other individual's blood was found on Ötzi - was up there with him in the high mountains.

The linked report details how Ötzi appears to have come form a privileged class, as there were no signs that he had been engaged in manual labour - I imagine this would have been inferred by the lack of any pathology such as arthritis showing up in his skeleton.

However, it is apparent that we was not killed for his possessions, including what would have been a very valuable copper axe, as they were not taken, and moreover, those very same possessions weren't scattered around the site of his death, but appear to have been carefully put in their place.

see also: Iceman 'Bled To Death On Glacier'

South Tyrol Museum Of Archaeology

image from Afarensis

Binnall Of America : Audio Season 2 - Round-Up, Part 1

I had intended to make up for not writing some of the show reviews of Tim Binnall's audio Season Two, by reviewing them one by one in the close season,but I've realised that there are actually many more shows than I'd recalled, and that to review fully each show individually would probably mean I'd still be writing them by the time Season 3 has come to an end.

I haven't included any links other than to Tim Binnall's Season Two page, as details, links, reviews and the sound files themselves are all freely available and accessible from there, and by clicking on the links for each particular show.

So I'm very briefly going to look at one or two highlights of a Season that was packed full of interesting guests, partly to give a flavour of what went before, and hopefully to the whet the appetite for what's to come in Season 3, slated for launch some time this coming Autumn. With 25 guests between them contributing to a total of 31 episodes, it's difficult to know which details to include and exclude, so apologies in advance to anyone who feels unfairly unmentioned or under-represented; however I should remind readers that the linked page has all details of all the shows, including a brief write-up covering the salient points, and moreover that all the shows, including those from Season 1 are all still available - for free, in marked contrast to many other esoteric audio-offerings that are subscription only. To check each episode in chronological order, scroll down to the bottom of the linked page and work your way upwards through time.

The first two guests, Jim Marrs and Paul Kimball are so well known that I think I can get away with the mere mention of their names, as there is vast and extensive coverage of them elsewhere on the .Net, including their own considerable bodies of work in print, film and audio. Jim Marrs is the author of numerous books, such as 'Alien Agenda', with conspiracies from JFK to aliens and 9/11 featuring prominently, as well as hosting the occasional show on Dreamland.

For his part, Paul Kimball is an independent film-maker, and somewhat improbably, is actually a relation through marriage of Mr. Stanton Friedman - although it has to be said, there is much upon which they disagree. Kimball is openly critical of many aspects of ufology, and expresses a general preference that ufos and related phenomena should be studied more objectively and scientifically.

Dennis Spaulding, the third guest spoke about his experiences in trying to track down the afterlife and contact various souls therein, along with discussing mediums and some of the stuff they get up to - this isn't an area of research familiar to me, and I've never been that convinced of the validity of those who claim to be able to contact the 'other side' - nevertheless, the guest had plenty to say, and made for a good show - whilst largely anecdotal, and you have to take it or reject at face value what researchers such as Spaulding have to say, but he sounded like someone with a genuine interest in his field of research.

Scott Corales is the 'chupacabra man', or at least that's how I think of him - he runs the 'Inexplicata' website - and has, over the years gathered a considerable body of evidence to suggest that not only are people seeing weird animals pop up unexpectedly, but on occasion are finding their odd-looking corpses as well, although as far as I'm aware, there are no chupacabra remains that have been positively identified as such, and in any case, they are not listed in the official animal kingdom, so identifying one would be problematic. The chupacabra enigma seems largely to occur in Latin America, in distinct waves or 'flaps', and although there are reports of eggs, hair, tissue and blood having been collected, no conclusive DNA tests have been forthcoming as yet. He also reports on Latin American 'ovnis', the Spanish language equivalent of ufos.

Next up, Paola Harris, an Italian UFO researcher, who spends much of her time energetically liaising between European researchers, as well as those from the US, from whence the vast majority hail, and elsewhere in the world - she believes field research is of prime importance, and that witnesses to unusual sightings etc, should be interviewed personally by researchers - as she says, there is no sponsorship money in ufology, whereas she opines that various 'black ops' agencies, whom she believes are back-engineering alien tech., are funded by the government or military. Her main concern, shared with Tim Binnall, is that there are no young people jumping on the UFO trail, as they are disillusioned and generally dissuaded from pursuing the subject, some preoccupied with 9/11. Good show, with no less than 3 parts to wrap your ears around.

I seem to recall that I wrote up this next show, the guest on which was Bart Sibrel, who is convinced that the Apollo moon landings were a hoax, partly due, in his opinion,to the fact that outer Space is far too hazardous an environment in which a human could survive, especially with all that solar radiation - I tend to believe that astronauts did make it to the Moon - apparently there is a mirror somewhere on the lunar surface, which is used by people here on Earth with lasers to measure something or other, so I suppose someone must have positioned it there - but some of the arguments put forward by Sibrel are compelling.

Bill Ryan kicked of part 1 of the next episode, reporting on what he knew about the Project SERPO hoax, which was floating around during 2006 - it basically involved a series of online posts, purporting to reveal that human astronauts had visited an alien planet, with aliens, lived there for a while, before most of them returned to Earth, as part of some kind of exchange package. To me the entire saga seemed far-fetched at best, with 'preposterous' running a close second, and not even very interesting. I'm not sure of the current state of play there, but I get the impression that no-one is awaiting further SERPO updates.

He was joined in the second part by Kerry Cassidy of the Camelot Project, an effort to persuade 'whistleblowers' to commit what they have seen, heard or experienced to video-interview, which sounds to me like a mighty hard job - not only in getting such people in front of a camera in the first place, but then convincing others of the veracity of those interviews - they address the possibility of being hoaxed by wily miscreants, but their vetting process is largely subjective - which means they also reject pursuing investigations with certain candidates who to them don't appear to be authentic - good show, once again.

The Christmas show saw an appearance by the great-grandfather of ufology, Stanton Friedman, nuclear physicist and ufo investigator on a mission - he's been chasing stories since at least the 1960s, so as well as being clued-up on all the major, and probably most of the minor issues, he is also by default a historian of the field. If you wanted a guide tour of the Black-Ops Museum/vast military complex etc, where they keep all the downed craft, alien technology and the like, he'd be the guy to talk you through the tour.

The last show of 2006 saw new Mutual UFO Network director Jim Carrion in the hot-seat, as he explained the role of his job, the nature of the organisation under his wing, one of the aims of which is to investigate alleged alien abductions, under the aegis of Project Ambient.

Into the New Year, and it's time for John Greenewald to step up, to represent about a half of the entire ufo investigative corps which is under the age of 30 - Tim Binnall, his host and interviewer, being the other guy. This interview was divided into four parts over two weekends, largely because Greenewald has collated such a voluminous amount of research on ufology, and has plenty to say regarding his ongoing compilation.

