The Western Hemisphere. General term for the Americas following their discovery by Europeans, thus setting them in contradistinction to the Old World of Africa, Europe, and Asia.
Ed Bierschenk wrote:VERO BEACH — Dick Kerr hopes the hiring of a well-known archaeologist will help spur enthusiasm and fundraising to start excavation this winter of a historically significant site near the Indian River County Administration Building, by Aviation Boulevard and U.S. 1.
Kerr is vice chairman of the Old Vero Ice Age Sites Committee, which recently hired C. Andrew Hemmings, an expert on the oldest Paleoindian sites in the United States.
For the past few years, Hemmings along with James Adovasio, chairman of the Mercyhurst Archaeological Institute, has been exploring evidence off Florida's Gulf Coast of early North American settlements, which were submerged thousands of years ago.
Hemmings, a professor of archaeology and anthropology at Mercyhurst University, of Erie, Pa., is also a member of the Archaeological Institute. Kerr notes that university has equipment that can be used to analyze material taken previously from the Vero Man site as well as material that might be obtained in the future.
Kerr said the hiring of Hemmings, plus the addition of other experts such as noted Smithsonian archaeologist Dennis Stanford on an advisory group, will show people that the committee is not just comprised of amateurs, but people who know what they're talking about when it comes to the site.
Around 1915, an excavation of the site by Florida State geologist Elias Sellards unearthed human remains possibly 13,000 years old, along with the remains of extinct animals, including mammoth, mastodon, saber-tooth cat and ancient species of tapir, horse and sloth.
It is only one of a handful of sites in North America where human skeletons and Pleistocene, or Ice Age, animal bones have been found in the same place. Hemmings said it is the first professionally excavated site in North America where human skeletons and Pleistocene fauna were found together.
Sellards dated the bones at more than 10,000 years old based on state-of-the-art techniques available at the time, said Hemmings.
The human bones have been lost for decades, although there is a cast made from a human skull at the Smithsonian Institute. Bones from 125 animals have been found at the site, said Hemmings, including 27 to 28 that are extinct. Earlier publications have indicated carvings were found on at least four of these bones, he said.
Specimens taken from the site earlier are spread throughout the United States, including at institutions in Minnesota, Texas, the University of Florida and Yale University. Hemmings will be looking at all these specimens again.
Committee spokeswoman Sandra Rawls said Hemmings "is as close as we can get to an Indiana Jones type guy."
"He can help use with fundraising," said Kerr. "He'll bring an excitement to it that we haven't had."
Hemmings is scheduled to be in the area next month talking with different government agencies having control of the site and will come again this winter for a free public presentation about the site.
Hemmings said there is a lot of work that needs to be done ahead of time, including looking at prior work performed by Sellards and retired University of Florida anthropology professor Barbara Purdy, who along with archaeological researcher Thomas Stafford did a preliminary dig at the site in 2005. Additional corings are also expected to be taken as he attempts to determine the best area to excavate.
Depending on what is found at the site, Hemmings said the excavation could go on for years.
The committee has raised about $25,000 to date and also has received a $25,000 Felburn Foundation grant. The group hopes to raise more than $100,000 for excavation at the site, which will include hiring some additional help for Hemmings. They will also look for volunteers to help in the dig.
I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right question.
"The track of a glacier is as unmistakable as that of a man or a bear, and is as significant and trustworthy as any other legible inscription"
John Strong Newberry; 1873
In the deep dark recesses of my memory I seem to recall that Frank Leverett published on this too, at the time, but I can't seem to find it, yet.
Leverett F 1931 Pensacola Sea
Map traced out by Frank Leverett detailing a marine terrace that has a dip to the west.
This is my photo of the map included in my copy of Leverett's report, I'll have to read through it again.
I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right question.
"The track of a glacier is as unmistakable as that of a man or a bear, and is as significant and trustworthy as any other legible inscription"
John Strong Newberry; 1873
I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right question.
"The track of a glacier is as unmistakable as that of a man or a bear, and is as significant and trustworthy as any other legible inscription"
John Strong Newberry; 1873
No human remains but an obvious bison kill and butcher site in NW Okalahoma dated to 10,000 BP.
Folsom points.
Was OK under the ice 10,000 years ago?
You float downstrem as far as the Gulf coast in stead of walking.
IIRC the LGM reached the Ohio River area. OK was a bit too far south.
Something is wrong here. War, disease, death, destruction, hunger, filth, poverty, torture, crime, corruption, and the Ice Capades. Something is definitely wrong. This is not good work. If this is the best God can do, I am not impressed.
This paper is the best one for the general position of the ice sheet at different stages, note that dates are in radiocarbon years.
Folsum time was "neatly" in the YDC.
I'm sorry, my responses are limited. You must ask the right question.
"The track of a glacier is as unmistakable as that of a man or a bear, and is as significant and trustworthy as any other legible inscription"
John Strong Newberry; 1873
