Anthropology 101: Environmental Changes and Technology During the Woodland and Archaic Period

What were the major environmental changes that took place in North America from the Paleo-Indian through the Woodland period?

During the Pleistocene glacial (20,000-16,000BC) most of the world’s water was locked in ice. The climate was windier and dryer even nearest to the ice sheets. Hunter-gatherers saw the first flora and fauna communities with the climatic shift.

As glaciers started to retreat in 16,000 BC, the temperatures started to rise and water levels changed. Consequently, there was a shift in ocean currents, wind patterns, and rainfall. Forests and plant resources started to expand and rivers formed terraces due to the changing sea level. Migrations took place north of southern forest types and the post - glacial temperatures peaked about 3000 BC when weather was warmer and drier than today.

What were the major technological developments during the archaic and the major technological developments during woodland periods?

During the Archaic period advances were made in polished stonework which gave way to new tools and assemblages including celts, axes, spear thrower weights, ornaments such as beads, effigies, pendants and plummets. The stone tools also allowed for a new technology called the atlatl, a spear thrower. Consequently, during the Archaic we see the emergence of fired clay -the first pottery- which was used as storage containers.

During the Woodland Period we see the emergence of ceramics and the bow and arrow, distinguished by smaller projectile points. One of the more important technological advances during the Woodland phase was the manufacture of pottery vessels which allowed direct-heat cooking and food storage, replacing the older practice of hot rock cooking. Mound building was also a major advancement during the Woodland Period because it represented a “switch from the scattered individual burials of earlier periods to a system of formal, periodic and planned periodic burials in mounds”.

Adventures in Archaeology: IBM had a Problem

Guest Post By Geology Expert John Carter

Sometimes the use of GPR can be absolutely hilarious, consider this case in point. Several years ago IBM had a problem with a set of pipes carrying hydrogen gas from an above ground storage tank across the parking lot of their plant in East Fishkill, New York. The hydrogen is used in making computer chips. IBM had issued a contract for some archaeological excavation work to be performed in their parking lot. The contractor was given blueprints of the lot that showed two sets of pipes in different places after they had been told there were only one set of pipes.

Needless to say with the information supplied the contractor wasn’t sure of exactly where the pipes were. He became especially nervous after some of the officials at IBM had informed him that if he broke either of the pipes it would cost him $8 million a minute. He had heard about Ground Penetrating Radar, so he found out who manufactured the units, and put in a phone call to the manufacturer, Geophysical Survey Systems, Inc. of Salem, New Hampshire who had a policy of giving GPR jobs to the nearest owner of one of their units to the job site.

Presently we received a phone call from the contractor explaining his problem. We showed up bright and early the next morning with our unit, set the instrument up, selected the proper antenna for the job, and went trolling for the errant pipes. The antenna we selected looks for the entire world like a power lawnmower with an extension cord leading back to the unit in the van. After we had been going back and forth in the parking lot for a while we attracted some attention from the denizens inside the plant, and out came some junior executive who asked what we were doing.

We explained what we were looking for, and how the GPR unit worked, and with that he went back into the plant. About twenty minutes passed when several more executives came out from the plant including the general manager who invited us, and our GPR unit, to come back into the plant. We marked off with a can of spray paint where we stopped with the GPR survey, and followed them into the plant. The general manager explained to us they were having the same problem inside the plant with the same set of pipes, and they also having the same problem finding the pipes because they had two sets of prints showing the pipes in different locations.

IBM is one of the most high-tech companies in the world, but their best effort was a janitor with a pair of bent coat hangers dowsing for the pipes. We got an extra job out of the deal where everybody paid us by the hour for our services.



This is how GPR works: It is similar too your kitchen microwave in that it uses a cavity magnetometer to generate the radar micro waves, but the similarity to a microwave oven ends there. The power generated by a GPR unit is roughly 1/20,000 of the power generated by a microwave oven. The beam is not focused, so it is not like a searchlight, but more like a floodlight. GPR does not generate a sharp image like a camera, but rather an image produced by the radar waves acting against the difference in dielectric strength between the earth and any object buried in the ground. This produces an echo that is returned to the GPR unit that converts it to an image on some form of monitor where it can be interpreted by the operator into useful information about subsurface conditions. The readout can be either a digital image on a screen, from an archaeology site sometimes,  or a printout from a multichannel oscillograph.

Most GPR units use both systems together because the printout is hard copy that can be stored. The digital copy is also stored in some sort of device that stores memory.

Author Bio John Carter is a geologist that paid his way through college as a commercial helicopter pilot in the NY Metro area. He has had extensive experience as a prospector, and operated an environmental consulting firm specializing in environmental site assessments and is certified by the State of Connecticut as an Environmental Analyst III. In his early life he worked as an experimental machinist on aircraft and electronic parts before receiving his degree as a geologist. Carter also owns the website Gold Mining and Prospecting.