They begin Part 1 by looking at how since the age of about 15, Greenewald has been on a one-man mission to track down and make available on his website, as much official documentation as he can lay his hands on, under the Freedom of Information Act - which must cost him a small fortune in postage fees alone. There are hundreds of thousands of pages of documents currently on his Blackvault.com site, probably far more material than one man could comfortably read in a life-time. A major problem with this material is that large numbers of the documents have all the 'interesting' parts blacked out - sometimes by word, line or paragraph, but in many of the ufo cases, entire pages are completely blanked out, all of which adds conspirational grist to the alien mill.

Part 2 sees Greenewald discussing his Project Preserve History, running at his site, the continuing problem of the ageing population that comprises ufology - Greenewald believes that many younger people have become too engrossed in following the 9/11 story, although my impression of that field is that they are just as old as the ufo contingent - a point of minor interest, and mentioned on another show, is that there is little love lost between the ufo and 9/11 conspiracy camps, which bearing in mind that both groups concern themselves with imputed government cover-ups at the highest level, might raise some eyebrows. TB also makes mention of his first ever audio interview, conducted by Red Ice Radio, but to listen to that in full, a subscription is required - another good show, expect to hear plenty more from John Greenewald in the future.

Jerry Smith appeared for the 17th February edition, and up for discussion this week was 'weather warfare', which naturally featured a segment on project HAARP, the much maligned US project that has been accused of all sorts of shenanigans over the years. Making his second appearance on the show, he discussed his new book, which is the result of his investigations into how HAARP has been developed as a military weapon, able to be used, for example, against enemies by means of tinkering with the weather to cause floods and droughts, plus a whole range of other mean tricks, up to and including mind control, or mind destruction, depending on your take - the Star Wars Defense Initiative and DARPA also get a mentions here. Very interesting show, which aptly demonstrates how fact, fiction, technology, myth and rumour can combine to create a heady mixture of informed discussion, wild speculation and overall mystification as to exactly what such projects are designed to do, if indeed they actually exist.

Described as Turkey's first female ufologist, Farah Yurdozu was another guest making her debut on the show, and naturally the subject and history of ufos in Turkey was on the agenda, as well as topics such as the so-called Noah's Ark structure which has had various investigators clambering up Mt. Ararat in Turkey over the years. Further discussion included underground cities in Turkey - it has been suggested that they might have been constructed - a popular theory has it that these subterranean dwellings allowed humans to hide for aliens hovering high above - Turkish creation myths relate stories of visitors from the stars, as well as a shape-shift wolf that speaks to humans, leading to the wolf being seen as a protector of the Turkish nation. Good, informative offering.

Paul Schatzkin followed the weekend after, with television as the focus of the debate, and the role of one Philo T. Farnsworth, as well as the politics and and debates in the early days as to what TV should be. Overall, it's effectively an account of an inventor who never gained the acknowledgement for the inventiveness and creativity of his achievements, and is today a more or less unknown figure. Interesting indeed.

Time for the big guns to be wheeled out again, as Mac Tonnies, live from Cydonia, and speaking down a remarkably clear phone line, considering the distance involved, talked us through his early career and motivations for becoming interested and involved in the fields of esoterica. His earlier book 'After The Martian Apocalypse' was discussed, and there are persistent rumours that he is due to publish another book later this year or maybe next.

After discussing 'cryptoterrestrials', they move on to the way in which the media treats the entire subject of the 'unknown', its typical response to pour scorn and cold water on anyone wishing to discuss esoteric subjects with any degree of seriousness or intent - he believes that is a key reason why a new generation of younger investigators, ready to take up the cudgels when the current generation retires, has failed to materialise - Tonnies himself is in his early 30s, putting him in the same age bracket as Binnall and John Greenewald. Many will sympathise with the view that the extremely patronising attitude taken by mainstream media, which concentrates heavily on 'debunking'. Tonnies also calls for more scientists to be able to become involved in research, without feeling they are risking professional suicide by doing so.

In this respect, I quite agree, and I would further add that one direction in which Tin Binnall's show might go in the future would be to include interviews with real scientists - not necessarily to push any type of agenda, but more to discuss what might or might not be possible, given what we know of subjects like quantum physics, cosmology and related areas of research - people like Michio Kaku, Martin Reese, Brian Greene etc, plus a host of other very talented and articulate scientists, who ight just have a great deal of insight and informed opinion to offer; at some point, science and some aspects of esoterica should be able to combine to solve, or at least discuss and investigate in a meaningful way, some of the pressing problems that everywhere abound. Of course, there is almost no funding for science which addresses esoterica, a major obstacle for those wishing to meld the two, and although that situation might change in due course, there's not much sign so far.

This concludes what has turned out to be Part 1 of this review of Season 2 - there are another 10 guests still to go, as well as some further comment on related matters from myself.

Binnall of America - Season Two

Discovery of the Lost City of Apollo at Stonehenge

Back in February, I wrote up a story that the missing altar-stone of Stonehenge had reportedly been tracked down by archaeologist Dennis Price, and this week comes news that he believes he has found the location of the fabled and 'lost' City of Apollo. Details from 'This Is Wiltshire', in response to an article that was posted on his website, 'Eternal Idol', back in July...

Dennis Price, who is an expert on the history of Stonehenge and who used to work with Wessex Archaeology, believes the lost city of Apollo is located at King's Barrow Ridge, overlooking Stonehenge. The lost city is believed by many to be mythical but, after working with language experts at Exeter University, Mr Price is convinced the city exists and that it is right here on the outskirts of Salisbury.

The team painstakingly deciphered the works of an ancient Greek mariner named Pytheas of Massilia. For an explanation of why Price believes Pytheas may be referring to Stonehenge in his writings, we're next off to the 'Eternal Idol' website, where further details have been written up...

The first person known to have visited ancient Britain and to have left an account of his travels was the Greek mariner Pytheas of Massilia, who came to this island in around 325 BC. His original report, entitled 'On the Ocean', has not come down to us in its entirety, but fragments have survived in the writings of later authors such as Hecateus of Abdera and Diodorus Siculus, who composed his famous history in the first century BC.

The most famous and tantalising fragment of this history has long been thought to refer to Stonehenge, and it is not difficult to see why when we examine the passage speaking of a wonderful discovery on the Island of Hyperborea, or Britain:

“And there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple decorated with many offerings…spherical in shape [and] a city is there which is sacred to this god… and the kings of this city and the supervisors of the sacred precinct are called Boreades, since they are descendants of Boreas…”

It has previously been suggested that Pytheas may have been referring to the standing stones at Callanish, up in Orkney, or even Silbury Hill, elsewhere in Wiltshire, the site of a recently discovered Roman settlement. However, as he points out, none of these are 'spherical' in shape, but neither is Stonehenge. One other notable, and visibly stunning construction that would have been visible during these times is Newgrange, over in Eire, but as far as I can see, no account is taken of this possibility, and as far as I know there is no ancient city that has been rumoured to exist or found at that location, either, but others might contend that it might be worth taking into consideration. Price is fairly convinced that Pytheas is referring to the British mainland when speaking of Hyperborea, referring to the following quote from Diodorus Siculus...

