Archaeologica.org

Just because you have never witnessed fire by natural causes doesn't mean it doesn't happen, barry! Ask the people whose homes burned down because of lightning strike... But the fires that have burned down all the homes here have been manmade... intentionally or not. I just don't buy the concept th...

http://forestfire.nau.edu/lightning.htm The map refers to the Southwest as West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. I have seen some of the most powerful thunderstorms, with the most lightning, in those places. The San Diego area is not included. This is not thunderstorm territory. I have witnessed them ...

Not buying the natural causes... Usually some idiot with a cigarette. In twenty plus years here all the fires have been 'manmade'. Arson leads the menu. Cigarettes are second, I think. The Cedar was from a 'lost hunter', trying to start a signal fire so someone could find him. In 75 MPH winds. The W...

If the climate was different, the vegetation would have been too. Possibly simpler to self-ignite from natural causes?

Fall Santa Ana winds... humidity below 5%, hurricane force winds for days, temps in the 100s... how much simpler to ignite could it be, but what would ignite it?

in many parts of the world 'veld brush' (low growth) is purposefully lit once every few years*, in order to promote fresh grass growth for herd animals. ] Most of the native vegetation here is low growth, as long as it burns every year or so. And if it does burn, fresh grass grows quickly. That wou...

Funny how there is always money to put out fires but never enough to thin the brush before they start, huh?

We ask that question every year.

I live in an area in Southern California where the ecology is fire based. There had been large scale annual burning for thousands of years until a few hundred years ago, and much of the native vegetation requires fire to propagate. The common reason given for this is that the fires started naturally...

Wow... I grew up in that area and had no idea. As a kid, I explored the whole place and didn't know.

I had a chance to visit the Murray Springs Clovis site in Southern Arizona last week. First chance to see actual Clovis tools and points, and a nice hike around the area. The docent mentioned no one really knows what happened to the Clovis folks, but one theory was a comet or asteroid impact caused ...

Cloth clad Clovis?

http://www.zazzle.com.au/clovis_wildcat ... 6529366898

From the Wikipedia link: The oldest arrowheads found in North America are from the Paleo time period dating back 9,000 to 15,000 years ago. Some of the more famous types include Clovis, Folsom and Dalton points. I don't think any evidence shows bow and arrow technology in the Arericas prior to about...

PS... might not be asking dumb questions for the next week or so. Heading for the southern Arizona desert to explore some old trails with some friends. Hope to find something interesting... maybe some Clovis sweatshirts?

But the three wooden spears appear definitely to have been designed for hunting big game, Dr. Thieme and other experts said. Each one, an average of six feet long and two inches in maximum diameter, was carved from the trunk of a spruce tree. A sharp tip was carved at the base of the trunk, where t...

Dig : Try and grasp the concept that shafts (length and diameter) and points are adjustable to accomplish specific objectives. A shaft that passes completely through a wild boar or elk, exiting the other side, would more than enough penetration to reach the vital area of a mastodont or mammoth. Her...

What about pit traps with spears in them with the points pointed upward? Over a half century ago, in the Scouts, I couldn't start a fire with sticks but I did catch a few things in pit traps. Maybe even a few friends. They weren't that hard to dig, even for a kid. And I learned about punji stakes in...