AIS/ANTH 130

 

CURRENT ISSUES

 

Pre-Clovis:  As you can tell from the notes the existence of humans in the Americas before Clovis (11,500 RCYBP or 13,000/13,500 years ago) continues to be controversial. Much of the controversy has been stratigraphic context and dating. Recently, dating has again become more accurate and some sites have benefited with better or more reliable dates. The Manis Site in Washington state has a mastodon rib with a osseous (bone) projectile imbedded in it. Updated dating from the Center for First American Studies at Texas A&M has revealed a date of 13,800 years ago. Not only is this pre-Clovis in date, but it shows the use of bone tools before the Clovis type of stone bifacial.


Also, human dried fecal material from Paisley Cave in Oregon has been dated 14,300 years ago by D.L. Jenkins of U. of Oregon. Furthermore, DNA (including mitichondrial DNA) has been recovered from these samples. A Clovis site found in 1969, called the Anzick site in Montana had a human burial of a small boy that is dated at 10,800 RCYBP, calibrated to 12,894 BP. More important the human remains yielded DNA that indicates that he is related to the earlier S. American Native American groups and not to later Inuit or Athabascan of the Far North. Furthermore, he is related to NE Asian not European stock. Essentially, this contradicts the recent Solutrean hypothesis of Upper Paleolithic European migration via the Coastal Atlantic side of the continent. We will see how this holds up and more data may come in.

 

2012 Phenomenon: Most of you are aware of the hype surrounding the Maya Log Count Calendar as it comes to the end of a cycle in Dec. 21, 2012. Most of the hype is in the interpretation of the meaning and events that are connected to this. Movies have depicted apocalyptical events with solar flares causing LA to slide into the Pacific and or a rogue planet colliding with the earth. In actually this is merely an end of a cycle in the Mayan Long Count of 5,125 years based on an estimated zero date of Aug 11, 3114 BC in our calendar coming to Dec 21, 2012 or 13.0.0.0.0 ( 13 b'aktuns, 0 k'atuns, 0 tuns, 0 uinals, 0  kin ). A kin equals one day and since the Maya mathematical base is 20; one uinal equals 20 kin; one tun equals 18 unials; one k'atun equals 20 tun; one b'aktun equals 20 k'atun. Thus, 13 b'aktun would be 13 x 144,000 days or 1,872,000 days or 5128.76 years from the zero date. Even with extrapolation one gets a 2014 date. Many argue about the secular year of 18 uinals. Even our dates are not terribly accurate and we are estimating the Maya information based on a partial glyph on Monument 6 at Tortuguero, which some epigraphers feel may be misinterpreted.

On another level Mayan informants indicate that the end to their cycle is merely a new calendrical beginning somewhat like our 1999 - 2000. For Meso American  tourism the 2012 event is great for business and tours are booming. It also brings attention to the fact that the Maya were so interesting with an eloquent calendrical and mathematical system, based like many ancients on 20 (vigecimal). Watch out for 2014...oops almost over.