“Of those who have written about the ancient myths, Hecateus and certain others say that in the regions beyond the land of the Celts (Gaul) there lies in the ocean an island no smaller than Sicily. This island, the account continues, is situated in the north, and is inhabited by the Hyperboreans, who are called by that name because their home is beyond the point whence the north wind blows…”

The reference to the size of Sicily again suggests somewhere on the scale of Ireland rather than Britain, but that's just my opinion - here's some further comment from Dennis Price...

By the time that Diodorus Siculus was writing, Britain was well known, as Caesar had attempted to invade the island twice in 55 and 54 BC, while a recent discovery of a Roman coin in Cornwall has been dated to 146 BC. However, Diodorus Siculus spells out that he is writing of ancient accounts of visits to this island, while a Roman writer named Avienus speaks of a Massiliote seaman in 525 BC who described Britain as “The Land of the Albiones”.

It is clear that The Land of the Prettanike, Britannia, Albion, the Land of the Albiones and Hyperborea were all one and the same place, as opposed to the mysterious Ultima Thule, an even more northerly island discovered by Pytheas for which a number of geographical locations have been suggested. Pytheas was undoubtedly referring to structures in Britain and the famous passage has been written about in a serious fashion by reputable publications such as the National Geographic Magazine and British Archaeology, among others, but I’ve been unable to find any truly informed or in-depth study of the original ancient Greek text, which is surprising, considering its huge potential importance......

...When I first read the translation, it seemed to me that there were some ambiguities in this much-quoted passage. When Diodorus writes “And there is also on the island both a magnificent sacred precinct of Apollo and a notable temple decorated with many offerings…” there appears to be a clear distinction between the “magnificent sacred precinct” and the “notable temple”, implying that Pytheas was referring to two separate structures; furthermore, while Stonehenge possesses, or possessed, a striking ring of curved lintels suspended in the air, no one could accurately describe such a thing as being “spherical in shape”.

And whilst Newgrange isn't strictly spherical in shape, its overall appearance is a great deal more spherical than Stonehenge, Callanish or even Silbury Hill, theoretically reflected in the waters of a surrounding ditch - indeed Newgrange seems such a closer fit for this description, I'm surprised to see no mention of it, but Dennis Price evidently disregards it as a possibility...

"...there is no other known structure in Britain from the time of Pytheas’ visit that could reasonably be described as a “magnificent, sacred precinct of Apollo” nor is there a “notable temple, spherical in shape..” Regardless of whether Diodorus was describing one or two structures in this passage, the only one that remotely fits the bill is Stonehenge.

So although he could be correct in saying that there might not have been anything else on the British mainland that would fit the description of Pytheas, apart from perhaps Maes Howe, for me Newgrange, faced with glistening white quartz and upwardly spherical in appearance, is at least superficially a much better descriptive fit. It was built before Stonehenge, and probably therefore has an even longer tradition of ceremony than its British counterpart - it is also known as the 'Cave of the Sun', so there is a solar connection there, although the same could be claimed for many other stone circles, although in many cases, as at Stonehenge, there was a lunar component in the alignments as well. Here's a related entry on Wikipedia, regarding John North...

"Despite as many as 20,000 people visiting Stonehenge during the 2005 summer solstice, growing evidence indicates that ancestors did not visit at all in the summer, but rather during the winter solstice. The only megalithic monument in the British Isles to contain a clear, compelling solar alignment is Newgrange which famously faces the winter solstice sunrise. The most recent such evidence includes bones and teeth from pigs that were slaughtered at nearby Durrington Walls, their age at death indicating that they were slaughtered either in December or January every year. Mike Parker Pearson of the University of Sheffield has said "We have no evidence that anyone was in the landscape in summer."

I'm fairly sure the time of year associated with the porcine slaughter has been disputed elsewhere, but it's a good indication as to how there is almost no universal agreement in interpreting any aspect of Stonehenge, or indeed the vast majority of megalithic centres.

Further on in his own essay, Dennis Price relates some details regarding the association of archery and the numerous arrowheads that have been found around Stonehenge, which would appear to bear testament that Apollo, or similar unknown god, associated with both Sun and archery, may have been the focus of ceremonial activity there.

However as we know, the Roman goddess Diana, who would have been known to Pytheas and his Greek compatriots as Artemis, was the huntress, depicted with bow and arrow, and unlike the solar god Apollo, was associated with the Moon, so theoretically it would be just as feasible for her to have been the focus of worshipful attention.

"Apollo was notably a god of archery and this element exists in abundance at Stonehenge. In 1978, the skeleton of a man who died in 2,300 BC was found in the ditch surrounding the ruins, his body pierced by six or more arrows. In May 2002, archaeologists announced the discovery of the grave of “The King of Stonehenge” at nearby Boscombe, although this was more commonly known as the “Amesbury Archer” on account of the sheer number of arrowheads found with him. He was also found buried with the earliest known gold in Britain, a metal that has long been synonymous with the sun, while he had died at the same time as the man buried in the ditch at Stonehenge.

A year later came the discovery of the Builders of Stonehenge, a group of people so-named because tests on their teeth showed that they had most likely originated in south Wales, the home of the famous bluestones. Once more, however, the archaeologists chose to call these people the “Boscombe Bowmen” on account of the number of arrowheads buried with the senior adult in the grave. Recent excavations at Durrington Walls by the Stonehenge Riverside Project show beyond doubt that bizarre displays of archery regularly took place there as part of the funerary ceremonies that were linked with nearby Stonehenge.

The vast majority of the victims of these prehistoric bowmen were young pigs, but at least one human femur has been excavated that shows sign of having been hit by two flint arrowheads. It is generally thought that few arrowheads have been found at Stonehenge itself, but this is to overlook the results of an excavation conducted by the Duke of Buckingham in 1620, when he dug a pit in the centre of Stonehenge and found, among other things “a great many, batter-dashers (presumably clubs, and) heades of arrows…”

But it is the 'city' at Stonehenge, that is possibly the real nature of Vespasian's Camp, which has Price convinced that he is on the right track - to his mind, the temple and the city are referred to as being in close proximity with one another, and if the nearby earthwork can be excavated and conclusive evidence of a large Neolithic or Bronze Age settlement is found there, he may well feel justified in his current efforts to prove his case. At the moment, I don't believe there are any plans to excavate the earthworks, while the more pressing concerns of how to preserve Stonehenge, and similar sites such as Thornborough, which appears to be in imminent danger of destruction from local quarrying activity, continue to rumble on in the background.

