website: VagabondGeology

1. website: www.VagabondGeology.com Ancient Pathways Ancient Peoples Week 6: into America Week 5: across Beringia Week 4: into Asia Week 3: into Europe Week 2: across Africa Week 1: beginning in East Africa

2. SESSION 4: INTO AMERICA TODAY’S TOPICS Questions& Quick Review BUTTERMILK CREEK COMPLEX & GAULT SITE MIGRATION TO THE AMERICAS Due to time, this will be available on internet

3. Sharing rocks

4. EARLIER QUESTION

5. DNA testing companies http://www.isogg.org/wiki/MtDNA_testing_comparison_chart

6. STONE AGE COLOR PALETTE Where did Paleolithic People get their paint pigments?

7. EARTH PIGMENTS

8. STONE AGE COLOR PALETTE

9. STONE AGE COLOR PALETTE http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/089g/paintpigment.pdf

10. STONE AGE COLOR PALETTE

11. Grinding pigments

12. Lascaux paint pigments “Lascaux, for instance, hundreds of rudimentary pigment CRAYONS were discovered scattered around the floor.” “…combined the raw color with talc or feldspar to increase the (crayon’s) bulk and added animal & plant oils to bind the materials.” http://www.ancient-wisdom.co.uk/caveart.htm

13. Additional information http://www.webexhibits.org/pigments/intro/early.html http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/artist-paints/prehistoric-colour-palette.htm http://instruct.uwo.ca/earth-sci/089g/paintpigment.pdf

14. Terminology Review

15. PREHISTORIC PERIODS OF HUMAN HISTORY YOUNGER “STONE AGE” • Neolithic • (New Stone Age) • 10k to 4k yrs • pottery • farming • livestock • Upper Paleolithic • (Late Stone Age) • 50k to 10k yrs • symbolic thought • Language • domesticated dogs OLDER • Middle Paleolithic • (Middle Stone Age) • 300k to 50k yrs • first art • early symbolism • Lower • Paleolithic • (Early Stone Age) • 2.5million to 300k • stone tools • fire

16. The Stone Age: 2.5 million to 4000 YBP (years before present) 300,000 YBP 2.5 MILLION 1.4 MILLION 2 MILLION EARLY STONE AGE – stone tools, fire Australopithecus Homo group Paranthropus sapiens

17. MIGRATION TO AMERICA

18. Migration to america In Archeology, two primary areas of controversy exists today: Is the Clovis culture (13Kya) the earliest people to the Americas or was there even earlier people, the Pre-Clovis? Which ever is the first people, where are they from & how did they get to America?

19. Clovis vs Pre-clovis • The “Clovis-First” hypothesis has been promoted for 80 years • This theory says that the peoples who came by the Beringia Land Bridge migrated into the Americas and are the progenitors of the Indian Peoples • In 1975, the Monte Verde site in Chile presented evidence of Pre-Clovis peoples; it wasn’t accepted • In 2011, the Buttermilk Complex site, Texas, presented it’s report of Pre-Clovis people, with it’s unequivocal evidence, and it was accepted

20. Where did they come from? COMPETING HYPOTHESES Land Bridge 14k – 13k WESTERN APPROACH • By Land Bridge • By Coastal Migration Coastal Migration 16k – 15k From Smithsonian

21. Where did they come from? COMPETING HYPOTHESES EASTERN APPROACH WESTERN APPROACH • By Land Bridge • By Coastal Migration • By Land Bridge & then turn left at Montana • From Europe “Solutrean Culture”

22. Where did they come from? Path of Migration http://www2.nau.edu/rcb7/namQ.jpg

23. Eastern usa Pre-clovis sites Meadowcroft, PA (16.0 kya) Possible Path of Migration (no evidence confirming this route) Cactus Hill, VA (15.4 kya) Saltville, VA (14.5 kya) Topper, SC (15.5 kya?) Buttermilk Complex, TX (15.5 kya) Page-Ladson, FL (12.4 kya)

24. Eastern usa pre-clovis sites • HOWEVER! • Some Flint items found in VA are known to be from France • Techniques making the stone tools/blades almost exactly resemble those of the Solutrean Culture of Spain/France SO… • Some Flint items found in MD are known to be older than 19 kya

