Posted on 04/15/2008 6:50:32 PM PDT by blam
Finding Pre-Clovis Humans in the Oregon High Desert
An interview with Dennis Jenkins
See Interview About Dennis Jenkins
In this interview, conducted at Paisley Five Mile Point Caves on June 13, 2007, by Rick Pettigrew of ALI, Dr. Dennis Jenkins describes the remarkable discovery of human DNA in coprolites dated between 14,000 and 15,000 calibrated years ago. This evidence, reported in the 3 April 2008, issue of the journal Science, strongly supports the proposition that human migrants to North America arrived at least 1000 years before the widespread Clovis complex appeared. The data also support the conclusion that the first human population originated in northeast Asia. Dr. Jenkins, standing in the very spot where his field school team recovered the evidence, relates why and how the excavation was carried out, explains the significance of the find and shares his personal reflections on making a momentous discovery. Images woven into the interview show the environment surrounding the caves and the student archaeologists comprising the field crew.
The Interview:
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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- About Dennis Jenkins:
Dr. Dennis Jenkins
Dennis L. Jenkins received his B.A. (1977) and M.A. (1981) degrees from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and his Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1991. He is an Archaeologist/Field School Supervisor for the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology/Museum of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon. As Co-Director and Supervisor of the University of Oregon Archaeological Field School, Jenkins has worked for much of the last 15 years on the archaeology of the Fort Rock Basin and Chewaucan Basin areas, focusing on paleoenvironmental studies, lacustrine adaptations, settlement and subsistence patterns, exchange systems, and the evolution of hunter-gatherer foraging strategies in arid landscapes. His primary research interests involve Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene cultural transitions and settlement-subsistence issues among hunter-gatherers of the Great Basin. His archaeological experience spans some 31 years with more than 100 excavations.
Jenkins began work in the Fort Rock Basin during the summer of 1986. He hired on with the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, where he currently works as a Senior Research Associate, in l987.
He directs excavations related to highway construction projects in the Northern Great Basin and adjoining regions. His research includes the application of specialized analytical techniques involving DNA and obsidian sourcing and hydration and prehistoric bead type and distribution analyses.
Jenkins has authored or coauthored numerous publications, including co-editing (with C. M. Aikens) the 1994 volume, Archaeological Researches in the Northern Great Basin: Fort Rock Archaeology Since Cressman (University of Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 50, 1994), and more recently Early and Middle Holocene Archaeology of the Northern Great Basin (University of Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 62, 2004).
His most recent research involves the recovery of human DNA from pre-Clovis coprolites recovered with extinct faunal remains (camelids, horses, bison, and pika) in the Paisley Caves.
Ugly? Death Valley is part of the Mojave, and it’s one of the most beautiful deserts around!
The exception proves the rule. DV is beautiful because of its extreme geography (11-14k foot verticality). The Mojave/GB lacks the flora/fauna of the Sonora (eg saguaro), the color of the Colorado, and the elevation of the Chihuahuan.
The worst roads trips in the US are the I-10 from Palm Springs to Phoenix, the I-80 from Reno to SLC, and the I-40 from LA to Vegas. I've done them all (on many different occasions); the Mojave is a colorless, lifeless, drab, boring & depressing desert.
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But based on tons of other comparative data I'll take any Arizona desert to Cal/Nev desert.
Oops!
I just remembered Lake Havasu.
Hemorrhoids? Colon polyps/cancer? GI bleed? Ate somebody he disagreed with?
The Great Basin used to be just that - a basin filled with water. Fort Rock is an enormous rock in the middle of nowhere that was eroded by water! The whole area used to be one big lake. The lakes have since evaporated.
I rode through the area during the 1996 Cycle Oregon.
Discovery of human DNA in coprolites means one of two things:
Humans ate something and then took a dump or
the other way around!
Either way I guess that means humans were there.
Oh well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, I guess. I haven’t done the Reno to SLC trip, but have the others. It’s desolate, but I like it. I’m in Palmdale right now, but the only thing ugly about it is the cultural garbage that’s slopped over from LA.
Fort Rock Basin, one of the best sage rat hunting areas in the state.
That's some of my favorite country. Some eyes just can't "see." I like the Sonoran desert too.
So some Clovis folks had the good sense to chose a common spot for a latrine on their way south. What’s the big deal?
Thanks Renfield.
Archaeologist Talks About Oregon’s Early Natives
The World Link | 4-12-2004 | Daniel Schreiber
Posted on 04/13/2004 4:52:32 PM PDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1117073/posts
Fossil Feces Push Back Earliest Date of Humans in Americas
Foxnews.com | April 04, 2008
Posted on 04/04/2008 7:47:46 AM PDT by Malone LaVeigh
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1996674/posts
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