My final points would be briefly wonder why NASA dubbed their Moon rockets after the sun god Apollo, instead of Artemis or Diana, but that's already probably been asked about and explained many times over, elsewhere, as well as to ponder why there was no Roman equivalent of the god Apollo - they merely used the same name as the Greeks before them had done.

In any event, there is plenty to read on the Eternal Idol website - the debates over the veracity or otherwise of his claims will doubtless continue long into the night - having worked at and around the site in a professional capacity has obviously endowed him with a good depth of knowledge regarding Stonehenge and its contemporary history, and I'm sure there will be future news regarding his work, which hopefully will be updated on this blog as well.

image from here

El Mirón Cave - Upper Palaeolithic 'Hotel' Of Cantabria

Here's an update on the Cantabrian cave site of El Mirón, the scene of excavations since 1996, when Laurence Straus, of the University of New Mexico, and Manuel González Morales of the University of Cantabria decided that despite the looted and disrupted nature of the cave interior, the site was worth investigating, a hunch that has since paid huge archaeological dividends. This latest report comes from lead author Ana Belén Marín Arroyo, who in conjunction with Straus and others, has been following up on previous work at the cave.

"El Mirón Cave is located in a strategic point next to the access routes to the high zone of the River Asón and has a wide visibility," Arroyo told Discovery News. "It's a mountain settlement next to the coastal plain that would allow a seasonal residential mobility from the coast towards the interior at summer time, coinciding with the migrations of red deer herds to the high altitude grass."

Arroyo, a researcher in the Department of Geography, Prehistory and Archaeology at the Universidad del Pais Vasco in Spain, said engraved red deer shoulder blades, along with images of red deer hinds found at the site were probably "stylistic markers of a regional band."

In this particular study, blackened bones from a room at the rear of the cave were taken away for analysis, to determine whether they had been painted, burned, or attained their colouration through some other process. As we see...

The scientists first determined that the bones belonged to butchered red deer, ibex, roe deer, chamois (a European goat antelope) and small carnivores. The tests revealed the bones had not been painted or burned. Instead, the team determined black staining was due to the presence of manganese oxides and hydroxides. In an amazing bit of detective work, the scientists discovered that abandoned organic matter — basically leftover meat and other food waste — decomposed in the room with the bones. Compounds generated by the process then increased metal solubility and mobility, "favoring the migration of manganese to buried bones."

Based on the timing of this natural decomposition, along with clues provided by deer dental remains, the researchers believe the hunters killed mostly red deer in the spring and summer, during which time they stayed in the cave. They likely occupied the cave's large, well-lit outer vestibule, and used the interior room with the bones as a makeshift place for garbage. From this is can be determined that the cave had been used as a seasonal hunting-camp, hence the comparison with a 'residential hotel', although we assume the Magdalenian hunters didn't have to pay anyone for the privilege of staying there.

Here's some further comment on the site from Julien Riel-Salvatore, writing in November 2006, who opens by referring to the incised deer bone mentioned above...

This is a motif that has been found on similar incised artifacts in other neighboring sites, and bears resemblance to parietal depictions of deer found in neighboring Magdalenian sites as well. This has enabled Straus and his colleague to hypothesize the existence of a relatively tightly bound cultural network defined, among other things, on the basis of shared iconography and stylistic conventions. 16,000 years ago. Very, very neat stuff.

In addition, a sondage at the bottom of the excavated area has revealed the presence of a (so far) undifferentiated Early Upper Paleolithic level dated to about 27 kya (uncalibrated) and Late Mousterian levels going back to 41 kya (uncalibrated). Unfortunately, these lower levels are not very well-known yet, having only been excavated over a very small area, but they're there, which is cool in and of itself. All in all, a fantastic site, one which really gives a good view of diachronic changes in site function, land-use patterns, and 'cultural' traditions.

An interesting detail regarding the actual discovery of the engraved deer, related by Laurence Straus, at this UNM page...

Straus says this art form is typical of the region and the period in which it was created. But the context in which it was found is puzzling. It took time and talent to craft the piece, but it was found in the garbage—along with other bones, spear points, and stone tools. “It’s amazing to me how one of the most spectacular finds of my career was apparently considered disposable trash by the ice age hunters,” says Straus.

As we know, there is a vast amount of archaeological material that has been recovered from all over the world, precisely because much of it was regarded as refuse by the original owners, makers and consumers, little dreaming that people thousands of years into their future would be able to reconstruct details of their lives and environments from discarded remains and artifacts. In the case of El Mirón, archaeological evidence suggests the cave was in use from 41,000 bp to around 10,000 bp in the Late Upper Palaeolithic, and use continued through the Mesolithic, as we see from this final detail on the linked page...

Straus and González Morales have been able to prove that the Mesolithic foragers of the Cantabrian coast didn’t begin to farm, domesticate animals, or use pottery until 5,700 years ago—about 800 years after other nearby groups just over the mountains in the Mediterranean-draining Ebro River Valley. As it is, El Mirón has yielded the oldest evidence for agriculture in northern Atlantic Spain. Because of this, Straus and fellow researchers have wondered why it took the mobile foragers so long to adapt to an agrarian lifestyle.

Straus thinks the thick forests that separated the mountains from the coast 10,000 years ago could have been a major barrier between the two groups, but the large time gap still puzzles him. This and other questions posed by excavation at the El Mirón cave are complex, and for Straus and his students, the hunt for the answers continues.

As Julien suggests in his post, this is an exceptional site, particularly with regard to the tens of millennia that it played host to human foragers, and the amount and types of material that have been retrieved from its depths. Expect to hear more from El Mirón over the years, as further investigations are undertaken.

further reading: The Paleoanthropology of Iberia: A Brief History and Perspective, Parts I & II, by Lawrence Guy Straus

image from here

Native Americans Enlist For Turf And Tribe

The linked article from Christian Science Monitor regarding Native Americans joining the US military, caught my attention, especially the blurb that stated...

"They continue to join the military in larger numbers than almost any other minority group – many out of a sense of tribal duty."

Although Native Americans have a long history of serving in the US military, popularly portrayed since at least the days of Viet Nam, although the story goes back about 200 years, more of which later. I was surprised to learn that they join in higher numbers than any other minority group in the US, especially given how much greatly these people and their ancestors have suffered at the hands of the same governments they now serve, over these past few hundred years.

"In a grassy clearing amid the dusty hills here, (Fort Defiance, Arizona) Donovan Nez bends over a bubbling spring. Mr. Nez, 26, is a Navajo Indian and a former marine. Though he wears his dark hair cropped in a military cut, he looks very much the civilian on this Sunday afternoon. He balances on a fallen log, turning every so often to flash a boyish smile at his younger cousins who cluster behind him on the bank...