25. Possible land bridge issue

26. Eastern usa Pre-clovis sites What if Peoples from Spain/France boated down our eastern seaboard? What if the land bridge migration didn’t make it to here? Path Migration (no evidence confirming this route) Meadowcroft, PA (16.0 kya) Cactus Hill, VA (15.4 kya) This is called the “SOLUTREAN HYPOTHESIS” Saltville, VA (14.5 kya) Topper, SC (15.5 kya?) First proposed by Dr. B Bradley & Dr. D Stanford Buttermilk Complex, TX (15.5 kya) Page-Ladson, FL (12.4 kya)

27. Competing hypotheses Solutrean Hypothesis >20 kya From Smithsonian

28. The solutrean hypothesis

29. The solutrean hypothesis

30. The solutrean hypothesis

31. The solutrean hypothesis

32. The solutrean hypothesis

33. The solutrean hypothesis Evidence is mounting for the Solutrean hypothesis

34. General DNA MIGRATION Haplogroup X comprises 15% of Sioux & 7% of Navajo but is not present in Eastern Siberia Haplogroup X comprises 25% of Algonquians of New England but is not present in Eastern Siberia

35. The debate for/against this theory Factors Supporting Solutrean Hypothesis Factors Against Solutrean Hypothesis • No ancient boats have ever been found at any site; therefore no supporting evidence • DNA evidence of today’s Native Americans are primarily linked to Siberia (Haplogroup A,C,D) • No direct DNA material at any of the eastern USA sites; therefore no supporting evidence • Growing body of archeologist who believe Clovis points are of Solutrean type • Stone tool at VA site from France • Haplogroup X (subclade X2A) possible migration from Europe • Artifacts found in MD, date between 19-26kya, way before the Land Bridge was used The hot debate continues! Time to vote!

36. GAULT & BUTTERMILK CREEK COMPLEX - Overview -

37. Location of Gault site Florence, TX (transition zone between two habitats)

38. WHERE IS THE GAULT SITE Only 20 miles away!

39. WHAT IS THERE? TWO WORLD CLASS ARCHEOLOGICAL SITES GAULT SITE BUTTERMILK COMPLEX • Discovered: 1929 (1991) • Significance: Origins of 60% all excavated Clovis artifacts known today • Status: Exploration ongoing • Discovered: ?? • Significance: Validated Pre-Clovis peoples** • Status: Exploration complete; currently site is “stored”

40. Archeological chronology of central texas

41. Zooming in on site

42. Gault topography TOPOGRAPHIC MAP Tight lines = steep! Spread out lines = shallow

44. Gault topography REASONS TO STAY HERE? Reasons to stay here? TOPOGRAPHIC MAP Tight lines = steep! FOOD WATER HABITAT GOOD SOILS Buttermilk Creek Spread out lines = shallow

45. THE MAIN REASON TO BE HERE!

46. Chasing chert Chertis a fine-grained, silica-rich, microcrystalline quartzsedimentary rock Flint is chert found only in chalk or marly limestone formations Among non-geologists (in particular among archaeologists), the distinction between "flint" and "chert" is often one of quality - chert being lower quality than flint

47. History not of but in the chert Above average ability to resist weathering, recrystallization and metamorphism, makes it an ideal rock preserving early life forms: 3.4 bya – Australia - preserved eleven taxa of prokaryotes 3.2 bya – RSA - preserved unicellular bacteria-like fossils 2.0 bya – Canada - preserved not only bacteria and cyanobacteria but also an ammonia-consuming type of green algae and fungus-like organisms 0.8 bya – Australia - preserved ancient cyanobacteria and algae in the 0.4 bya – Scotland - preserved oldest remains of land flora (preservation is so perfect that it allows cellular studies of the fossils)

48. Chasing chert But, Paleolithic, Pre-Clovis weren’t studying chert, they needed it to make

49. BUTTERMILK CREEK COMPLEX

50. Debra L. Friedkin Paleo-Indian archaeological site 1000 ft downstream