"The ice age hunters of the Rocky Mountains were some of North America's earliest inhabitants. Although many scholars had long suspected that humans entered the Americas at an early date, no concrete proof existed until the find at Folsom, New Mexico, in 1926. There, J.D. Figgens of the Denver Museum of Natural History excavated fossil bison bones in direct association with human-made fluted stone points, demonstrating for the first time that humans and the ice age bison were contemporaries in the American Southwest. In the years following the Folsom discovery, new sites came to light that further confirmed the presence of late Pleistocene hunters in North America." "Since the initial discoveries of ice age hunters in America, the ensuing 65 years have witnessed a rapidly enlarged database and the development of increasingly sophisticated analytical techniques that are reinterpreting the archaeological record." "Ice Age Hunters of the Rockies explores the many questions that still surround the Pleistocene cultures of 12,000 years ago and the adaptations of these early civilizations to the last great ice age. In this important volume, a diverse group of top scholars discuss issues such as the time of arrival of the first Americans, adaptations to various environments, and the use by early people of high-altitude sites."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Humans at the End of the Ice Age chronicles and explores the significance of the variety of cultural responses to the global environmental changes at the last glacial-interglacial boundary. Contributions address the nature and consequences of the global climate changes accompanying the end of the Pleistocene epoch-detailing the nature, speed, and magnitude of the human adaptations that culminated in the development of food production in many parts of the world. The text is aided by vital maps, chronological tables, and charts.
At the end of the last Ice Age in a valley bottom in the Rocky Mountains, a group of bison hunters overwintered. Through the analysis of more than 75,000 pieces of chipped stone, archaeologist Todd A. Surovell is able to provide one of the most detailed looks yet at the lifeways of hunter-gatherers from 12,800 years ago. The best archaeological sites are those that present problems and inspire research, writes Surovell. From the start, the Folsom site called Barger Gulch Locality B was one of those sites; it was a problem-rich environment. Many Folsom sites are sparse scatters of stone and bone, a reflection of a mobile lifestyle that leaves little archaeological materials. The people at Barger Gulch left behind tens of thousands of pieces of chipped stone; they appeared to have spent quite a bit of time there in comparison to other places they inhabited. Summarizing findings from nine seasons of excavations, Surovell explains that the site represents a congregation of mobile hunter-gatherers who spent winter along Barger Gulch, a tributary of the Colorado River. Surovell uses spatial patterns in chipped stone to infer the locations of hearths and house features. He examines the organization of household interiors and discusses differential use of interior and exterior spaces. Data allow inference about the people who lived at the site, including aspects of the identity of flintknappers and household versus group mobility. The site shows evidence of a Paleoindian camp circle, child flintknapping, household production of weaponry, and the fission/fusion dynamics of group composition that is typical of nomadic peoples. Barger Gulch provides key findings on Paleoindian technological variation and spatial and social organization.
"During the last ice age, glaciers formed high in the Rocky Mountains and carved out the peaks and valleys visible today. Recreating the landscape and life forms of this era of the last great glaciations (from 10,000 to 125,000 years ago), this guidebook describes a little-known yet pivotal period in the ecological history of four western national parks: Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, and Rocky Mountain." "Scott A. Elias describes how great sheets of ice spread over and changed the shape of the land - forming the steep-walled valleys and braided rivers of Glacier National Park, the chain of so-called "pater noster" lakes in the lower Rockies, and the end moraines that dammed Jenny, Bradley, Taggart, and Phelps lakes in the Grand Teton park. Drawing on fossil evidence, he also introduces the large animals that thrived 21,000 years ago - dire wolves, short-faced bears, American cheetahs, and mammoths - and that quickly died off at the end of the last glaciation. He recounts the coming of humans to the region, the ascendance of the ecosystems we see today, and the lasting features (plant, animal and topographical) of the ice age." "This guidebook, along with its companion on the ice-age history of Alaskan national parks, relates as well the kinds of evidence and methods scientists use to recover past environments. Covering geology, climate, ancient plant and animal life, and human presence, Elias introduces paleoecology - the interactions among plants, animals, and the prehistoric ecosystem - to hikers, tourists, and armchair travelers."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved
"Who were the first humans to inhabit North America? According to the now familiar story, mammal hunters entered the continent some 12,000 years ago via a land bridge that spanned the Bering Sea and introduced the distinctive stone tools of the Clovis culture. Drawing from original archaeological analysis, paleoclimatic research, and genetic studies, noted archaeologists Dennis J. Stanford and Bruce A. Bradley challenge that narrative. Their hypothesis places the technological antecedents of Clovis technology in Europe, with the culture of Solutrean people in France and Spain more than 20,000 years ago, and posits that the first Americans crossed the Atlantic by boat and arrived earlier than previously thought."--Back cover.
