Geologic investigation and radiocarbon dating of a newly exposed stratigraphic section at the famous Early Man site of Blackwater No. 1 (Clovis) in eastern New Mexico show the Brown Sand Wedge to be in part a contemporaneous facies of the Diatomaceous Earth (10,000 to 11,000 years old) and in part older (11,000 to 11,500 years old). The Gray Sand is probably more than 12,000 years old. Artifacts contained therein are concentrated in the upper 6 in. and are believed to have intruded the sand via the tramplings of the surface by man and animals.The discovery of ancient spring-feeder conduits confirms the springhead origin for the Brown Sand Wedge and the Gray Sand suggested by Sellards and Evans (1960). In addition to well-sorted, nearly spherical, graded, quartz grains the conduits contained Clovis, Folsom, and Agate Basin artifacts bearing an extremely high polish. Some Agate Basin points appear to have been coeval with Folsom points; others are younger. Deposition of the Carbonaceous Silt containing Scottsbluff points, Frederick points, and points of the Portales complex began as early as 9,800 years ago, and possibly continued as late as 7,000 years ago.

No abstract

No abstract

of Sandia Cave. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, number 32, 32 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, 1986.-Excavations in Sandia Cave, New Mexico, in the late 1930s provided the first recognized stratigraphic evidence for a pre-Folsom culture in North America. This, the Sandia complex, is represented by diagnostic projectile points found in a loose deposit underlying a limonite ocher deposit which, in turn, underlies a cave breccia containing Folsom artifacts and reportedly sealed by an overlying dripstone. Our investigations in the 1960s revealed that the Sandia deposit (unit X) is in fact, a rodent deposit created by bioturbation of the limonite ocher (unit C) and contains material derived from most of the other deposits. A second dripstone (unit D) is recognized as being much older (preoccupation) than the post-Folsom dripstone, instead of being a contemporary facies as originally reported. Its absence from the deposits near the mouth of the cave is believed to be due to removal during the mining of the yellow ocher by Paleo-Indians. Paleoclimatic interpretations of the stratigraphic units include (1) a warm moist period for the derivation of the ocher by leaching from a pedalferic paleosol formed during a previous cool moist period, (2) desiccation of the ocher during a dry climate, (3) formation of the lower dripstone during a cool moist period, (4) gypsum precipitation (unit E) due to either a dry period or opening of the cave or both, and (5) accumulation of dust and debris (units F and H) under dry conditions alternating with dripstones (units G and I) and breccia cementation under wet conditions. From 14,000 B.P. on, the cave interior was accessible to man and animals. Accumulation of dust and debris (unit F) occurred during a dry period during which a portion of the lower dripstone was removed, presumably by Paleo-Indians in order to extract ocher. During the sbusequent moist period the artifact-bearing debris became cemented by cave drip where not protected by the lower dripstone. Under recent climatic conditions another loose debris layer (unit J) has accumulated during the middle and late Holocene and has always been connected to the lower loose-debris deposit (unit X). We conclude that Sandia points are definitely less than 14,000 years old and suggest they may be specialized Clovis or Folsom artifacts used for mining ocher. However, we cannot preclude a pre-Clovis age or even post-Folsom. Undisturbed cave strata provide valuable paleoenvironmental data, but redeposition and bioturbation is the rule rather than the exception for most, if not all, cave deposits that were once unconsolidated debris. OFFICIAL PUBLICATION DATE is handstamped in a limited number of initial copies and is recorded in the Institution's annual report, Smithsonian Year. SERIES COVER DESIGN: North American Indian design of mounted horsemen on animal skin.

No abstract