Geoarchaeology of the Midland (Paleoindian) Site, Texas

1996 ◽  
Vol 61 (4) ◽  
pp. 755-771 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vance T. Holliday ◽  
David J. Meltzer
Keyword(s):  
Human Remains ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
High Plains ◽  
Dune Field ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Dating Methods ◽  
Lacustrine Carbonate ◽  
New Type ◽  
Numerical Dating

In 1953 human remains and a new type of Paleoindian artifact were discovered eroding from a "blowout" in a small dune field along Monahans Draw, near Midland, Texas, on the Southern High Plains. The projectile points became the type “Midland” collection. Stratigraphy, radiometric dating, paleontology, and geochemistry suggested that the artifacts and bones dated to at least 10,000 B.P. and that the human remains were possibly as old as 20,000 B.P. The researchers believed that the human bones were from below a red sand that in turn was below a Folsom occupation. The dating of the human remains has long been problematic, however, and recent attempts to apply U-series dating further confuse the story. Geoarchaeological investigations were carried out at the site from 1989 to 1992 to reevaluate the geochronology, with particular reference to the age of the skeletal material. We reach several conclusions: (1) there are two Red Sands; (2) the human remains are from below the upper Red Sand, but the Folsom material is from above the lower Red Sand and, therefore, the Red Sand stratigraphy is not relevant to the age of the human remains; (3) the human remains were associated with the valley-margin facies of a lacustrine carbonate that is well dated in the region and rarely is > 10,000 B.P.; and (4) all numerical dating methods applied at the site produced unreliable results. We find no compelling evidence that the human remains from the Midland site are older than Folsom age; they may be contemporary with or younger than the Folsom occupation.

Radiometric dating methods

2012 ◽  
pp. 58-104
Author(s):  
Claude J. Allegre ◽  
Christopher Sutcliffe
Keyword(s):  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Dating Methods

scholarly journals Non-scientific Archaeological Recovery of Human Remains from an Ancient Well in India

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-92 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. S. Sehrawat ◽  
R. K. Pathak
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Scientific Discipline ◽  
Existing Structures ◽  
Forensic Archaeology ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Scientific Disciplines ◽  
Minimum Number ◽  
Minimum Number Of Individuals ◽  
Number Of Individuals

Forensic archaeology is a scientific discipline that can expose past crime(s) against humanity by recovering the bodies of victims and meticulously documenting any proof of torture, trauma or human rights violations. Archaeological recovery of human remains deposited in pre-existing structures or features such as wells, potholes, natural ravines, roadside trenches, sewage systems etc., have been reported from many sites worldwide. In April, 2014, thousands of human bones, teeth as well as a number of personal effects including coins, medals and beaded armbands were unscientifically excavated from a well—presumably dating from the nineteenth century—located under a religious structure in the heart a North Indian town. Without the assistance of scientific expertise or local administration, locals excavated the remains to verify whether the well containing human bones was a result of an event which had been documented in the written records. The unscientific excavation by locals with no formal qualifications in archaeology or anthropology, resulted in the enhanced damage and commingling of human remains limiting information on the minimum number of individuals, age-at-death, sex, pathological conditions, trauma, etc. which may have assisted in identification and a stronger corroboration with the historical records. This paper aims to emphasize that if scientific protocols had been followed—including the participation of a multidisciplinary excavation team with experts from diverse scientific disciplines like forensic archaeology, anthropology, geology, skeletal biology, history, forensic medicine etc.—data and context would have been greatly enhanced and information may have been obtained about the deceased individuals and whether they were the victims of crimes dating to the nineteenth century.

scholarly journals Neolithic Massacres: Local Skirmishes or General Warfare in Europe?

Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 377-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Maria Wild ◽  
Peter Stadler ◽  
Annemarie Häußer ◽  
Walter Kutschera ◽  
Peter Steier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Alternative Interpretation ◽  
Human Bone ◽  
Single Event ◽  
Early Neolithic ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
Burial Rite

The Neolithic site of Schletz in Lower Austria comprises a fortified settlement from the end of the Linearbandkeramik (LBK) culture. Large numbers of human bones were found at the base of the fortification ditches, and many of the excavated bones and skulls showed evidence of trauma which most likely originates from violence. This remarkable deposit of human remains has been considered evidence for an abrupt end to the Early Neolithic settlement at Schletz. In order to investigate this interpretation, radiocarbon accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) measurements of human bone samples from this site were performed at VERA. The χ2 test of the results from specimens with clearly identified lesions suggests that these may be contemporaneous. Further, it may be concluded that all individuals with evidence of trauma from Schletz were probably the victims of a single event: a massacre at the end of the LBK.Similar evidence is found at Early Neolithic sites at Talheim and Herxheim in the western part of Germany. Analysis of the 14C ages of bones from both sites suggests that the Talheim event may have been coeval with the massacre of Schletz, whereas an event at Herxheim might have happened some time earlier. For Herxheim, the massacre theory is still under discussion, and a change in the burial rite is also considered as an alternative interpretation.

scholarly journals On the age of the Dej Tuff, Transylvanian Basin (Romania)

2012 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandru Szakács ◽  
Zoltán Pécskay ◽  
Lóránd Silye ◽  
Kadosa Balogh ◽  
Daniela Vlad ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fission Track ◽  
Radiometric Dating ◽  
Evolutionary Models ◽  
Multiple Methods ◽  
Dating Methods