"A decade's worth of archaeological research conducted at Mountaineer, a Paleoindian campsite in Colorado's Upper Gunnison Basin. Extensively excavated, long-term Folsom occupations with evidence of built structures. The site provides a record of stone tool manufacture and use offering insight into adaptive strategies from a region in a waning Ice Age"--
This book provides a comprehensive review of hunter-gatherer studies, undertaking detailed regional and thematic case-studies that span the archaeology, history and anthropology of hunter gatherers, concluding with an in-depth review of the main opportunities, research questions, and moral obligations that lie ahead.
When we think of archaeology, most of us think first of its many spectacular finds: the legendary city of Troy, Tutankhamun's golden tomb, the three-million-year-old footprints at Laetoli, the mile-high city at Machu Picchu, the cave paintings at Lascaux. But as marvelous as these discoveries are, the ultimate goal of archaeology, and of archaeologists, is something far more ambitious. Indeed, it is one of humanity's great quests: to recapture and understand our human past, across vast stretches of time, as it was lived in every corner of the globe. Now, in The Oxford Companion to Archaeology, readers have a comprehensive and authoritative overview of this fascinating discipline, in a book that is itself a rare find, a treasure of up-to-date information on virtually every aspect of the field. The range of subjects covered here is breathtaking--everything from the domestication of the camel, to Egyptian hieroglyphics, to luminescence dating, to the Mayan calendar, to Koobi Fora and Olduvai Gorge. Readers will find extensive essays that illuminate the full history of archaeology--from the discovery of Herculaneum in 1783, to the recent finding of the "Ice Man" and the ancient city of Uruk--and engaging biographies of the great figures in the field, from Gertrude Bell, Paul Emile Botta, and Louis and Mary Leakey, to V. Gordon Childe, Li Chi, Heinrich Schliemann, and Max Uhle. The Companion offers extensive coverage of the methods used in archaeological research, revealing how archaeologists find sites (remote sensing, aerial photography, ground survey), how they map excavations and report findings, and how they analyze artifacts (radiocarbon dating, dendrochronology, stratigraphy, mortuary analysis). Of course, archaeology's great subject is humanity and human culture, and there are broad essays that examine human evolution--ranging from our early primate ancestors, to Australopithecus and Cro-Magnon, to Homo Erectus and Neanderthals--and explore the many general facets of culture, from art and architecture, to arms and armor, to beer and brewing, to astronomy and religion. And perhaps most important, the contributors provide insightful coverage of human culture as it has been expressed in every region of the world. Here entries range from broad overviews, to treatments of particular themes, to discussions of peoples, societies, and particular sites. Thus, anyone interested in North America would find articles that cover the continent from the Arctic to the Eastern woodlands to the Northwest Coast, that discuss the Iroquois and Algonquian cultures, the hunters of the North American plains, and the Norse in North America, and that describe sites such as Mesa Verde, Meadowcraft Rockshelter, Serpent Mound, and Poverty Point. Likewise, the coverage of Europe runs from the Paleolithic period, to the Bronze and Iron Age, to the Post-Roman era, looks at peoples such as the Celts, the Germans, the Vikings, and the Slavs, and describes sites at Altamira, Pompeii, Stonehenge, Terra Amata, and dozens of other locales. The Companion offers equally thorough coverage of Africa, Europe, North America, Mesoamerica, South America, Asia, the Mediterranean, the Near East, Australia and the Pacific. And finally, the editors have included extensive cross-referencing and thorough indexing, enabling the reader to pursue topics of interest with ease; charts and maps providing additional information; and bibliographies after most entries directing readers to the best sources for further study. Every Oxford Companion aspires to be the definitive overview of a field of study at a particular moment of time. This superb volume is no exception. Featuring 700 articles written by hundreds of respected scholars from all over the world, The Oxford Companion to Archaeology provides authoritative, stimulating entries on everything from bog bodies, to underwater archaeology, to the Pyramids of Giza and the Valley of the Kings.
