Pre-Clovis Humans in a Late Pleistocene Setting

1986年，位于俄克拉何马州西北部的伯纳姆农场在池塘建设中发现了三个埋藏的冲积沉积物，其中包含大量动物遗骸。其中包括一个大角的野牛头骨，它类似于野牛麻花牛，据信该物种存在于2万多年前。威科夫博士和他的同事们的挖掘揭示了与野牛有关的小碎石碎片的存在，以及随后的放射性碳测定，表明日期在2.6万到3.1万年前之间。如果这实际上是一个考古遗址，它记录了远在被接受的大约12,000年前人类在新大陆的存在。威科夫博士花了几个季节挖掘伯纳姆遗址，但还没有确凿的证据证明这些材料之间存在关联，或者它们的年代较早。问题是，石头和骨头都是派生的，都被带到了这个地区。在国家科学基金会的支持下，他将进行必要的地质工作来回答这个问题。将使用机械设备切割战壕，以澄清地层。然后清理相关区域，并进行仔细的手工挖掘。希望能找到原始背景和明确地层位置的文化材料。考古学家一致认为，人类是从亚洲进入新大陆的，到12000年前，他们被广泛分布。然而，目前还不清楚在此之前发生了多少原始移民。一些人认为年代要早得多，而大多数人认为考古学证据不能令人信服。在这种情况下，伯纳姆遗址很重要，威科夫博士将开展的工作应有助于解决这一问题。

In 1986 pond construction on the Burnham farm, located in northwestern Oklahoma, uncovered three buried alluvial deposits which contained large numbers of faunal remains. These included a large-horned bison skull which resembled Bison latifrons a species believed to be present more than 20,000 years ago. Excavation by Dr. Wyckoff and his colleagues revealed the presence of small shattered stone flakes in association with the bison and subsequent radiocarbon determinations have suggested a date of between 26,000 -31,000 years ago. If this, in fact, is an archaeological site, it documents the presence of humans in the New World well before the accepted date of ca. 12,000 years. Dr. Wyckoff has spent several seasons excavating the Burnham site but has not conclusively demonstrated that the materials are associated either with each other or an early date. The problem is that both stone and bone are in a derived context and have been carried into the area. With National Science Foundation support, he will conduct the necessary geological work to answer this question. Mechanical equipment will be used to cut trenches to clarify the stratigraphy. Relevant areas with then be cleared and careful hand excavation conducted. It is hoped that cultural materials in primary context and clear stratigraphic position will be found. Archaeologists agree that humans entered the New World from Asia and that by 12,000 years ago they were widely distributed. However, it is unclear how much before this time original migration took place. Some argue for much earlier dates while the majority believe that the archaeological evidence for this is unconvincing. The Burnham site is important within this context and the work which Dr. Wyckoff will conduct should help to resolve this issue.