Atlantis Online
March 29, 2024, 05:01:42 am
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
News: Site provides evidence for ancient comet explosion
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/nationworld/story/173177.html
 
  Home Help Arcade Gallery Links Staff List Calendar Login Register  

At The Bottom Of Lake Huron, An Ancient Hunting Ground - UPDATES

Pages: [1]   Go Down
  Print  
Author Topic: At The Bottom Of Lake Huron, An Ancient Hunting Ground - UPDATES  (Read 124 times)
0 Members and 21 Guests are viewing this topic.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« on: June 09, 2009, 09:40:40 am »









                              At the Bottom of Lake Huron, an Ancient Hunting Ground







Science News,
June 9, 2009

   ..Deep beneath the waves of Lake Huron, researchers may have found evidence of a Paleo-American culture that lived in the Great Lakes region. Archaeologists used sonar and robotic explorers to examine about 28 square miles of the lake bottom, and found what may be the remnants of a caribou hunting ground; they hope further studies will reveal ancient settlements. Says study coauthor John O’Shea: “Scientifically, it’s important, because the entire ancient landscape has been preserved and has not been modified by farming, or modern development” [Canwest News Service].

What is now part of Lake Huron’s obscured floor became a dry land bridge between modern-day Presque Isle, Michigan and Point Clark, Ontario when lake levels dipped some 7,500 to 10,000 years ago [Scientific American]. At depths ranging between 60 and 140 feet, researchers found lines of large stones, which may have been “drive lanes” that aided early hunters as they tried to take down galloping caribou. “An interesting behavioral trait of caribou is that they follow linear features”
[National Geographic News],
says O’Shea.

Although generally unimpressive to humans — a person could easily step across the shin-high line of boulders, and even a small dog could leap it with a single bound — such structures are used by arctic hunters today to effectively guide caribou…. Groupings of large boulders at each end of the structure could have been used as decidedly low-tech hunting blinds [Science News].

But the study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, hasn’t convinced everyone–other archaeologists argue that the rock lines could have been arranged by moving glaciers, and say they’ll wait for a sighting of stone tools or other artifacts before getting excited. Study coauthor Guy Meadows notes that a rather thick covering of zebra mussels — an invasive species that now plagues many of the Great Lakes — also blocked easy view of the lake bottom surrounding the purported manmade structures…. So, he adds, researchers will soon return to scuba dive in the area and make detailed investigations

[Science News].
« Last Edit: June 18, 2009, 08:02:25 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter

Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2009, 05:56:31 pm »



A potential stone hunting blind beneath Lake Huron that is approximately 3.5 m across.

(Credit:
Photo courtesy of

John O'Shea.)
« Last Edit: June 09, 2009, 05:57:37 pm by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« Reply #2 on: June 09, 2009, 05:59:42 pm »










                        Archeological Evidence Of Human Activity Found Beneath Lake Huron






ScienceDaily
(June 9, 2009)

— More than 100 feet deep in Lake Huron, on a wide stoney ridge that 9,000 years ago was a land bridge, University of Michigan researchers have found the first archeological evidence of human activity preserved beneath the Great Lakes.

The researchers located what they believe to be caribou-hunting structures and camps used by the early hunters of the period.

"This is the first time we've identified structures like these on the lake bottom," said John O'Shea, curator of Great Lakes Archaeology in the Museum of Anthropology and professor in the Department of Anthropology. "Scientifically, it's important because the entire ancient landscape has been preserved and has not been modified by farming, or modern development. That has implications for ecology, archaeology and environmental modeling."

A paper about the findings is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Co-authors are O'Shea and Guy Meadows, director of the Marine Hydrodynamics Laboratories and a professor in the departments of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering, and Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences.

O'Shea and Meadows found features that they believe to be hunting pits, camps, caribou drive lanes and stone piles used to attract the caribou to the drive lanes. Drive lanes are long rows of rocks used to channel caribou into ambushes. The 1,148-foot structure they believe is a drive lane closely resembles one on Victoria Island in the Canadian subarctic.

