scholarly journals Identification of Macrofossils within Stone Tools: a possibility for tracing the source of artifacts?

COMPASS ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Timothy E. Allan ◽  
Matthew Bolton
Keyword(s):  
Diagnostic Tool ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
River Confluence

This paper discusses the application of malacological identification of macrofossils in stone tools. A macroscopically distinct toolstone utilized by prehistoric peoples, reported widely in archaeological consulting literature across central and southern Alberta (Meyer et al. 2007; de Mille 2009; Bohach 2010; Porter 2014), features fossilized root traces and occasional large fossil shells. These fossils can be identified, and correlated with temporal and geologic formations indicative of the environments within which the taxa occurred. Artifacts with fossils morphologically coherent with Hydrobia, Lioplacodes, and Viviparus spp. are identified in stone artifacts analyzed in this paper. These taxa are consistent with depositional environments of Paleocene period Paskapoo Formation sedimentary rocks, particularly, as identified at the Blindman-Red Deer River confluence and Joffre roadcut paleontological localities (Hoffman and Stockey 2011). In this paper we explore how the identification of these fossils offer clues to the procurement areas which were sought out by prehistoric toolmakers. We do not suggest that all Red Deer Mudstone is from these localities, though the fossil molluscs presented so far do not refute this conclusion, but we do suggest that identifying large fossil shells can be a critical diagnostic tool for identifying the geologic origin of artifacts.

Pyrite-pyrrhotine redox reactions in nature

1986 ◽  
Vol 50 (356) ◽  
pp. 223-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Hall
Keyword(s):  
Redox Reactions ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Hydrothermal Solutions ◽  
Geochemical Processes ◽  
Iron Sulphide ◽  
Progressive Reduction ◽  
Rock Types ◽  
Iron Sulphides ◽  
The Common

AbstractThe origin in rocks of the common iron sulphides, pyrrhotine, Fe1-xS and pyrite, FeS2and their behaviour during geochemical processes is best considered using the simplified redox reaction: 2FeS ⇌ FeS2+ Fe2++ 2e−.Thus pyrrhotine is more reduced than pyrite and is the stable iron sulphide formed from magmas except where relatively high oxygen fugacities result from falling pressure or hydrothermal alteration. Pyrite, on the other hand, is the stable iron sulphide in even the most reduced sedimentary rocks where it usually forms during diagenesis through bacteriogenic reduction of sulphate; it is stable throughout the pressure/temperature range endured by normal sedimentary rocks. Pyrrhotine after pyrite or sulphate in metasediments of regional metamorphic origin results mainly from progressive reduction on metamorphism due to the presence of graphite-buffered fluids. Pyrrhotine and/or pyrite may be precipitated from hydrothermal solutions on epigenetic or syngenetic mineralization but pyrrhotine will only be preserved if protected from oxidation to pyrite or to more oxidized species. Exhalative pyrrhotine appears to have been more common in Precambrian times and/or in depositional environments destined to become regionally metamorphosed. FeS can be considered to be the soluble iron sulphide, rather than FeS2, in reduced aqueous systems although pyrite may precipitate from solution as a result of redox reactions. The relatively soluble nature of FeS explains the observed mobility of iron sulphides in all rock types.

scholarly journals Earliest known Oldowan artifacts at >2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, highlight early technological diversity

2019 ◽  
pp. 201820177 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R. Braun ◽  
Vera Aldeias ◽  
Will Archer ◽  
J Ramon Arrowsmith ◽  
Niguss Baraki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quantitative Analysis ◽  
Nonhuman Primates ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Human Lineage ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Technological Diversity ◽  
Behavioral Adaptations ◽  
First Occurrence

The manufacture of flaked stone artifacts represents a major milestone in the technology of the human lineage. Although the earliest production of primitive stone tools, predating the genus Homo and emphasizing percussive activities, has been reported at 3.3 million years ago (Ma) from Lomekwi, Kenya, the systematic production of sharp-edged stone tools is unknown before the 2.58–2.55 Ma Oldowan assemblages from Gona, Ethiopia. The organized production of Oldowan stone artifacts is part of a suite of characteristics that is often associated with the adaptive grade shift linked to the genus Homo. Recent discoveries from Ledi-Geraru (LG), Ethiopia, place the first occurrence of Homo ∼250 thousand years earlier than the Oldowan at Gona. Here, we describe a substantial assemblage of systematically flaked stone tools excavated in situ from a stratigraphically constrained context [Bokol Dora 1, (BD 1) hereafter] at LG bracketed between 2.61 and 2.58 Ma. Although perhaps more primitive in some respects, quantitative analysis suggests the BD 1 assemblage fits more closely with the variability previously described for the Oldowan than with the earlier Lomekwian or with stone tools produced by modern nonhuman primates. These differences suggest that hominin technology is distinctly different from generalized tool use that may be a shared feature of much of the primate lineage. The BD 1 assemblage, near the origin of our genus, provides a link between behavioral adaptations—in the form of flaked stone artifacts—and the biological evolution of our ancestors.