On the age of the Dej Tuff, Transylvanian Basin (Romania)The Dej Tuff is an important stratigraphic marker in the Transylvanian Basin. However, its Early Badenian age is known only on biostratigraphical grounds so far. A number of radiometric dating techniques including K-Ar, Ar-Ar and fission-track have been used in order to constrain more precisely its age, allowing the calibration of the Transylvanian Basin's evolutionary models. Although individual dating methods could not provide a unique, reliable and accurate radiometric age, comparison and evaluation of multiple methods gives 14.8-15.1 Ma as the most likely formation age of the Dej Tuff.

scholarly journals Skulls from Tiwanaku: A Forgotten Part of Nestler’s Collection in the Hrdlička Museum of Man in Prague

2021 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-48
Author(s):  
Markéta Křížová
Keyword(s):  
High School ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
School Teacher ◽  
High School Teacher ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Disciplinary Practices ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Original Owner ◽  
Czech Lands

Julius Nestler, high school teacher and amateur archaeologist from Prague, brought home more than 3,500 archaeological and anthropological artifacts from his expedition to Bolivia (1909–1912). At present they are in the possession of the Náprstek Museum in Prague. a smaller corpus of human bones, especially skulls, some deformed (elongated) and/or trepanned, were deposited at the Hrdlička Museum of Man (Charles University in Prague). Nestler’s second collection has not, so far, re­ceived much attention from anthropologists, museologists or historians of science, one of the reasons probably being the fact that there is no preserved documentation as to its provenance. Sources dispersed in several archives and publications made it possible to ascertain Nestler’s motivation for collecting human remains, the location where he collected them, and the circumstances of their sale to Charles University. The article also aspires to insert the collection and its original owner into the broader context of anatomical and anthropological disciplinary practices in the Czech Lands in the first decades of the 20th century.

scholarly journals THE FACE OF BATTLE? DEBATING ARROW TRAUMA ON MEDIEVAL HUMAN REMAINS FROM PRINCESSHAY, EXETER

2020 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
pp. 165-189
Author(s):  
Oliver H Creighton ◽  
Laura Evis ◽  
Mandy Kingdom ◽  
Catriona J McKenzie ◽  
Iain Watt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gunshot Wounds ◽  
Entry And Exit ◽  
Traumatic Injuries ◽  
High Frequencies ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Physical Evidence ◽  
Human Bones ◽  
Fracture Patterns ◽  
The Face ◽  
Tentative Evidence

Physical evidence of weapon trauma in medieval burials is unusual, and evidence for trauma caused by arrowheads is exceptionally rare. Where high frequencies of traumatic injuries have been identified, this is mainly in contexts related to battles; it is much less common in normative burials. Osteological analysis of one context from an assemblage of disarticulated and commingled human bones recovered from a cemetery associated with the thirteenth-century Dominican friary in Exeter, Devon, shows several instances of weapon trauma, including multiple injuries caused by projectile points. Arrow trauma is notoriously difficult to identify, but this assemblage shows that arrows fired from longbows could result in entry and exit wounds in the skull not incomparable to modern gunshot wounds. Microscopic examination of the fracture patterns and spalling associated with these puncture wounds provides tentative evidence that medieval arrows were fletched to spin clockwise. These results have profound implications for our understanding of the power of the medieval longbow, for how we recognise arrow trauma in the archaeological record and for our knowledge of how common violent death and injury were in the medieval past, and how and where casualties were buried.

Chemometrics and Thermal Analytical Investigation of Ancient Human Bones Through the Estimation of Activation Energy Values of Main Degradation Processes

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 580-592
Author(s):  
Alessandra Biancolillo ◽  
Mauro Tomassetti ◽  
Remo Bucci ◽  
Federico Marini ◽  
Luigi Campanella
Keyword(s):  
Activation Energy ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Human Remains ◽  
Analytical Investigation ◽  
Pca Analysis ◽  
Third Order ◽  
Funeral Ritual ◽  
The Third ◽  
Degradation Processes ◽  
Human Bones

Background: The investigation of human bones unearthed from necropolises is a useful tool to enhance our knowledge about ancient cultures. In the present study, the possibility of using the activation energy (EA) values of thermogravimetric degradation processes coupled with exploratory analysis methods in order to investigate human remains, has been tested. Methods: Several human bones from four distinct necropolises have been analyzed by thermogravimetry and then thirteen different approaches have been used to estimate their activation energy of the degradation processes of carbonate and collagen. The entire set of data has been analyzed by Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in order to draw some preliminary considerations over the remains. Results: PCA analysis highlighted the possibility of recognizing grouping tendencies related to the funeral ritual bodies underwent and/or their age. Additionally, in the second part of the work, where the focus is on the activation energies of collagen and carbonates degradation processes estimated by the method which was considered the most reliable (i.e., the Arrhenius formula with the third order decay), some tentative considerations about a trend in cremation temperatures are drawn. Conclusion: The estimation of values from thermogravimetric signals combined with chemometrics is a useful tool for the investigation of bone samples, which allow obtaining additional info about trends and/or grouping tendencies in complex systems as human remains.

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