The hunting formations are on the 10-mile-wide Alpena-Amberley ridge that stretches more than 100 miles from Point Clark, Ontario to Presque Isle, Michigan. The ridge was a bridge between 10,000 and 7,500 years ago when water levels were much lower. Its surface is relatively unspoiled, unlike coastal areas where scientists believe other archeological sites exist. These coastal sites would now be deeply covered in sediment, so they're often considered lost forever.

Scientists have hypothesized for some time that the ridge might hold signs of ancient occupations. But they didn't know what signs to look for. O'Shea and Meadows zeroed in on caribou-hunting structures after considering the region's climate at the time, which would have been similar to the subarctic. Subarctic hunters are known to utilize caribou drive lanes.

The U-M researchers then narrowed down where to look for these structures by modeling the lake ridge as it would have been when it was dry. They worked with a Robert Reynolds a professor of computer scientist at Wayne State University to reconstruct the ancient environment and then simulate caribou migrations across the corridor. Based on this, they picked three spots to examine.

O'Shea and Meadows used U-M's new, cutting-edge survey vessel Blue Traveler, sonar equipment and underwater remote-operated vehicles with video cameras to survey these areas.

"The combination of these state-of-the art tools have made these underwater archeological investigations possible," Meadows said. "Without any one of these advanced tools, this discovery would not have happened."

Archaeologist will begin examining these areas this summer.

The Paleo-Indian and early Archaic periods are poorly known in the Great Lakes region because most of their sites are thought to have been lost beneath the lakes. Yet they are also times of major shifts in culture and the environment.

The Paleo-Indians were nomadic and pursued big game, O'Shea said. With the Archaic period, communities were more settled, with larger populations, a broad spectrum economy, and new long distance trade and ceremonial connections.

"Without the archeological sites from this intermediate time period, you can't tell how they got from point A to point B, or Paleo-Indian to Archaic," O'Shea said. "This is why the discovery of sites preserved beneath the lakes is so significant."

Perhaps more exciting than the hunting structures themselves is the hope they bring that intact settlements are preserved on the lake bottom. These settlements could contain organic artifacts that deteriorate in drier, acidic soils on land.

The research is funded by the National Science Foundation.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Journal reference:

1.. Evidence for early hunters beneath the Great Lakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 8, 2009
Adapted from materials provided by University of Michigan.
Email or share this story:| More Need to cite this story in your essay, paper, or report? Use one of the following formats:
 APA

 MLA University of Michigan (2009, June 9). Archeological Evidence Of Human Activity Found Beneath Lake Huron. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 9, 2009, from



http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2009/06/090608182543.htm
Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
Bianca
Superhero Member
******
Posts: 41646



« Reply #3 on: June 18, 2009, 08:04:36 am »









                                                Ancient life evidence found in Lake Huron





 
UPI   
June 17, 2009
ANN ARBOR, Mich.

-- U.S. scientists say they have found evidence of human activity on a 9,000-year-old land bridge
now located more than 100-feet deep in Lake Huron.

University of Michigan researchers, who made the discovery, said the ruins are of caribou-hunting structures and camps used by the early hunters of the period.

"This is the first time we've identified structures like these on the lake bottom," said Professor John O'Shea, curator of Great Lakes archaeology at the university's Museum of Anthropology. "Scientifically, it's important because the entire ancient landscape has been preserved and has not been modified by farming or modern development. That has implications for ecology, archaeology and environmental modeling."

O'Shea and Professor Guy Meadows found hunting pits, camps, caribou drive lanes and stone piles used to attract the caribou to the drive lanes -- long rows of rocks used to channel caribou into ambushes.

The researchers said the hunting formations are on the 10-mile-wide Alpena-Amberley ridge that stretches more than 100 miles from Point Clark, Ontario, to Presque Isle, Michigan. The ridge was a bridge between 10,000 and 7,500 years ago when water levels were much lower.

Archaeologists are to begin examining the area this summer.

The findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
« Last Edit: June 18, 2009, 08:05:14 am by Bianca » Report Spam   Logged

Your mind understands what you have been taught; your heart what is true.
Pages: [1]   Go Up
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by EzPortal
Bookmark this site! | Upgrade This Forum
SMF For Free - Create your own Forum
Powered by SMF | SMF © 2016, Simple Machines
Privacy Policy