Anarchaeology.com

[DavidCampbell]

Okay, Frank to steer the thread back in your direction, do you have access to any paleomaps of our area, (Northeast Texas/Red River Valley) which would show any Pleistocene lakes contemporary with Lake Manix, Lake Lahonton? Say in the 18-200,000 YBP range? Looking at the Diring and Ulalinka sites this week, I noticed that a 35,000 year old occupation site has been found right on the western edge of Beringia, so these extreme sites are getting more plausible all the time. Mike Waters confirmed the Diring occupation layer at 260,000+ years and verified that the artifacts there are just that and not geofacts, having seen them in situ in a sealed context. Moreover National Geographic News just ran an article on the migration of primates to North America during a global warming event 55 million years ago. You just need to expand your perspective in increments without blowing a gasket.
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David Campbell
"The going's getting weird, so I'm turning pro."

[Cognito]

Hi All,

I live in Apple Valley, CA, less than an hour drive from the Calico Early Man Site. My next-door neighbor was a county councilman when Louis Leakey showed up and traveled with him to check out habitation sites on the ancient shoreline of Lake Manix. Here's a picture of the Calico site next to Lake Manix prior to discharge (taken from their website) for reference:

I spent about a year and a half looking for a shoreline site and found one about five miles east of the Calico dig on a hill (on the map, just above the words "Mojave River"). This is a small group of hills sitting on a peninsula with the lake to the north and east, and the Mojave River to the south. It would have had 360 degree views, proximity to water, and as safe as it could get.

The hills are eroding due to winds and rain. Paleolithic tools are showing up on the surface as a result. The primary tool-making material in that area is chert, chalcedony and petrified palm. I have retrieved a variety of tools, some which are quite interesting. In addition to hand-axes there are scrapers, drills, etc. Everything you would expect to find. The site sits on private property as opposed to BLM land like Calico.

At present, I am sending some tools to an archaeologist at Cambridge, but she is a friend of a friend. Fred Budinger has his hands full at Calico and won't be looking at any other sites for a while. By the way, Calico is alive and well, and Budinger is doing an excellent job.

When I find the time I'll start posting some pictures of artifacts here, possibly on a different thread. The hand-axes are interesting since I was told by a professor in Pennsylvania that there are no hand-axes in North America. Hmmm.

Patrick
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ROXRCUL

[frank harrist]

Ok, but WTF does this mean?" Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant!"
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We have not inherited the earth from our fathers. We are borrowing it from our children. (Amish Farmer)

[frank harrist]

[Cognito]

Hi Frank, it means "May faulty logic undermine your entire philosophy!" and was something meant for Hancock's message board as opposed to here. I'll change mine after this post to: "Canis meus id comedit" which means "My dog ate it" in Latin.

Here's a late pleistocene map of California:

Now we need to find one for Texas. Notice all of the inland lakes? Lots of green around the Calico area (30+ inches of rain per year) since that's where the Pacific warm air met with the Sierra glacial air. I wish the area looked like this now ... without the cave bears, dyers wolves and sabers, of course.
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ROXRCUL

[effigy]

[DavidCampbell]

I'm amazed that any archaeologist would deny the presence of handaxes in North America since even the very conservative TAS archaeologists readily admit that the handax remained basically unchanged from Paleolithic times right up until historic times. Luckily for me that I'd never been told that because one the first extreme paleo artifacts I found was a gray bifacial quartzite handax; later I found a unifacial one that may be even older. One of these is pictured on one of our recent threads here.
Cognito, do you happen to know the source of that Pleistocene topo map of California? Fannin County Texas where I reside is remarkably devoid of geological background data, at least any that I've been able to locate. My soil conservation mapbook was the last one they had at the local office and I count myself lucky to have obtained that. Even a local petroleum geologist was trying to find something on this county without having to go to Austin to look it up. This is odd because paleontologists from Dallas and Houston come all the way up here to study the local formations which are unique for certain fossils. Mammoth and other Pleistocene faunal remains are fairly common here and to a lesser degree Clovis, Folsom and other paleoindian lithics. In my opinion PreClovis lithics abound here too, and I have curated at least three dozen examples at our county museum. My immediate locale is devoid of anything larger than gravel down to sixty feet and and beyond that to 180 feet which is part of our aquifer, the Woodbine Sand.
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David Campbell
"The going's getting weird, so I'm turning pro."

[Cognito]

David wrote:

[Cognito]

Effigy wrote:

[DavidCampbell]

Interesting how the synchronicities seem to be piling up like cordwood lately. This afternoon my wife returned from delivering papers to the Fannin County Historical Museum and handed me a note from the director to get in touch with an archaeologist who had dropped by a couple of days ago. The letterhead was AR Associates of Dallas, the same CRM company that Alan Skinner works for. Turns out they are doing another project on Bois D'Arc Creek for another lake. This man was a shell specialist who was originally from Bonham and wanted to know some background on the archaeology up here since he'd moved away in 68. I told him every site I'd seen or heard about and it turned out he was looking for something in the Clovis/PreClovis era on Bois D'Arc. What was even better he had seen the Folsom and San Patrice points at the museum before someone broke in and stole them a few years back, so he was on the same page with me when I told him it was just a matter of time before an in situ, good context site was found here in the county and I told him Bois D'Arc was the best bet for finding one. He also confirmed the significance of the marine seashells I had curated from Joe Brown's finds on the Sulphur. Likewise he told me where this novaculite looking stuff I'd found here on the Caney came from; riverine clasts from the Red River. He said he'd found these cores himself up near the river. He and Alan Skinner will be giving a presentation at VoCAS in Paris, so I'll have to chance driving down there this next time. Actual survey and archaeology won't begin until Fall fortunately; this 105º day after day is getting lethal. This is the best thing to come to Fannin County since the WPA days as far as archaeology goes. I'm glad it's Skinner's crew since he has a much more progressive view than many.
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David Campbell
"The going's getting weird, so I'm turning pro."

[frank harrist]

If they need some help diggin' I'm available on weekends.
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We have not inherited the earth from our fathers. We are borrowing it from our children. (Amish Farmer)

[Charlie Hatchett]

[Cognito]

Charlie wrote:

[Charlie Hatchett]

Sweet Cognito.

Have you tried editing the photos with Picasso? It's a free download from Google, and gives you the ability to sharpen photos, along with adjusting the contrast, brightness, color, etc...


BTW, did you happen to e-mail me photos of several really nice,

heavily patinated bifaces from the Calico area (ca 1 year ago)?

Peace.
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Charlie Hatchett
www.preclovis.com
http://forum.preclovis.com/

"Pregunte la Autoridad"

[Cognito]

Charlie wrote: