La industria pesquera americana del Paleolítico (EEUU)

El hallazgo de una gran variedad de utensilios de pesca y caza marina, de hace unos 13.000 años, que han sido encontrados en las islas del Canal del Norte de California, han revelado la gran variedad de animales marinos que comían los humanos de finales del Paleolítico, así como la sofisticada industria pesquera que fueron capaces de fabricar.
El trabajo, publicado esta semana en la revista 'Science', por científicos de la Universidad de Oregón y del Instituto Smithsonian, describe el escenario y la forma de vida de los Paleoindios de la conocida cultura Clovis, que se extendieron hacia el interior de América del Norte, en busca de grandes animales, como los mamuts.
Ahora se sabe que no todos fueron a explorar las grandes llanuras, sino que también se quedaron en las costas e incluso puede que la ruta costera fuera la que les llevó más fácilmente hacia el sur.
Las excavaciones de Jon Erlandson y sus colegas en las islas de Santa Rosa y San Miguel, enfrente de California del sur, han sacado a la luz evidencias de que sus ocupantes primitivos cazaban gansos, cormoranes, peces de aleta, abulón y otros pequeños mamíferos marinos.
Los yacimientos contienen puntas acanaladas (o de cola de pescado), piedras en forma de luna creciente y otras herramientas de piedra que se parecen a artefactos que se han encontrado en otros lugres del interior del continente, asociados a ecosistemas de lagos glaciares.
Zonas sumergidas
En la época de estos asentamientos de indios primitivos, las dos islas estaban a varios kilómetros de la costa, por lo que se cree que, además, estos primeros colonizadores deben haber tenido ciertas habilidades como marineros.
Pero, sin duda, lo más espectacular es lo llamativo de los artefactos que se asocian a restos de crustáceos, focas, gansos, cormoranes y pescados, algunos de los cuales se utilizaron como proyectiles. "Algunos son tan delicados que sólo podrían haberse usado para cazar sobre el agua", asegura Erlandson, que lleva 30 años investigando en la zona. "Son las utrafinos que nos hablan de una gran sofisticación en sus industrias marineras", concluye.
Las excavaciones tuvieron lugar en tres lugares diferentes. La mayor parte de los materiales, sin embargo, aún están bajo el mar, porque hace 13.000 años su nivel era 60 metros menor y estas poblaciones pasaron la mayor tiempo en playas y zonas bajas costeras que hoy están sumergidas.
Erlandson y su equipo comprobaron que los utensilios eran similares a los que también se han encontrado en la costa del Pacífico, Japón y Sudamérica. Algunos son piedras de forma semicircular que eran capaces de matar aves en vuelo, como con una escopeta.
Hace seis años, el investigador ya propuso que los marineros del Pleistoceno viajaron desde Japón a Kamchatka, a lo largo de la costa de Beringia y Alaska y que luego se dirigieron hacia el sur por California.
"Las implicaciones de la tecnología y la explotación pesquera son magníficas. Estos yacimientos indican que hubo estrategias de subsistencia muy primitivas en estas costas y en las islas con todo tipo de animales, incluidos pinípedos y hasta un pato extinto", expica el coautor Torben C. Rick, del Instituto Smithsonian.
Ahora, el equipo se plantea un nuevo desafío: encontrar yacimientos aún más primitivos que retrasen otros cuantos milenios la migración costera en el norte del continente americano.

Fuente: El Mundo: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2011/03/04/ciencia/1299255277.html

American Archaeologist describes 1000-year old Amerindian site on Nevis as interesting (USA)

American Archaeologist describes 1000-year old Amerindian site on Nevis as interesting (USA)

Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology of North Carolina University Dr. Scott Fitzpatrick described the excavation site of a Pre Columbian Amerindian settlement at Coconut Walk, as one which held untold stories of Nevis’ history.
The Professor made the disclosure in an interview on Thursday when the Department of Information visited the site under investigation by his team of 30 including at least 22 students for the past three weeks. The site is located near the only surviving lime kiln on the island and is being conducted in collaboration with the Nevis Historical and Conservation Society.
“Although archaeologists have been coming to Nevis for over 30 years or more, in terms of pre Colombian material there has not been a whole lot of excavation on Nevis. We know where most of the sites are but the excavations have been sort of limited so we wanted to get what we call a deep time perspective, going deep and seeing what’s happening over time.
“That also ties in with the short history of Nevis that people got here 4 or 5,000 years ago, as evidenced by some other sites that are in Nevis. What happen during colonial times [and] what happen after, during the historic period and so all of it is sort of trying to answer the questions about the landscape and the use of the island by people who have lived on Nevis for thousands of years,” he said.
Dr. Fitzpatrick explained that much work had been done on the island in the past 30 years by other archaeologist on historic aspects but there was the need to link the new findings with what had already been discovered which would provide a shared landscape perspective.
The important Amerindian site according to him dated back 1300-1400 years and represented a large settlement. He noted that the abundance of pieces of pottery and shells on the surface of the area was a good indication that things were buried there that would tell how the people then lived, ate and about their basic lifestyle.
He said their interests to excavate on Nevis were fuelled by the availability of information compiled by a television show in the 1990s called The Time Team who had spent a week on Nevis working.
“What we did is we went and looked at their maps and what they had done and we decided to work adjacent to some of those areas…This is an excellent place to work at and Coconut Walk is just a really spectacular place to answer a lot of questions we have about what people were doing in Nevis over 1000 years ago and in this part of the Caribbean,” he said.
In response to whether there had been any findings up to the time of our visit Dr. Fitzpatrick said it was though it was a little early to speak on their findings thus far much of the objects they had collected were taken to a lab they had set up and the process to clean the items was time consuming.
He noted that although some of the objects were clearly identified, some of the material would have to be taken back to the University for radiocarbon dating. All their findings would be turned over to the Society for display at the Museum of Nevis history in Charlestown.
“We found some very nice artefact some shell tools that give us an idea of the wood working making canoes or growing crops, some beautiful jewellery, some beads made out of stone so that gives us a little bit of an idea of what people were doing in terms of daily life and ritualistic activities and things like that which mesh up with a lot of what other people do in the Caribbean,” he said.
The first leg of the project will be concluded on August 4th but excavation work will continue to the end of July Dr. Fitzpatrick indicated. Most of the 30 students are expected to head back to the United States in the first week of August. He said the team hoped to return every two years if not every year in the future, dependent on its progress.

Fuente: SKNVibes: http://www.sknvibes.com/News/NewsDetails.cfm/14785

Wooden "Stonehenge" Emerges From Prehistoric Ohio (USA)

Wooden "Stonehenge" Emerges From Prehistoric Ohio (USA)

Just northeast of Cincinnati, Ohio, a sort of wooden Stonehenge is slowly emerging as archaeologists unearth increasing evidence of a 2,000-year-old ceremonial site.
Among their latest finds: Like Stonehenge, the Ohio timber circles were likely used to mark astronomical events such as the summer solstice.
Formally called Moorehead Circle but nicknamed "Woodhenge" by non-archaeologists, the site was once a leafless forest of wooden posts. Laid out in a peculiar pattern of concentric, but incomplete, rings, the site is about 200 feet (57 meters) wide. (See a picture of reconstructed timber circles near Stonehenge.)
Today only rock-filled postholes remain, surrounded by the enigmatic earthworks of Fort Ancient State Memorial (map). Some are thousands of feet long and all were built by Indians of the pre-agricultural Hopewell culture, the dominant culture in midwestern and eastern North America from about A.D. 1 to 900.
This year archaeologists began using computer models to analyze Moorehead Circle's layout and found that Ohio's Woodhenge may have even more in common with the United Kingdom's Stonehenge than thought—specifically, an apparently intentional astronomical alignment.
The software "allows us to stitch together various kinds of geographical data, including aerial photographs and excavation plans and even digital photographs," explained excavation leader Robert Riordan, an archaeologist at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.
The researchers had known, for example, that an opening in the rings; a nearby, human-made enclosure; stone mounds; and a gateway in a nearby earthen wall are all aligned.
But the model revealed that the alignment is such that, during the Northern Hemisphere's summer solstice—the longest day of the year—the sun appears to rise in the gateway, as seen from the center of the circle, Riordan said.
In much the same way, and on the same day, the sun appears to rise alongside Stonehenge's outlying Heel Stone, casting a beam on the monument's central altar. (See Stonehenge pictures.)
(For news on another Woodhenge, see "Stonehenge Didn't Stand Alone, Excavations Show.")
Trench Mystery at Woodhenge
Park officials using ground-penetrating technologies discovered the first holes at Moorehead Circle in 2005. Since then, Riordan's team's excavations have revealed hundreds more.
About 10 inches (30 centimeters) across and up to three feet (one meter) deep, the holes are thought to have held posts made from stripped oaks, hickories, and other local trees, Riordan said.
Each post probably stood about 10 to 13 feet (3 to 4 meters) above ground, and some were spaced only a few inches apart.
At the center of the innermost circle is a patch of cleared earth filled with reddish, burned soil and hundreds of broken pottery fragments.
In 2007 Riordan and his team discovered a series of trenches filled with ash and clay and capped with gravel and soil.
The trenches' layout mimics the pattern of the long-gone posts. And as with the posts, Riordan said, "We have no idea what [the trenches] were built for."
(Also see "Stonehenge Was Cemetery First and Foremost, Study Says.")
An Elaborate Construction
For the ancient Ohioans, constructing Moorehead Circle would have been a significant undertaking.
"They would have had to dig these holes, go get the trees, cut them, strip them, and carry them in," Riordan said.
Workers would have had to carry limestone rocks from about a mile (1.6 kilometers) away and up a 250-foot (76-meter) hill. The rocks would have then been broken up and placed in the pits to help keep the posts upright.
Not even digging the postholes would have been easy. Lacking shovels or picks, the Hopewell people dug with bones and sharpened pieces of wood.
And for all their work, the circle's creators must have known their monument wasn't built to last. After about ten years the wooden posts would have been largely rotted and ripe for replacement, Riordan said.
"This was an elaborate construction," he added. "All the effort that went into constructing it suggests it was the ceremonial focus of Fort Ancient for a time."

Fuente: National Geographic: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/07/100720-woodhenge-stonehenge-ohio-fort-ancient-science/

Archaeologists find what could be ancient village near Jerseyville (EEUU)

Archaeologists find what could be ancient village near Jerseyville (EEUU)

Archaeologists excavating a location south of Jerseyville in west-central Illinois believe they have found remnants of a village dating back to AD 600.

So far, about 40 pits have been found across 4 acres along U.S. 67.

Included among them are “some very large storage pits and one bell-shaped pit that appears to have had hundreds of tons of limestone hauled in and has a flagstone floor,” said David

Nolan, Western Illinois Field Station coordinator for the Illinois State Archaeological Survey.

Working with the Illinois Department of Transportation prior to completion of the section of Corridor 67 south of Jerseyville eventually will be a four-lane highway from the Quad Cities to Alton.

The group began in April and should be done in about a month, according to Robert “Rob” Hickson of Jacksonville, Western Illinois Field Station assistant coordinator.

“We have three sites, two sites on the west side of U.S. 67 and another site on the east of the present highway about a quarter mile south of this site,” Nolan said.

The archaeologists believe there are also archaeological deposits going back 4,000 to 5,000 years ago and a more current excavation dating to the 1830s or 1840s.

“The excavations on the west side are yielding very well-preserved bone fragments as well as pottery pieces,” Nolan said. “It appears this was a large communal village, but may not have been used year-round, our later analysis of our data will have to tell us that.”

The materials gathered from the excavations will be sent to the Jacksonville field station to be cleaned, inventoried and analyzed.

Fuente: Jacksonvillen Journal Courier: http://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/archaeologists-27922-village-jerseyville.html

Un barco del siglo XVIII sale a flote en la zona cero (EEUU)

Un barco del siglo XVIII sale a flote en la zona cero (EEUU)

Los equipos que trabajan en la zona cero se encontraron el pasado martes con un descubrimiento sorprendente, los restos de un barco del siglo XVIII, que llevaba enterrado desde hacía siglos.
Es el mayor descubrimiento arqueológico de Nueva York desde 1982, cuando se encontraron los restos de un buque mercante del siglo XVIII en unas obras de la calle Water.
No es la primera vez que el subsuelo de Manhattan, sobre todo del downtown, donde primero se establecieron los colonos de la isla, desvela tesoros ocultos. Hace poco, los obreros dejaron al descubierto uno de los antiguos muros de contención del río Hudson.
El vecindario de la zona cero es la parte de Manhattan que más ha cambiado. Con la construcción de las Torres Gemelas en los setenta el contorno de la isla cambió por completo para ganar terreno sobre el Hudson y construir un barrio residencial para los empleados del barrio financiero.
La memoria enterrada
Y entre tanta obra, quedaron atrapados restos del pasado de la ciudad. Con los equipos de reconstrucción de la zona cero trabajan arqueólogos que acudieron a examinar el barco. Los restos "estaban tan bien definidos que estaba claro que eran parte de una nave", declaró a The New York Times Michael Pappalardo, uno de los expertos de la autoridad portuaria de Nueva York y Nueva Jersey, el consorcio público propietario del terreno.
La carcasa ha sobrevivido a su descubrimiento debido a la lluvia y la agobiante humedad que se vive estos días en Manhattan. El sol hubiera acabado rápidamente con esa madera enterrada.
"La embarcación es de mediados del siglo XVIII y ha estado ahí durante más de 200 años", señaló Pappalardo maravillado por la importancia del hallazgo, cerca de donde, según mapa de 1797, había un embarcadero y donde se proyectó construir un lago.

Fuente: Público: http://www.publico.es/ciencias/328046/hallados/restos/barco/siglo/xviii/zona/cero/nueva/york

Una 'guardería' de momias (EEUU)

Una 'guardería' de momias (EEUU)

La ciudad de Los Angeles está acostumbrada a los estrenos. El 1 de julio acogerá la 'premiére' de una nueva exposición, aunque en esta ocasión algunas de sus estrellas tienen miles de años de antigüedad.

'Momias del mundo' ('Mummies of the world') reúne una colección de más de 140 momias de seres humanos y animales, así como objetos procedentes de Sudamérica, Europa, Asia, Oceanía y Egipto. Se trata de una exposición itinerante que durante los próximos años viajará a varios países.

Entre los 'tesoros' de la muestra destaca una momia de un niño peruano de 6.420 años de antigüedad en un sorprendente buen estado de conservación. 'El niño Detmold' es una de las más momias más antiguas que se conservan y pertenece al museo Landes de Detmold, en Alemania. Según las pruebas de carbono a las que ha sido sometida, el pequeño vivió hacia el 4504-4457 antes de Cristo. Un reciente escáner ha ofrecido otros datos, como la edad que tenía cuando murió, la causa de la muerte y su estado de salud.

Sofisticadas técnicas forenses
Por primera vez se exhiben juntos los cuerpos de una familia entera (los Orlovits) ya que los tres fueron momificados en el siglo XVIII. Michael y Veronica Orlovits y su hijo Johannes se conservaron en buen estado gracias a la combinación de frío, aire seco y el aceite de las tablas de pino con las que se construyeron sus ataúdes. Los análisis de ADN han ofrecido información sobre la causa de su muerte. El Museo de Historia Nacional Húngaro, en Budapest, ha cedido las momias para esta muestra.

La momia de un noble alemán del siglo XVII (se cree que mirió durante la Guerra de los 30 años [1618-1648] en Sommersdorf, Alemania) fue encontrada en la cripta de un castillo con las botas puestas.

También forman parte de la muestra varias momias de animales egipcios que han sido hallados junto a sus dueños. Los gatos egipcios que se exhiben datan de la Dinastía Ptolemaica, y reflejan el ritual que se seguía para embalsamarles utilizando sales y resinas. Las momias han sido cedidas por varios museos alemanes.

Las nuevas tecnologías y las modernas herramientas utilizadas por los forenses han permitido estudiar las momias y añadir valiosa información sobre la fecha en la que murieron, su estado de salud y las causas por las que fallecieron. En la muestra se explican los métodos utilizados para examinar los cuerpos sin dañar las momias.

Los responsables de la muestra subrayan que los hallazgos de numerosos ejemplares en lugares tan distantes como los desiertos de Sudamérica o varios países europeos demuestran que la momificación era una técnica utilizada en gran parte del mundo.

Fuente: El Mundo: http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2010/06/30/ciencia/1277915655.html

CU Researcher Finds 10,000-Year-Old Hunting Weapon in Melting Ice Patch (USA)

CU Researcher Finds 10,000-Year-Old Hunting Weapon in Melting Ice Patch (USA)

To the untrained eye, University of Colorado at Boulder Research Associate Craig Lee's recent discovery of a 10,000-year-old wooden hunting weapon might look like a small branch that blew off a tree in a windstorm.
Nothing could be further from the truth, according to Lee, a research associate with CU-Boulder's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research who found the atlatl dart, a spear-like hunting weapon, melting out of an ice patch high in the Rocky Mountains close to Yellowstone National Park.
Lee, a specialist in the emerging field of ice patch archaeology, said the dart had been frozen in the ice patch for 10 millennia and that climate change has increased global temperatures and accelerated melting of permanent ice fields exposing organic materials that have long been entombed in the ice.
"We didn't realize until the early 2000s that there was a potential to find archaeological materials in association with melting permanent snow and ice in many areas of the globe," Lee said. "We're not talking about massive glaciers, we're talking about the smaller, more kinetically stable snowbanks that you might see if you go to Rocky Mountain National Park."
As glaciers and ice fields continue to melt at an unprecedented rate, increasingly older and significant artifacts -- as well as plant material, animal carcasses and ancient feces -- are being released from the ice that has gripped them for thousands of years, he said.
Over the past decade, Lee has worked with other researchers to develop a geographic information system, or GIS, model to identify glaciers and ice fields in Alaska and elsewhere that are likely to hold artifacts. They pulled together biological and physical data to find ice fields that may have been used by prehistoric hunters to kill animals seeking refuge from heat and insect swarms in the summer months.
"In these instances, what we're finding as archaeologists is stuff that was lost," Lee said. "Maybe you missed a shot and your weapon disappeared into the snowbank. It's like finding your keys when you drop them in snow. You're not going to find them until spring. Well, the spring hasn't come until these things started melting for the first time, in some instances, in many, many thousands of years."
The dart Lee found was from a birch sapling and still has personal markings on it from the ancient hunter, according to Lee. When it was shot, the 3-foot-long dart had a projectile point on one end, and a cup or dimple on the other end that would have attached to a hook on the atlatl. The hunter used the atlatl, a throwing tool about two feet long, for leverage to achieve greater velocity.
Later this summer Lee and CU-Boulder student researchers will travel to Glacier National Park to work with the Salish, Kootenai and Blackfeet tribes and researchers from the University of Wyoming to recover and protect artifacts that may have recently melted out of similar locations.
"We will be conducting an unprecedented collaboration with our Native American partners to develop and implement protocols for culturally appropriate scientific methods to recover and protect artifacts we may discover," he said.
Quick retrieval of any organic artifacts like clothing, wooden tools or weapons is necessary to save them, because once thawed and exposed to the elements they decompose quickly, he said.
An estimated 10 percent of Earth's land surface is covered with perennial snow, glaciers and ice fields, providing plenty of opportunities for exploration, Lee said. However, once organic artifacts melt out of the ice, they could be lost forever.
"Ninety-five percent of the archaeological record that we usually base our interpretations on is comprised of chip stone artifacts, ground stone artifacts, maybe old hearths, which is a fire pit, or rock rings that would have been used to stabilize a house," Lee said. "So we really have to base our understanding about ancient times on these inorganic materials. But ice patches are giving us this window into organic technology that we just don't get in other environments."
To view a short video on Lee's discovery visit www.colorado.edu/news/ and click on the ice field artifacts story.

Fuente: University of Colorado: http://www.colorado.edu/news/r/6f01e0cf192c909927c88da29caafdd8.html

Record arrowhead discovered in western Kentucky creek (EEUU)

Record arrowhead discovered in western Kentucky creek (EEUU)

For Darrel Higgins, finding an ancient arrowhead in a creek isn't surprising, it's actually expected. Finding a record-setting artifact that dates back to an estimated 14,000 to 18,000 years? Definitely unexpected.
Higgins has been hunting creek beds for artifacts since he began finding them on farmland when he was a child. But nothing he had found compared to the 9 3/4 inch by 2 3/4 inch specimen he recently found in western Kentucky. The item, described as a clovis point made of buffalo river chert, was submerged in a creek bed when Higgins stumbled upon it.
“As soon as I picked it up, I knew what I had,” he said. “It's usually a long walk back to my truck. Not that day, I was walking on air.”
Higgins was reluctant to specify where he found the clovis, but said he immediately went to his long-time friend and artifact expert Tom Davis in eastern Kentucky to have the item authenticated. Davis dated the clovis back to the days of when prehistoric man roamed the earth and hunted large game. By measurement, it sets a North American record.
“There are some skeptics because of the size of it. But it's a record. There's one as long found in Washington state but it's not as wide,” Higgins said.
Higgins had it authenticated again during the Genuine Indian Relic Society show in Temple, Texas and was able to show it off to enthusiasts. He said he has had some buyer interest but is looking for the right price to take it off his hands. It currently is securely locked away.
“It's worth as much as someone is willing to pay and as much as I am willing to take,” he said.
The process of discovering an item that has been buried for so long is mainly fueled by rain and erosion. Higgins said that arrowheads, spearheads and other artifacts were left behind or lost at campsites and kill sites near creeks. A creek served as a source for water for early man as well as a place to find wild game to hunt for food.
Over time, the sites were covered up. As the creeks have changed paths and continued to cut through the earth, portions of the sites have become exposed, bringing the artifacts back to the surface.
“Erosion washes away the dirt, especially after deep rains. A deep freeze followed by a deep rain knocks chunks of dirt off and then a second or third rain exposes anything in the dirt,” Higgins said.
To find artifacts, Higgins walks up and down creek beds while keeping his eyes locked on the ground. He doesn't dig or excavate, but looks for what the rains and water have exposed. His eyes are trained to look for perfectly straight edges and sharp points among the rocks and pebbles.
“Creekwalking,” as Higgins calls it, now takes up most of his free time. A typical day of creekwalking could take anywhere from five to ten hours and empty a tank of gas as he travels around the region.
“I've hung up my (fishing) rods and guns a long time ago,” he said. “You don't always find stuff but you can't get discouraged.”
Higgins lives in Hickman County but said he has found items in the Lynn Grove area of Calloway County and knows people who have uncovered artifacts in the Clarks River. As he has collected items over the years, he has sold some and kept others, but is always looking for more.
“As soon as you spot one it's like a time warp. You wander back through time and think about when it was used and when it was lost,” Higgins said.

Fuente: Murray Ledger & Times: http://www.murrayledger.com/articles/2010/06/20/top_story/news01.txt

Prehistoric pet? Dog burial found in Orange County, California (USA)

Prehistoric pet? Dog burial found in Orange County, California (USA)

It might have been a treasured pet, or the victim of traditional destruction of property after its owner's death. The reason for its burial remains a mystery.
But 18 centuries ago, someone carefully positioned the body of a small dog in what was likely a shallow grave in the marshlands of Laguna Canyon, then turned over a stone grinding bowl to cover the animal.
Four years ago, the dog's burial place was discovered by archaeologists keeping watch for artifacts during the widening of Laguna Canyon Road.
On Thursday night, scientists will give a talk on the discovery of the dog burial, among fewer than 10 ever found in Orange County. The talk, hosted by the Pacific Coast Archaeological Society, is free and open to the public.
The dog was a techichi, or "small Indian dog," of a type that was about the size of a terrier and that is now extinct. But the scientists involved in the discovery know little else, including why it was buried at all.
"It might have been just a pet burial," said Paul E. Langenwalter II, a research archaeologist who teaches archaeology at Biola University. "But it could be destruction of property. It was common to kill the dog along with burning or destroying any other personal property upon the death of the owner."
The dog would have had erect ears and tail and stood about 15 inches high at the shoulder. A radiocarbon date places it at about 1,790 years ago, Langenwalter said.
Ancient pet burials are uncommon, he said; fewer than 10 have been found in Orange County, an area rich in Native American artifacts, and only a few dozen are known statewide.
Even more intriguing are the positioning of the dog and the placement of a "cairn" — a rock marker, in this case a large acorn grinding-bowl or metate — on top of it.
"The cairn is rare, and the burial position — having been folded sideways — is entirely new to archaeological knowledge within California,"Langenwalter said.
While dog burials are usually associated with Native American villages, the area where the dog was found likely served only as a frequently used campsite.
Langenwalter, archaeologist Roderick McLean of LSA Associates, Inc., and Joyce Perry, an Acjachemen scholar and manager for the Juaneño Band of Mission Indians, will give a talk on the find at the Irvine Ranch Water District, 15600 Sand Canyon Ave., Irvine, beginning at 7 p.m. Thursday.

Fuente: The Orange County Register:
http://www.ocregister.com/news/dog-252748-burial-href.html

Archaeologists work on ancient ruins as dam construction begins

Archaeologists work on ancient ruins as dam construction begins

Kanab » A site once occupied by prehistoric Puebloan people, which includes multiple American Indian remains, is being excavated before the place is scraped away to make room for a dam and reservoir.
The ruins will eventually be flooded by the Jackson Flat Reservoir, being built by the Kane County Water Conservancy District to hold water normally lost in the summer months. It will be piped from Kanab Creek and used by farmers and possibly leased by the city and Kane County.
Initial work on the dam site has begun and archaeological work is expected to be finished by the end of the month.
The reservoir will engulf 15 archaeological sites ranging from Paleo-Indian culture to pioneer settlements. A dozen of the sites, according to the draft environmental assessment, potentially could qualify for the National Register of Historic Places.
The American Indian remains will be moved and reburied. In a December 2006 letter, the Kaibab Band of Paiutes warned that the tribe would not endorse the project because it prefers to "preserve what is left of our cultural heritage by protecting archaeological sites."
But Tim Rogers, chairman of the Kaibab Band of Paiutes, said Saturday that the tribe has had good communication with officials involved in the dam since then. He expects the remains to be reburied as soon as possible near their original resting place in a protected area.
Rogers said he knows of at least 20 sets of remains that have been located so far. "What we don't want is for them to be taken away for study," he said. "We want them to remain here."
He said the discovered remains were not buried in traditional Paiute positions and there was no evidence of burial ceremonies. "Very few artifacts have been found [with the remains]," he said.
Archaeologists have been respectful of the remains as they have been uncovered, Rogers said.
Kenneth Wintch, an archaeologist with the state's School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration, who is working on the project, said archaeological work began at the site four years ago.
Even though the project is being built on mostly private land, the archaeological work is required as part of the environmental assessment under the National Historic Preservation Act because federal funding covers part of the dam's $12 million price tag.
Heidi Roberts, an archaeologist and president of HRA Inc., hired to survey and document the site, said the pit houses being uncovered are from two periods of Puebloan basket-weaving cultures who populated the area of southern Utah from A.D. 200 until 1050.
She said inhabitants were part of a culture known as the Virgin River branch of Pueblo who occupied much of southern Utah and the area stretching to present-day Las Vegas.
The site was populated at varying times in that period by people who, at one point, built an oversized house 30 feet in diameter, inside of which a smaller house was later built. Roberts said her team and archaeologists with another private company and with Brigham Young University have unearthed about 20 houses and storage pits for crops.
"We developed a research design on where to dig that will focus on the important questions we have, like how the houses were organized, if they were built around a courtyard or built in a line," she said.
About 70 people went along on one of two tours May 20 to the dam site, organized as part of the Amazing Earthfest in Kanab, celebrating the science and wonders of the Colorado Plateau.
Roberts said dating of the oldest pit houses is based partly on the fact that only spear points were found. There was no evidence of bows or arrows, which were prevalent in the area by about A.D. 400.
The oldest pit houses did not contain pottery fragments, which were found in houses of later periods, another clue to the structure's approximate age. None of the pottery shards were in the corrugated design produced after A.D. 1050.
Middens, the term used to describe where things were dumped once they had lost value, are also being excavated and contain evidence of crops, including corn, beans and squash, that were cultivated by the inhabitants.
Also uncovered were round pits used for storage of harvested crops. Pollen found at the site, along with charcoal from hearths, will be carbon-dated to establish more definite dates.
Roberts said walls of pits were lined with slabs of stone from an unknown area. Later structures were covered with earthen plaster. Round wooden poles commonly were braced against the walls to support the structure if it had a roof covered with brush and earth. But none of the poles or other organic building materials remain.

mhavnes@sltrib.com

Fuente: The Salt Lake Tribune: http://www.sltrib.com/D=g/ci_15153724