The Topper Site

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:22 am

Welcome back, Beags.

The Club will shit a brick about the hand axe, though.

Starflower · Post by **Starflower** » Sun May 20, 2007 3:17 am

Good to have you back Beagle. I can't wait to see the pictures, this is very exciting information. Thanks for that wonderful link too.

Star

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Sun May 20, 2007 8:51 am

Beagle wrote:http://www.spaceguarduk.com/news.htm

Near the bays, in South Carolina, the team has also been looking for evidence at a Clovis site known as Topper. Clovis points are abundant in this region. But Albert Goodyear, an archaeologist at the University of South Carolina at Columbia, will report in Acapulco that there was a sharp decline in Clovis points at Topper during the Younger Dryas. This, the team argues, is evidence that at that time humans went through some sort of population collapse. But other archaeologists say they have no evidence of a similar decline in other Palaeoindian populations; even as the Clovis culture was disappearing, other cultures arose in its place, for reasons not entirely understood
Hi Gang, I'm back. I am tired and have a lot of road on me, but I wanted to get this info here ASAP.

Read the first post on this site to find out what is coming out of Acapulco this next week. I was lucky enough to be at the same table with Al Goodyear on Tues. night (not really, as Dr. Goodyear made a point of meeting all the "newbies"), and he talked about this new theory being presented. Not all of it is new - it's just fitting in with other puzzle pieces.

Topper was great. I'll be posting some pics and info soon. Everyone that possibly can should go next year.

One more thing: Charlie, Cogs, et al, I saw an artifact slowly come out of the excavation pit that I was working. From the time that the brush uncovered about a quarter size portion of it. Yes - there are hand axes in North America. The two archaeologists who removed it call it the "Topper Chopper". I hope the pics turned out.

G'night.

Good to have you back and your report of success. I can’t wait to see the photos of the handaxe!! Nothing like a carefully excavated, in situ find to cinch the case. Did the axe come from the 50,000 B.P. + level? What a cool thing to witness, Beag. Congrats!!

Cognito · Post by **Cognito** » Sun May 20, 2007 12:15 pm

One more thing: Charlie, Cogs, et al, I saw an artifact slowly come out of the excavation pit that I was working. From the time that the brush uncovered about a quarter size portion of it. Yes - there are hand axes in North America. The two archaeologists who removed it call it the "Topper Chopper". I hope the pics turned out.

That's cool, Beags. Now the Clovist-Firsters will need to figure out why that puppy cannot be a hand axe. A big tooth pick, perhaps?

Way to go, Al. You now have hand axes also!

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sun May 20, 2007 2:53 pm

Here's the "Topper Chopper". Holding it is Tom, the archaeologist in charge of this site. He is holding it with a napkin and wouldn't let me hold it because it's headed to the lab for micro-analysis. They will hopefully be able to see if it chopped wood, bone, or whatever.

That's me running my mouth. I had looked at it before and thought Tom had left with it, so I sat down. Then there he was, giving me another look. He said that I can tell my friends that there are indeed hand axes in North America.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sun May 20, 2007 3:03 pm

Cognito wrote:
One more thing: Charlie, Cogs, et al, I saw an artifact slowly come out of the excavation pit that I was working. From the time that the brush uncovered about a quarter size portion of it. Yes - there are hand axes in North America. The two archaeologists who removed it call it the "Topper Chopper". I hope the pics turned out.
That's cool, Beags. Now the Clovist-Firsters will need to figure out why that puppy cannot be a hand axe. A big tooth pick, perhaps?

Way to go, Al. You now have hand axes also!

You betcha Cogs. There is some really heavy stuff coming out in a few days - Thursday I think. I'll start trying to post up on it but in the meantime, anyone wanting to get out in front of the info can google:

Carolina Bays
Firestone Comet
Mammoth , Younger Dryas, Comet

What we may have thought was a fringe theory may be the real deal.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun May 20, 2007 3:12 pm

I can tell my friends that there are indeed hand axes in North America.

Oh, the Club is going to revoke his membership card!!!!

Cognito · Post by **Cognito** » Sun May 20, 2007 4:47 pm

I can tell my friends that there are indeed hand axes in North America.

Oh, the Club is going to revoke his membership card!!!!

Clovis Firsters are going to brown their pants over this one. Pandora's Box is beginning to open up on them.

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:04 pm

Here is the hand axe in situ. The archaeologist in this pit is Professor Dan Morse (Ret.) He was Al Goodyears former professor and he came up to lend a hand this last week.

Other artifacts are noticeable in the pit. They have been "platformed" and left for mapping and surveying. Soil samples were taken for testing several times in this pit.

In the "newbie" pit - about a foot above the floor of this one, we got all kinds of smaller artifacts. A scraper was probably the neatest. A couple of blades were found.

Post by **Minimalist** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:06 pm

In the "newbie" pit

Is that like the "Bunny Slope" in skiing?

Beagle · Post by **Beagle** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:14 pm

Minimalist wrote:
In the "newbie" pit

Is that like the "Bunny Slope" in skiing?

Exactly Min. If I had any notion that I would be doing any work down at the pre-clovis level on the pleistocene terrace, it was immediately very clear that only experienced professionals were down there.

So there were 5 of us at an upper level pit. When we unearthed a real nice scraper I asked Tom what he thought it dated to.

"LAMA", he said.
"Llama?"I asked?
"Late Archaic - Middle Archaic" he said.
"Oh yeah, of course", I replied.

Post by **MichelleH** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:34 pm

Cognito wrote:Clovis Firsters are going to brown their pants over this one. Pandora's Box is beginning to open up on them.

This is a whole new level of political correctness!

Where are the pics of Beags?!?!?!

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:39 pm

He said that I can tell my friends that there are indeed hand axes in North America.

California, Texas, Minnesota, Wyoming and South Carolina.

Appears the makers of these handaxes occupied a very large range.

So the axe came from the 50,000 B.P. + strata?

This is excellent news, Beag!!!

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:46 pm

You betcha Cogs. There is some really heavy stuff coming out in a few days - Thursday I think. I'll start trying to post up on it but in the meantime, anyone wanting to get out in front of the info can google:

Carolina Bays
Firestone Comet
Mammoth , Younger Dryas, Comet

What we may have thought was a fringe theory may be the real deal.

Virginia has been promoting this hypothesis over the past year or so.
Here's some of her words concerning this new body of evidence:

http://www.valsequilloclassic.net/nuke/ ... topic&t=29

Charlie Hatchett · Post by **Charlie Hatchett** » Sun May 20, 2007 5:50 pm

Where are the pics of Beags?!?!?!

Did you have the opportunity to get some close-ups of the axe, Beags?

Was this the first axe they've found, or are there others. We wouldn't have known about this one if you weren't there.

Good week to be there, ey!!

Archaeologica.org

The Topper Site

Hand Axe

Re: Hand Axe

Hand Axes

Re: Hand Axes