Archive by category | Geological Society of America

GSA 2009: Prehistoric culture roamed southwards

Scientists have discovered a site containing the most extensive evidence seen so far in Mexico for the Clovis culture. The find extends the range of America’s oldest identifiable culture, which roamed North America about 13,000 years ago. Read the full story on Nature News here.  Read more

GSA 2009: A 3,000-year-old pit house in the American West

Posted on behalf of Rex Dalton The oldest dwelling structure in Utah — dated to 3,000 years ago — was reported this week, offering a glimpse of ancient life in the Great Salt Lake Basin. The pit house structure was located near a river bed in the highly developed Salt Lake City region after a team of scientists persevered for years to study the location without project funding. Some now fear the potentially important site may be lost to development, with but a plaque to mark the location. In a lecture at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of  … Read more

GSA 2009: Younger Dryas impact criticised again

Posted on behalf of Rex Dalton The fast-sinking idea that a comet struck North America 13,000 years ago, killing off the Clovis Paleo-Indians and triggering the Younger Dryas cold snap, was again undermined by geochemical tests released this week. A US-Belgium team has reported that it can find no evidence of a comet impact at seven sites and in sediments in two ocean cores corresponding to when the object reportedly exploded over the North American ice sheet. Francois Paquay, a doctoral student at the University of Hawaii in Honolulu, reported the team’s results at the annual meeting of the Geological  … Read more