...Nez believes his faith and traditions helped bring him back safely from the war. More than that, they help explain why he and other native Americans enlist in the military in such large numbers – even though many resent the way the US government has treated their people over the centuries.

They feel an unusual obligation to protect the tribal communities they belong to and, more specifically, the land they've inhabited for generations. The result is that native Americans tend to join the service at higher per capita rates than almost any other minority group."

More than 20,000 Native American and Alaskans are said to be currently serving in the US armed forces, and although it might be surmised that the overriding motive is to escape from the grinding poverty that is the experience of many, there are other notions more closely related to their own tribal traditions that come into play.

Yet the cultural motivations for military service run deep among native Americans, too – and set them apart from many other minority groups. A sense of tribal duty is often a primary motivator.

"In a tribal society, social status and approval are important," says Mr. St. Pierre. "If a man's not a veteran, he's going to be less. It's ingrained in the culture."

He and others talk about the "warrior culture" that is so pervasive among native Americans. But this ethos isn't about blind violence. St. Pierre notes that native American tribes have a history of "turf wars" – those fought over land, hunting rights, trade routes, and water access. "For the most part," he says, "American Indians did not fight wars of annihilation."

Nez says the mentality of fighting is "in our blood. It's natural to fight for the cause you believe in." But when he speaks about manliness and strength, he also lists sacrifice and unselfishness as fundamental warrior traits.

Mark St. Pierre is a historian, and author of "Of Uncommon Birth: Dakota sons in Vietnam", who lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation in Dakota, where he estimates an astonishing 50% of males there have served in the military - and stands in comparison to the Navajo reservation, where poverty and unemployment are rife, and similar numbers join the military. It is claimed that daily life in such environments actually benefits the would-be soldier...

"Growing up, we'd ride horses bareback – just like that." Nez is standing outside a cluster of trailer homes and points to a group of young men riding our direction. The yard is dusty and stretches into a vast landscape of desert brush. "I could run for a long ways," he says. "I could climb rocks and trees, jump from heights. I was already in physical shape. I already knew hunger and thirst. When I got to basic training and faced all that hardship, I was already up to it."

It's evident that patriotism runs deep here on the Navajo reservation. Many houses fly American flags, and the national anthem is sung at most community events. But native Americans often interpret these symbols differently from the rest of society.

This part is quite interesting, as it describes the way in which although allegiance is pledged to the 'Stars and Stripes', there is a different emphasis placed on it by serving Native Americans...

"Our patriotism is first to the family and the clan," says Ed Piestewa, a Hopi, during a veterans-appreciation ceremony on the Navajo reservation. As we speak, a color guard marches out into the searing sun. They're wearing military attire along with feathered head dresses and traditional jewelry. Moments later, the color guard sings The Star-Spangled Banner – in Navajo...

...Similarly, when Mary Cohoe looks at the flag, she doesn't think about Congress, the president, or democratic ideals. To her, Old Glory is a symbol of the US military and the physical sacrifices she and her people have made for their land. Ms. Cohoe served in Vietnam with the Red Cross. The US Army issued her a military ID while she was in the country, and she still considers herself a Vietnam veteran. "It's our dirt," she says. "That's where we came from. The flag is the loyalty that we have, as Navajo, to Mother Earth."

Which makes me wonder quite how they regard their foe, in this instance Iraqi insurgents, and before them, the military arm of deposed despot, Saddam Hussein, or further field, Taleban forces in Afghanistan, with whose political outlook over the past few hundred years, it might be simplistically supposed they have had more in common - indigenous people stoically fending off a series of invading imperialists from the First World, intent on coercing them into cultural and economic submission. Except of course, the Taleban have shown themselves to be just as brutally repressive towards elements of their own population during the brief time they were governing Afghanistan, as any invading power has ever been, but that's another story. Moreover, I know nothing of Native American life before the Europeans arrived in the New World, to judge how well or badly they treated each other during the course of their own inter-tribal disputes.

A final word from Donovan Nez, who feels...

...he has achieved a balance between his two identities: Indian and American. Though he lives off the reservation in Phoenix, he edits independent films about young Navajo adults reconnecting with their native roots. He feels integrated into American culture but not assimilated. Still, he grapples with his military service. "That's an ongoing question for me," he says. "How can you be a vet after the US treated your people so bad?"

"The reason I'm OK with being a US citizen is that Mother Earth is the same wherever you are," he says. "For me to have the whole US as my home" – Nez pauses mid sentence, as though in awe – "I'm so lucky to be living on my land."

Well, it could be argued that while at least he's still alive to be able to enjoy living on his land, many would contend it might be better had the West not embarked on gung-ho missions to far-off lands (in the Middle East in this instance), but that's pretty much been the history of military adventurism in the West since the Industrial Revolution, (and in some cases, long before that, going back for instance to the Crusades), and that's not going to change any time soon, especially as Fox News allegedly appears intent on declaring war on Iran, asap.

In the case of the Iraq war, the public was mislead, lied to, or whatever, about weapons of mass destruction, which may once have existed, but were nowhere to be found on Iraqi soil, and although the Iraqi people have undoubtedly been released from the shackles of Saddam, the 'peace' has turned out to be even more grisly than the war and dictatorship which preceded it. My point being, that tribal traditions and related motives aside, Native Americans are perhaps misguided in believing they are in some way defending their own 'Mother Earth', when in effect they are bolstering an administration which seemingly cares little for the lives or well-being of those they are supposedly seeking to liberate, or even in some cases, their own serving officers.

Going back further in time, it transpires, according to this linked page, that Native Americans have been associated with the American military dating back to 1812 and before that to the time of George Washington...

Many tribes were involved in the War of 1812, and Indians fought for both sides as auxiliary troops in the Civil War. Scouting the enemy was recognized as a particular skill of the Native American soldier. In 1866, the U.S. Army established its Indian Scouts to exploit this aptitude. The Scouts were active in the American West in the late 1800s and early 1900s, accompanying Gen. John J. Pershing's expedition to Mexico in pursuit of Pancho Villa in 1916.

They were deactivated in 1947 when their last member retired from the Army in ceremonies at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona. Native Americans from Indian Territory were also recruited by Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders and saw action in Cuba in the Spanish-American War in 1898. As the military entered the 20th century, American Indians had already made a substantial contribution through military service and were on the brink of playing an even larger role.

Their chance to play a larger role was of course realised in the First and Second World Wars, and it is noticeable from the latter of these wars the contribution made by native Americans, as described here...