More of John Carter’s Articles

How to Layout a Claim with GPS

I own a Garmin 90 handheld GPS unit that is designed for use in aircraft that although it doesn’t have all the “bells and whistles” as newer models used for navigating on the ground even so it is quite capable of accurately laying out property lines, and corner locations that is exactly what is called for to layout and stake a claim.
How to Layout a Claim with GPS

Use of GPR at the L’Ambiance Plaza Disaster

L’Ambiance Plaza was a 16 story residential project that was under construction in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the corner of Washington Avenue and Coleman Street when its partial frame collapsed on April 23, 1987. There were 28 workers that were killed, caught between the sandwiched concrete floors of the collapsed building. The site was immediately swarmed by many of the construction workers from other projects in Bridgeport who tried to save trapped workers. From the start it was quite apparent that finding any survivors would be a miracle.
The Darker Side of Archaeology: Use of GPR at the L’Ambiance Plaza Disaster

The Environmental Site Assessment as an Archeological Study

An environmental site assessment (ESA) is a report mandated by law designed to establish the well being of any piece of property that in practice usually applies to commercial and/or industrial properties. An ESA is divided into three parts called phases that are numbered I, II and III. A Phase I report is used to determine whether or not the possibility of a release of hazardous material has in fact occurred on a property by determining its prior history.
The Environmental Site Assessment as an Archeological Study

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The Environmental Site Assessment as an Archeological Study

Guest article by John Carter

An environmental site assessment (ESA) is a report mandated by law designed to establish the well being of any piece of property that in practice usually applies to commercial and/or industrial properties. An ESA is divided into three parts called phases that are numbered I, II and III. A Phase I report is used to determine whether or not the possibility of a release of hazardous material has in fact occurred on a property by determining its prior history. A Phase II report determines if in fact that a release has occurred on a property by taking samples from the property and subjecting them to a battery of lab tests. If in fact the results of this analysis returns indicating that there are indeed hazardous materials that are found on the property above the threshold levels mandated by law the property has to undergo a Phase III Investigation to determine the amount, extent and the effects on human and other life forms the contamination will cause. Photocopies are taken of each report for inclusion in appendix A. of the ESA, and a brief annotation is included in the finished assessment.



(This is an aerial photo of an industrial park in Manchester, CT showing several areas of environmental interest.  Try locating them on the photo, describe why they would be on interest, and try to determine which ones would become archeological sites in the future?)

Together the three phases of an ESA are very similar to an archeological study, but the single phase that develops the most information that pertains to a specific piece of property is Phase I. This part of an ESA starts in the reading room of the government body of the state that has charge of environmental affairs. This is a collection of environmental records that report any releases of hazardous materials that are known to have occurred on the property or that have occurred off the property, but could have compromised its environmental integrity.

The next stop is usually the state library where they keep other forms of documentation required for a site assessment like aerial photographs, insurance maps, city directories, telephone books and town histories. Even more information can be gathered from back issues of newspapers. Copies of all this documentation are included in Appendix B. of the ESA. As you gather this material you are also writing part of the ESA.

There is also a considerable amount of other information that has to be gathered from the town records of the town where the property is located among them are: Land Records dating back to 1940, or earlier if necessary. We once had to trace the land records back to 1763 because then the property in question had been the largest tannery in the state. Tanneries are one of the most environmentally damaging establishments there are; they can be a nightmare especially if they ever used the Chrome Tanning Process leaving behind a trail of Hexavalent Chromium contamination.

The local search continues with records from the Fire Marshall, the Planning and Zoning Commission, a search in the morgue of the local newspaper and finally statements that are taken from some of the locals who have had contact with the site. There is some additional material like a description of the process if any that has been manufactured or used on the site.

A Phase I ESA is written up and ends with a set of conclusions that affect the outcome of the ESA either it ends with the conclusion that no further environmental work needs be done. If there is historical evidence that the probability of a release occurring on the property is high then the nature of the release and its location is included in the conclusions, and the recommendation is that further environmental work is required so that the ESA continues with a Phase II investigation.

A Phase II ESA is designed to determine if in fact a release of hazardous materials did in fact occur on the property. Although this report is much shorter it deals strictly with the chemical analysis of air, water and soil samples from the site and sometimes “wipe samples” that are taken inside of any structures that are on the property that have been listed as suspect during the Phase I ESA. The various samples are taken at the site according to American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) standards and transported under a Chain of Custody (CofC) to a certified analytical lab for analyses.

A similar report is drawn up to the Phase I only this time it describes the results of the analysis and reports on the allowable Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) guidelines for hazardous materials. The EPA has a table of the various contaminants of concern. If in the course of analyses any of these standards are exceeded the site is deemed contaminated, and the Environmental Analyst must proceed with a Phase III ESA.

Generally if a property fails a Phase II Investigation the owner or buyer walks away from the property allowing it to become a Superfund or RCRA property. This is the origin of many industrial properties that are designated as “Brownfields.”