High-precision U–Pb CA–ID–TIMS dating and chronostratigraphy of the dinosaur-rich Horseshoe Canyon Formation (Upper Cretaceous, Campanian–Maastrichtian), Red Deer River valley, Alberta, Canada

2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (10) ◽  
pp. 1220-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Eberth ◽  
Sandra L. Kamo
Keyword(s):  
High Precision ◽  
Coastal Plain ◽  
Upper Cretaceous ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Alluvial Plain ◽  
Type Area ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Dinosaur Evolution ◽  
Horseshoe Canyon Formation ◽  
Upper Campanian

The non-marine Horseshoe Canyon Formation (HCFm, southern Alberta) yields taxonomically diverse, late Campanian to middle Maastrichtian dinosaur assemblages that play a central role in documenting dinosaur evolution, paleoecology, and paleobiogeography leading up to the end-Cretaceous extinction. Here, we present high-precision U–Pb CA–ID–TIMS ages and the first calibrated chronostratigraphy for the HCFm using zircon grains from (1) four HCFm bentonites distributed through 129 m of section, (2) one bentonite from the underlying Bearpaw Formation, and (3) a bentonite from the overlying Battle Formation that we dated previously. In its type area, the HCFm ranges in age from 73.1–68.0 Ma. Significant paleoenvironmental and climatic changes are recorded in the formation, including (1) a transition from a warm-and-wet deltaic setting to a cooler, seasonally wet-dry coastal plain at 71.5 Ma, (2) maximum transgression of the Drumheller Marine Tongue at 70.896 ± 0.048 Ma, and (3) transition to a warm-wet alluvial plain at 69.6 Ma. The HCFm’s three mega-herbivore dinosaur assemblage zones track these changes and are calibrated as follows: Edmontosaurus regalis – Pachyrhinosaurus canadensis zone, 73.1–71.5 Ma; Hypacrosaurus altispinus – Saurolophus osborni zone, 71.5–69.6 Ma; and Eotriceratops xerinsularis zone, 69.6–68.2 Ma. The Albertosaurus Bonebed — a monodominant assemblage of tyrannosaurids in the Tolman Member — is assessed an age of 70.1 Ma. The unusual triceratopsin, Eotriceratops xerinsularis, from the Carbon Member, is assessed an age of 68.8 Ma. This chronostratigraphy is useful for refining correlations with dinosaur-bearing upper Campanian–middle Maastrichtian units in Alberta and elsewhere in North America.

The use of immunological techniques in the analysis of archaeological materials — a response to Eisele; with report of studies at Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump

Antiquity ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 70 (269) ◽  
pp. 677-682 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret E. Newman ◽  
Howard Ceri ◽  
Brian Kooyman
Keyword(s):  
Single Species ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Stone Tools ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
New Research ◽  
Rare Opportunity

Eisele et al. in ANTIQUITY (1995) reported discouraging results from experiments to see if blood traces reliably survive on stone tools. Here, issue is taken with aspects of that study, and new research is reported from the celebrated buffalo-jump at Head-Smashed-In, southern Alberta. The great bone-bed there, consisting almost exclusively of bison bones, gives rare opportunity to study remains of a known single species under the genuine conditions of an archaeological site, rather than a supposing simulation.

Red Deer River shakedown: a history of the Captain Marshall field paleontological expedition to Alberta, 1922, and its aftermath

2013 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 204-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Brinkman
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Late Cretaceous ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Vertebrate Paleontology ◽  
Fossil Plants ◽  
Southern Alberta ◽  
History Of ◽  
Fossil Vertebrate ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Provincial Park

A Field Museum expedition to collect Late Cretaceous dinosaurs operated for three and a half months in the summer of 1922 in the Red Deer River badlands (Oldman and Dinosaur Park formations, Belly River Group) in an area now known as Dinosaur Provincial Park in southern Alberta, Canada. Associate Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology Elmer S. Riggs led the expedition. He was ably assisted by veteran collectors George F. Sternberg and John B. Abbott. A trio of novice collectors, Anthony Dombrosky, George Bedford and C. Harold Riggs, Elmer's youngest son, rounded out the party. The expedition was a success, netting several quality specimens of duckbilled dinosaurs; one small, partial theropod skeleton; an unidentified duckbilled dinosaur skull; four turtles; other miscellaneous fossil vertebrate remains; numerous fossil plants and invertebrates; and a large fossil log. In 1956, one of these specimens—a nearly complete lambeosaurine hadrosaur reconstructed as Lambeosaurus—debuted as the less fortunate partner of Gorgosaurus in the museum's iconic ‘Dinosaurs, Predator and Prey’ exhibit in Stanley Field Hall. Both of these specimens are still on display in a permanent exhibit called ‘Evolving Planet’. Another notable specimen prepared in 1999-2000 after nearly eighty years in an unopened field jacket has been identified as a juvenile Gorgosaurus. This specimen—nicknamed ‘Elmer’—was recently touring the globe as part of the ‘Dinosaurs: Ancient Fossils, New Discoveries’ exhibit. More importantly, the expedition was an invaluable shakedown experience for the fossil hunting crew and their new equipment in the months before they left on an ambitious, multi-year fossil mammal collecting expedition to Argentina and Bolivia. An oft-repeated myth holds that Riggs viewed the Alberta expedition as a failure and departed the field the moment he obtained permission to go to South America. This paper shows that myth to be unfounded.

Paleobotany and paleoecology of Gao Mine, a late Paleocene fossil locality near Red Deer, Alberta, Canada

2013 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 235-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth A. Stockey ◽  
Georgia L. Hoffman ◽  
Gar W. Rothwell
Keyword(s):  
Leaf Litter ◽  
Plant Community ◽  
Red Deer ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Overbank Sediments ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Plant Fossils ◽  
South Central ◽  
Late Paleocene ◽  
Local Plant

In addition to having a rich assemblage of mammalian fossils, the Gao Mine locality in the Paskapoo Formation of south-central Alberta has yielded numerous plant specimens of late Paleocene (late Tiffanian or Ti5) age. The plant fossils are preserved in siltstones and fine-grained sandstones interpreted as overbank sediments that were deposited on an aggrading floodplain. The assemblage is dominated by the cupressaceous conifer Metasequoia foxii and the cercidiphyllaceous dicot Joffrea speirsiae, including their well-preserved seedlings. The flora also contains foliage of the ferns Onoclea and Speirseopteris and the woody dicots Palaeocarpinus, Aphananthe/Celtis, Aesculus, Beringiaphyllum, ?Trochodendron, and Wardiaphyllum, as well as seedlings of unknown dicotyledonous angiosperms. Metasequoia foxii and Speirseopteris are unique to the floras of Gao Mine and the nearby Munce’s Hill site (Tiffanian Ti4). The remainder of the taxa are common in late Paleocene floras of North Dakota, Montana, and Wyoming, all USA. The floras of the nearby Joffre Bridge Roadcut and Blindman River sites (both Tiffanian Ti3) are more diverse, but both of those sites encompass a wider range of depositional environments and may include higher percentages of allochthonous material. Most of the Gao Mine material is autochthonous. The seedlings were buried in place, along with the surrounding leaf litter, preserving a record of the local plant community.

SEDMIN - Microsoft Excel™ spreadsheet for calculating fine-grained sedimentary rock mineralogy from bulk geochemical analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Uwe Kackstaetter
Keyword(s):  
Sedimentary Rock ◽  
Statistical Evaluation ◽  
Sedimentary Rocks ◽  
Depositional Environments ◽  
Geochemical Analysis ◽  
Loss On Ignition ◽  
Microsoft Excel ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Sample Data ◽  
Sedimentary Source

AbstractNormative mineralogical calculations from bulk geochemistry of sedimentary rocks are problematic because of variable depositional environments, particle hydraulics and sedimentary source systems. The development of SEDMIN, a Microsoft Excel™ spreadsheet solution, is a practical attempt for a computational routine focusing specifically on smectite, chlorite, kaolinite, illite and the ambiguous sericite within various pelitic sedimentary lithologies. While in essence a mathematical approach, the use of statistical evaluation of empirical lithogeochemical data combined with modal analytical procedures yields reasonable geochemical associations, more precise chemical phases and revised procedural allotment paradigms. Thus, an algorithm using TiO2 as a key to the normative calculation of kaolinite is proposed. Incorporating additional parameters, such as LOI (Loss-on-ignition) in conjunction with carbon, sulfur, carbonate and sulfate, provides that clay phases can be more accurately determined than from bulk oxides alone. Even when presented with atypical sample data, the spreadsheet solution is able to accurately predict predominant clay minerals. Besides some drawbacks, the likely benefit from SEDMIN is the incorporation of results in classification norms and diagrams indicative of sedimentary lithologies. The ”SEDMIN Sedimentary Mineral Calculator.xlsx” spreadsheet can be freely downloaded from http://earthscienceeducation.net/SEDMINSedimentaryMineralCalculator.xlsx.

Stone Artifacts of Southeastern Alaska

1962 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 66-77 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward L. Keithahn
Keyword(s):  
Stone Tools ◽  
Northwest Coast ◽  
Southeast Alaska ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Stone Artifacts ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Experimental Use ◽  
Stone Artifact

AbstractThe fact that Northwest Coast Indians obtained iron for tool making at least 175 years ago makes it unlikely that any literate person ever saw stone edge tools in use in this area, or even talked with an Indian who had seen them in use. Thus, interpretation of the function of stone tools in southeast Alaska is based on an estimate of the type of tools needed for the known aboriginal industries, experimental use of the tools, and Indian tradition. The use of 25 stone artifact types is discussed, including adzes and similar tools, mauls and hammers, mortars and pestles, lamps and pipes, clubs and fighting tools, projectile points, and ornaments.

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