More than 44,000 American Indians, out of a total Native American population of less than 350,000, served with distinction between 1941 and 1945 in both European and Pacific theaters of war. Native American men and women on the home front also showed an intense desire to serve their country, and were an integral part of the war effort. More than 40,000 Indian people left their reservations to work in ordnance depots, factories, and other war industries. American Indians also invested more than $50 million in war bonds, and contributed generously to the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Relief societies.

Which would indicate that nearly a third of all native Americans alive at the time were closely, or physically, involved in the war effort, and whilst it could be argued that in defending their homeland against the Axis powers and Japanese imperialists, they were in fact more 'American' than their European-descended political masters, it is nevertheless a startling statistic, and in stark contrast to what I would have expected, given the fact that they had been the victims of genocide and all manner of other depredation so recently in their own history.

According to the article, written in 1996, there were an estimated 190,000 native American war veterans in the US, one of whom is quoted thus...

"When I went to Germany, I never thought about war honors, or the four "coups" which an old-time Crow warrior had to earn in battle....But afterwards, when I came back and went through this telling of war deeds ceremony... lo and behold I [had] completed the four requirements to become a chief." -- Crow World War II Veteran

And finally, a curious observation is made here...

Many American Indians (as well as non-Indian volunteers) joined the military in World War I to satisfy their sense of adventure. Most had never left the confines of their hometown, much less marched on the battlefields of Europe. These experiences provided a wisdom through exposure to other people and cultures. This was sometimes threatening to the elders of a tribe, who feared that this newfound worldliness would cause unwanted change to their culture.

At the outset of the Great War, there appears to have been a general enthusiasm for fighting amongst the European population at large, as witnessed by old film clips of cheerful volunteers rushing to sign up en masse, little realising they would perish in similar number in double-quick time - and maybe it was that same sense of adventure attributed to the native Americans that prevailed amongst Europeans. I'm not sure how 'living' in water-logged trenches of mud, rats, and disease for months on end could provide anyone with a meaningful exposure to other people and cultures, other than to confirm that war is a miserable and all too human weakness; but then again, I've never fought in a war.

see also: American Indian Veterans with an Emphasis on Code Talkers

Wikipedia - The Snyder Act, 1924

Indigenous Australian Servicemen

Gurkas - Crossing The Black Water

image from here

Ancient Canadians In British Columbia 16,000 Years Ago?

News from the Queen Charlotte Islands, known locally as "Haida Gwaii", in British Columbia, where excavations at an ancient lake site, since inundated by the rising levels of the Pacific at the Holocene boundary, may have revealed traces of a prehistoric camp, dating back 16,000 years, a good 3,000 years before the date when it is assumed that humans travelling in via the Beringia land-bridge are commonly supposed to have first arrived in the New World.

The landmark investigation, led by Parks Canada scientist Daryl Fedje, is seeking evidence to support a contentious new theory about the peopling of the Americas that is gradually gaining support in scholarly circles. It holds that ancient Asian seafarers, drawn on by food-rich kelp beds ringing the Pacific coasts of present-day Russia, Alaska and British Columbia, began populating this hemisphere thousands of years before the migration of Siberian big-game hunters -- who are known to have travelled across the dried up Bering Strait and down an ice-free corridor east of the Rockies as the last glaciers began retreating about 13,000 years ago.

The earlier maritime migrants are thought to have plied the coastal waters of the North Pacific in sealskin boats, moving in small groups over many generations from their traditional homelands in the Japanese islands or elsewhere along Asia's eastern seaboard.

The site in question is known as Section Cove, and is now about 150ft underwater, a detail which aptly highlights one of the main problems in trying to find traces of humans on the coastal margins of Late Pleistocene America, and indeed other similar locations across the world...

Proponents of coastal migration argue that Ice Age migrants in boats might have island-hopped southward along North America's west coast as early as 16,000 years ago, taking advantage of small refuges of land that had escaped envelopment by glaciers.

The difficulty is that nearly all of the land that might contain traces of human settlement or activity -- the critical proof for archaeologists -- is now under water.

And it is only over the past decade or so that the technology needed to investigate maritime archaeological sites has become available, as archaeologists working at sites such as Doggerland, off the coast of Britain, as well as Egypt and elsewhere in the Mediterranean, are beginning to realise.

The potential volume and variety of recoverable material and related data that might dwell in the depths could drastically revise the way consider not only the parts of the Earth that were considered out of reach to Pleistocene humans, but the skills, ability and courage required for their adventures. What we have come to think of as our land-lubber ancestors, may turn out to be have been intrepid voyagers on the open seas, although at the moment, opinion would appear to favour the idea that much of this voyaging was undertaken along coastal, or ice-sheet routes, rather than trans-oceanic navigation events, which would have kept ships and crews out of sight of land for long periods of time.

Several significant finds have been made in raised caves along the B.C. coast that were not inundated by the rising Pacific in post-glacial Canada.

In 2003, Simon Fraser University scientists reported the discovery of 16,000-year-old mountain goat bones in a cave near Port Eliza on Vancouver Island, and similar finds of prehistoric bear bones pre-dating the glacial retreat have been held up as proof of a shoreline ecosystem that could have sustained large mammals, as well as human hunters.

The new Parks Canada target is at a site in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve just north of Burnaby Island, near the southern end of the Queen Charlottes.

According to the New Scientist, Fedje has discovered evidence of a prehistoric lake and stream-bed about 50 m (approx 150ft) below the surface at a site called Section Cove, as well as signs that the river and lake were once rich sources of salmon -- an "irresistible" food source for ancient coastal migrants.

As I've written elsewhere, there is good, albeit circumstantial evidence that mankind has been plying the seas for hundreds of thousands of years - from the 840,000 year-old stone tools on Flores, and other islands in that part of Indonesia, to sites in and around the Mediterranean, including the Strait of Gibraltar. Although maritime archaeology hasn't been recovered from any of these putative sites, the fact that the they were only accessible by sea, shows that early man was somehow making journeys across the seas - it can't be proved beyond doubt that none or all these crossings were inadvertently made, but modern replicative archaeology has shown that given the available materials, and assuming a little human ingenuity, it may have been possible for simple but effective craft to have been designed, constructed and navigated from one coastal location to another.

In the case of the Charlotte Islands, sea-faring, even close in to the shore, would have been particularly hazardous for Pleistocene sea-farers, without recourse to modern maritime technology. There is mention of Tom Koppel, and his 2003 book 'Lost World', and here I'm going to quote an excerpt, in which he describes crossing the Hecate Strait, aboard a 40-ft yawl, named 'Galatea'...