A Phase III ESA is similar to a Phase II only it goes into much more detail because it not only tests for contaminants, but also tests for there extent and effects on humans and other life forms.
The similarities between an ESA are uncanny, and the ESA with some modifications could stand as a good plan for designing an archeological dig; all that is needed is to change the objectives. Rather then searching for hazardous waste releases you are hunting for artifacts of a previous age. The ASTM Standard for Phase I ESAs is ASTM 1577-05 and a guide for conducting an ESA is ASTM E1528 that explains the parameters of an ESA, or could be modified to an archeological site.

In truth, there are many similarities between an environmental establishment and an archeological site; the main difference is measured in years, and remember today’s site is tomorrows archeological dig that is performed to discover how people lived in the past. The ESA gives the analyst an insight into industrial archeology, and ultimately many of the same problems exist. Have you ever seen an ancient Superfund Site, they exist.

Author Bio

John Carter is a geologist that paid his way through college as a commercial helicopter pilot in the NY Metro area.  He has had extensive experience as a prospector, and operated an environmental consulting firm specializing in environmental site assessments and is certified by the State of Connecticut as an Environmental Analyst III.  In his early life he worked as an experimental machinist on aircraft and electronic parts before receiving his degree as a geologist.

Photography of Utah: Somewhere in the Canyons

Believe it or not, I took these photo's when I was 12 years old. If I had known then what I know now, I would have appreciated them much more.

These photo's are from an old black Kodak camera that I used when I was a kid. I don't think digital camera's were even out yet when I was a kid. In fact, I think the coolest camera to have back then was a Polaroid. You know, the ones that give instant gratification. lol

Sorry for the blur. These pictures are close to 20 years old. Man I'm getting old.

Salt Lake City Utah

Five End of the World Scenarios

Several years ago I was sitting in my Geology class and my professor was telling a tale of the world’s end. The basic scenarios consisted of a large tidal wave swallowing Florida; the earth bursting into flames; and polarity reversal which would leave the earth open to solar flares. Well, none of these stories were making me feel any better, but the truth it, these stories do exist, and predictions for these events exist as well. Are they true? I believe the stories exist to give scientists a answer for certain environmental events that have occurred and need some sort of explanation.

One of the most famous individuals in history to predict these happenings was Nostradamus. Nostradamus was said to decode the Bible, introducing prophecies that have outlined major world events, including the end of the world. He would use trance and meditation to arrive at certain predictions hidden in the words of the Bible.

However, since historians believe that the Bible is 6000 years old, and NASA and Astrophysicists date the earth to billions of years old, I hardly believe that the predictions made by Nostradamus about the Bible could be completely true.

Knowing

thebadastronomer

The latest blockbuster natural disaster movie called “Knowing” is about solar flares that will penetrate the earth, destroying every life form in existence, except for the children that are transported to another planet by aliens that warned earthlings 50 years prior through a telepathic child named Ursala. Well, at least the solar flares are true.

Global Warming

Global warming is the same sort of scenario, yet humans are only 10% of the problem and what’s been done can not be changed. The glaciers, ice burgs, and caps will melt, and the depth of the ocean will rise causing flooding worldwide. In this event, will humans be able to survive an even warmer world?

Polarity Reversal

Every 200,000 years, the earth goes through a shift of polarity. If you pick up a compass at the time that this is happening, it will no longer point North. The idea behind this is, the magnetic shield around the earth is weakening when polarity reversal is taking place, leaving us open to the harsh solar winds and other strong atmospheric pressure and particles from space.

Mega Wave

Geologists have been studying models of previous eruptions and have come to an alarming discovery. If part of the mass structure of the volcano slides into the ocean, it will create a Mega-tsunami close to 900 m. high, moving 500 miles an hour, and measuring 1000 ft waves.

A Massive Meteor

This scenario is of no surprise considering it came from previous historical events of dinosaur extinction. People believe that it’s the will of the earth to start over, wiping out all species to create a new life form that will inherit the earth. It sounds bizarre I know, but if you follow the history of the earth, which is dated over 2 billion years old, you will see that catastrophic events have reshaped the planet overtime.

And so the theories of the end will remain unanswered, but one thing is certain. Life has evolved over time, and if it is the will of the earth to start over, there will be no way to stop it.

Earthday, Earth Day, Day of Earth

Earth Day was put into place to create awareness and appreciation for planet earth.

In September 1969, a conference took place in Seattle, Washington where U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin announced that in spring 1970 there would be a nationwide grassroots demonstration on the environment.

Nelson viewed the stabilization of the nation's population as an important aspect of environmentalism and later said:

"The bigger the population gets, the more serious the problems become ... We have to address the population issue. The United Kingdom, with the U.S. supporting it, took the position in Cairo in 1994 that every country was responsible for stabilizing its own population. It can be done. But in this country, it's phony to say 'I'm for the environment but not for limiting immigration.'"Senator Nelson first proposed the nationwide environmental protest to thrust the environment onto the national agenda.” "It was a gamble," he recalls, "but it worked."

Let's take this day to celebrate our Mother Earth, and remember that we have been provided a wonderful place to grow, learn, and promote conservation.