Archaeologica.org

“We’re dealing with dead technologies” — tools and toolmaking skills that are no longer in use, says Jim Skibo, an archaeologist at Illinois State University in Normal. Thus, archaeologists have long experimented via trial and error to try to reinvent the tools and technologies, and determine the relationship between ancient people and their objects.

With his obsolete bloomery furnace, Jeffery is using analytical techniques that take into account physics, kinetics, thermodynamics and geochemistry to determine what combination of temperatures, air flows, types of ore and fuel might create a blend of iron and slag similar to those seen in archaeological evidence. Relatively few well-preserved furnace sites with working debris have been found in the world, Jeffery says, and though written historical accounts mention use of the furnaces for centuries, they do not give many of the important details on the furnaces’ operation.

So he and colleagues combine scientific models with archaeological evidence, such as what resources were known to have existed in a particular area at a specific time period, as well as what remnants archaeologists might have found at a site. Despite several experiments based on the modeling, Jeffery says that he is still a ways away from “successfully” reproducing the process using ancient materials. But the more he experiments, the more he can learn about the technical choices that people made — why they chose a particular raw material or a particular methodology (for example, why African cultures built larger bloomery furnaces than Europeans did, and what that might say about the exploitation of local resources and the social aspects of this technology).

Charlie Hatchett wrote:

That seems a little more reasonable.

Well, damn it, Cog. You're invited too. Seriously.

A study of the oldest known sample of human DNA in the Americas suggests that humans arrived in the New World relatively recently, around 15,000 years ago.

The DNA was extracted from a 10,300-year-old tooth found in a cave on Prince of Wales Island off southern Alaska in 1996.

Comparing the DNA found in the tooth with that sampled from 3,500 Native Americans, researchers discovered that only one percent of modern tribal members have genetic patterns that matched the prehistoric sample

Hey, Cogs...is that the Calico that is northeast of Barstow?

Beagle wrote:http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news ... source=rss

A study of the oldest known sample of human DNA in the Americas suggests that humans arrived in the New World relatively recently, around 15,000 years ago.

The DNA was extracted from a 10,300-year-old tooth found in a cave on Prince of Wales Island off southern Alaska in 1996.

Charlie, it looks like the orthdoxtistas are circling the wagons. This is a very big leap for them to take regarding one sample of mDNA.