"As soon as we ducked out from the lee of Banks Island, near the mainland shore, we plunged into the raging tempest. We reefed down our sails as far as we could, and still galloped across the wind creaming along at hull speed, the fastest that the boat had ever travelled. It was a wild and stomach-churning six-hour ride. The seas crested to about ten feet as we reached the very shallow waters near the Charlottes shore. Then we tossed around for an hour in those foaming waves before we managed to spot a buoy that we had absolutely had to locate. It marked the beginning of a narrow dredged channel across the treacherous submerged sandbar that blocked access to our destination, Skidegate Inlet"

Of course the specific features referred to at the end are probably different from those encountered in the Pleistocene, as sea-levels have risen and fallen quite dramatically - this was due not only to glacial meltwaters causing sea-levels to rise, but the local geology meant that the Earth's crust beneath the Charlottes subsided, meaning that around 9,000 years ago, local sea-levels were 50ft higher than today. Here's another note regarding the Charlotte Islands...

"The width and wrath of the Hecate Strait were also a formidable barrier to migrating animals. Over thousands of years, this left the Charlottes with a number of unique, or endemic species. Those that evolved in biological isolation included the Dawson caribou, which is now extinct, and the largest black bears in North America. Scientists and environmentalists like to call the archipelago the Galapagos of the North."

Much of the early archaeological work at the Charlotte Islands was conducted in the 1960s by Knut Fladmark, suggested at the time that there may have been a human presence there dating to before the end of the glaciation. It was he who attempted to move thoughts away from a theory proposing an ice-free corridor permitting human incursions, towards one that took into account coastal migration - it was his contention that even if such a corridor had existed, it would have been a desolate and barren environment, which could not have supported faunal or floral life in sufficient density to have been able to support a migrating population human hunters and gatherers.

He proposed instead that the coastal regions offered far more in the way of resources which were available all year round - these would have enabled early explorers to consume 'coastal foods, such as bivalve shellfish, kelp and other seaweeds' - whilst in the rock pools exposed by ebbing tides, 'crabs, sea-urchins, mussels, large barnacles and sea lettuce' would have been popular menu items. Reference is made to a local saying which advises "when the sea goes out, dinner is served". Larger prey would have included sea and sea-lion, whilst the seas themselves would have been home to any number of fish. There is probaly a sizeable aquatic bird population, including their eggs, which may also have been available back then.

Fladmark is further described as having made a presentation to a conference in Oregon, in which he stated that close to a million square miles of what would have been prime hunting and gathering lands in the Pleistocene have since been submerged by rising sea-levels, hiding from us those very regions in which most prehistoric human activity in the area would have been concentrated - exactly the same problem described at the top of this article.

The current, and presumably future research being carried out by Daryl Fedje and others, sounds a fascinating project, and which with any luck will greatly enhance our views of an ice age world that is now obscured by waves.

see also: Simon Fraser University - Journey To A New Land/En Route Vers Une Nouveau Territiore

Knut Fladmark: (abstract) Routes: Alternate Migration Corridors for Early Man in North America

The Spirit of Haida Gwaii

Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii (abstract)

image from here

5,000 Year-Old Chewing-Gum From The Neolithic

Although there has been a fair amount of coverage regarding this find from Finland, all the stories I've read so far completely fail to mention that birch-bark derivatives can be traced back to 80,000 years ago, and once again, it was actually those innovative Neanderthals who were the probable originators of gum for the masses, more of which later. First to the current story...

Beside the main building of Kierikki Centre on a site called "Kierikkikangas" there has been an excavation from June 25th to 3rd August . There have been five British students working who came via Leonardo da Vinci -exchange program of European Union. Besides them also the general public can take part in this exciting centred on the Neolithic period, c. 4000-5000 BC. The results of the dig have been excellent throughout this year. Miss Sarah Pickin (pictured) from Derby has been the favourite of fortune. She has found a piece of "Neolithic chewing gum", chewed cob of birch-bark, part of an amber ring and found on Thursday July 12th with help of two diggers from Oulu, Ms. Rumana Hossein and Ms. Maisoun Alsanat (see picture below).

Whilst at first sight the piece of gum is unprepossessing, it is in fact little different from any of its modern counterparts, and at least it hasn't dissolved into a London pavement, along with countless thousands of others, making for an even greater eyesore - and one which London Borough councils have had to spend a small fortune on acquiring suitable machines able to clean the the pavements properly - but I digress; this from BBC News...

Ms. Pickin's tutor, Professor Trevor Brown, said: "It's particularly significant because well defined tooth imprints were found on the gum."

He explained: "Birch bark tar contains phenols, which are antiseptic compounds."

While Neolithic people chewed gum to treat infection, a spokesman for the British Dental Association said chewing sugar free gum after meals stimulates saliva which offers protection against tooth decay.

It also wears out your jaw, especially after a heavy meal, but maybe it was found to be useful for people suffering with minor gum infections and the like, or perhaps just a chewable additive to the daily diet, as in modern times.

As I mentioned earlier, a much earlier version of gum from birch-bark was described by Dietrich Mania et al, back in 2002, and which I wrote up in an early blog post, back in February, 2005, under the headline 'Neanderthal Superglue 'was world's first chewing gum'.

However, since that time, Ananova have pulled the story, and I'm waiting for further details, including the actual title, of the original paper, by Dietrich Mania et al, in the European Journal of Archaeology - the other stories at the time concentrated on the tar made by Neanderthals, by an unknown but apparently very precise process, one of which bore a Neanderthal finger-print - but none of the articles I can find at the minute mention the chewing-gum aspect, so until I read the paper, further details remain a mere potentiality.

Heading back to Finland, where it transpires that another find was made...

On Friday 13th Sarah also found a beautiful c. four centimetre long worked slate arrow which is from the so-called "Typical Comb Ceramic period" 3500-4000 BC.

And it is this arrowhead that we see being held for the world to see by Ms. Pickin - I suppose it made for a better image in the Press for her to be holding a nicely worked flint artifact than a gnarled up piece of birch-bark gum, regardless of the fact that it's the gum that's been stuck up in the headlines.

I think the last time I saw an archaeologist looking as cheerful as the winsome Ms. Pickin was Time Team's Phil Harding, tucking into an outsize jug of ale, which he enthusiastically described as "roight pokey gear this, har har", or words to that effect.

Siwa, Egypt: Fossil Footprint Could Be '2 Million Years Old' - Hawass

As I've mentioned before on this blog, I'm immediately wary whenever I see a headline proclaiming this or that find to be the world's 'oldest', 'first' or 'earliest', as such claims invariably turn out to be wrong, even with the most cursory examination of the facts.

The claim from the BBC News website is for the world's oldest footprint, estimated at anything between 2 and 3 million years in age, but the fossil footprints at Laetoli, (with video) in Tanzania are a great deal older, dating back to at least 3.6 million years, and I can't imagine how the BBC could possibly have overlooked this fact. But first to the news of this recent discovery from Egypt, where predictably enough, Dr. Zahi Hawass, is lead spokesman...

Archaeologists in Egypt say they have discovered what might be the oldest human footprint ever found.

The outline was found imprinted in mud, which has since turned to stone, at Siwa oasis in the western desert.

"This could go back about two million years," antiquities council chief Zahi Hawass was quoted by Reuters as saying. However Khaled Saad, director of pre-history at the council, said it could be older still, and pre-date Ethiopia's 3m-year-old skeleton, Lucy.

The fly in the ointment is the way the way they are describing the dating techniques used to ascertain the age of the footprint...

"Scientists are now conducting carbon dating tests on plants in the mud where the footprint is in order to pinpoint its precise age."

Carbon-14 dating is good up to around 40,000 years, with an absolute maximum of around 60,000 years and even with recent announcements that this horizon may be extended by some small degree, there's no way carbon-14 dating can be applied to something in the region of 2 million years old.

For their part, MSNBC have gone with a more sober headline, 'Footprint extends Egypt’s prehistoric frontier', although they also go with the carbon dating idea.

Two thoughts strike me here; the first is that Dr. Hawass, who prides himself as the bane of unscientific research and related claims, should have taken greater care to ensure that that the world's press be given the correct information, especially regarding carbon-dating. Maybe carbon-dating is something easily communicated to a public, largely unfamiliar with this or that dating method, but giving people the idea that this method is effective over millions of years, rather than a few tens of thousands, doesn't in the long-term do anything to educate the public - who after all , have some sort of right to be correctly informed on these matters.

And at a time when Ken Ham's Creation Museum in Kentucky is pulling in the crowds in huge numbers, it's more important than ever to get basic facts and details correct from the outset, especially when discussing the origins of mankind - no doubt people like the Discovery Institute will already have latched onto this error, and it should be corrected as soon as possible.

Moreover, I was reading recently, I think on Anthro-L, about the need for science writers and their ilk to be better informed, or at least have good access to correct information for dissemination to the outside world. In this instance, completely ignoring the Laetoli footprints at 3.6m years is a big error, and such mistakes could quite easily be avoided in the past.

For example, there must be any number of archaeology and anthropology graduates who are having a hard time finding gainful employment, and yet who are nevertheless sufficiently articulate and well-informed regarding the bigger picture, including basic facts and dates, to be able to sit on a news desk at somewhere like the BBC, and put them right when they make basic errors, as is the case here.

Bearing in mind that the BBC are reported to have an annual spend of £450m on their news budget - money collected on a compulsory basis via the TV license fee - I think the BBC could at least afford to pay some properly informed people, such as suitably qualified graduates, who would help them to present such news in a more cogent and accurate light.

In the meantime, the news of this ancient footprint is compelling, and maybe with optical dating methods, as deployed at the Gault site, and referenced by Wikipedia - the true age of this fossil footprint will be able to be confirmed with a degree of accuracy, though whether it will be conclusively decided which species of human was responsible, remains to be seen.

06/09/07 Update/Correction - Following the comment posted below by Charlie, I've looked again at the page from where I originally got the picture, and it doesn't actually state that the footprint is the one referred to in the Siwa story - as Charlie points out, their image does bear a shade more than a striking similarity to the Bible site image - they didn't even photoshop out the diagonal fractures.

The odd thing is that there doesn't seem to be an image of the Siwa footprint online, which I'd have thought the discoverers would be keen to get up as soon as possible - a Google image search reveals four pictures of Dr. Zahi Hawass as being the most common result on the first page, looking relaxed and cheerful, presumably at a time before someone suggested last week that there may be a missing Sphinx - I can almost hear the spluttering of cornflakes as he read that news in his morning paper - what a way to start the day.

For an image of the 'new' footprint, it appears we will have to wait a little longer, and neither is there news saying whether or not they still intend going ahead with the carbon-dating exercise.

see also: Anthropology.net - A Three Million Year Old Hominid Footprint Found in Siwa, Egypt

image: Siwa Oasis from here

Gault Site Update

Back in January, I wrote up a brief report on the Gault site in Texas, famous for its rich assemblage of Clovis lithics, as well as being a unique site in this own right. Since that time, I have been contacted by D. Clark Wernecke, the Project Director at Gault, who has not only read the original post, but has also taken the time to write to me and point out a couple of errors and misconceptions contained therein.

For that reason, I've decided to write this post, partly to correct my own previous errors, and also because his e-mail contained one or two other details which deserve mention here.

So, to my Gault post of January 25th - in which I wrote the following...

"These estimates of occupation for the site are based on flint artifacts and animal remains found onsite, although the stratigraphic levels in which they have have been found are themselves extremely disrupted. There are apparently few if any organic remains which could be radio-carbon dated, such as charred plant or animal remnants or charcoal fragments, making it difficult to read much into the daily lives of those present at the site over an astonishing 8,000 years. Not only has the site been disturbed in modern times, not least by looters, but repeated local flooding has also played its part in churning up ancient deposits, inevitably complicating the process of trying to interpret the chronology."

Which prompted the following response (via email) from D. Clark Wernecke...

"You got some of it right and some wrong - while there was extensive looting (I'm sorry - "paid collecting") over the years the damage was primarily done to the Archaic component, the first 9,000 years. It is very hard and not very economically sound to dig deep holes on the chance you might get something to sell or collect rather than shallow wide holes which will produce numerous artifacts. AND there are a LOT of artifacts. We have excavated in excess of 1.2 million artifacts of which about 600,000 are of Clovis age (that means that even from the damaged strata we have over a 1/2 million artifacts). The Early and Late Paleoindian strata are intact and not mixed - very neat and sound stratigraphy as a matter of fact.

We do have dates, just not radiocarbon. We have a series of OSL (IRSL really) dates that neatly match the artifacts found at each level (and I'm actually helping to take new samples for dating on Monday). The total lack of datable carbon is a common problem on paleoindian sites in this hemisphere and we've been pleased with our alternatives so far. TAMU is working several excavations two properties downstream from us at the present (the Buttermilk Creek Site) and their dating is also comparable."

Obviously the lack of material able to be carbon-dated adds to the problem of fixing the site and its artifacts in proper context, but the use of optical dating appears to be an adequate alternative - for an explanation of how this works, please refer to this Wikipedia entry. Bearing in mind that Gault is an outdoor site, unsheltered from the elements in the ensuing millennia, it comes as little surprise that organic remains are so sparse.

But the sheer volume of lithic artifacts, the different cultures represented, and the size and different states of preservation and disruption - emphasises the complexity and importance of this site, both then and now - it must have been known of over quite a wide area of that part of America, and probably played an extensive role in the social lives of people as well - a good place to meet all sorts of folk travelling in from, and out to, all directions. Some further detail on the size and richness of the Gault site comes from this 2001 article, 'Clovis Reconsidered'...