Linda Scott Cummings

PaleoResearch Institute

Charred seeds, including those of goosefoot, amaranth, sedge, and possibly nightshade, were recovered from a Late Paleoindian context at the Bull Creek site in the Oklahoma panhandle. The use of these early successional plant resources at Bull Creek furthers our understanding of Paleoindian subsistence practices on the Plains, where preservation of...

This paper presents ndings from the rst season of excavations conducted at the mountain-top site of Naḥal Roded 110, located in the southern Negev Desert near Eilat, Israel. Both radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence date the site to the Late Pre-Pottery Neolithic B (LPPNB, late 8th millennium BC). Palaeoenvironmental data from pollen a...

Background: Opal phytoliths (microscopic silica bodies produced in and between the cells of many plants) are a very resilient, often preserved type of plant microfossil. With the exponentially growing number of phytolith studies, standardization of phytolith morphotype names and description is essential. As a first effort in standardization, the I...

This paper presents new excavation data on the Chinchihuapi I (CH-I) locality within the Monte Verde site complex, located along Chinchihuapi Creek in the cool, temperate Valdivian rain forest of south-central Chile. The 2017 and 2018 archaeological excavations carried out in this open-air locality reveal further that CH-I is an intermittently occu...

Excavations at the Pre-Pottery Neolithic B ritual site of Naḥal Roded 110 in the Southern Negev, Israel, have revealed evidence—unique to this region—for on-site flint knapping and abundant raptor remains. Full text available at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/investigations-at-nahal-roded-110-a-late-neolithic-ritual-sit...

Ancient copper mines at Nahal >Amram were first discovered by IDF soldiers in 1949, then visited by N. Glueck in 1950, surveyed by B. Rothenberg during the 1960s and by L. Willies in 1988. In 2010, the authors began a new, multidisciplinary study supported by the Israel Ministry of Science. The archaeological survey recorded in detail the previousl...

Samples of dental calculus were taken from 11 human individuals buried at Nemrik 9, a Pre-Pottery Neolithic site in Northern Iraq. All of them represented the time span of ca. 9100–8600 bp. In total, 95 microfossils were retrieved from these samples, including 70 phytoliths, 9 starch granules or clusters of starch, 3 pollens, and 1 xylem fragment....

Anthracological (charcoal) and pollen analysis conducted on samples from multiple sites in Nine Mile Canyon, Utah, western United States of America, were used to reconstruct the woodlands of this region and interpret firewood exploitation during the Formative period (∼ AD 200–1300). The pollen record identifies constituents of the paleoenvironment...

The images for Figs Figs77 and and88 have been incorrectly swapped. Please view the correct Figs Figs77 and and88 here. Fig 7 Serpentine pebble tool from Unit 17, MV-I, showing bifacially knapped and retouched edge. Serpentine is a raw material available in the coastal cordillera west of Monte Verde. Fig 8 Basalt wedge showing seven facets on o...

Questions surrounding the chronology, place, and character of the initial human colonization of the Americas are a long-standing focus of debate. Interdisciplinary debate continues over the timing of entry, the rapidity and direction of dispersion, the variety of human responses to diverse habitats, the criteria for evaluating the validity of early...

This report summarizes the archeological findings of the 2011 data recovery investigations at the Murvaul Creek site, 41PN175, in far northeastern Texas in Panola County. The site is located along Farm-to-Market Road (FM) 10 approximately 1 mile north of Gary, Texas (Figure 1). Geo-Marine, Inc. (GMI), performed this work under contract to the Texas...

Most archaeobotanical research on Chinese immigrant communities in North America has relied on aggregate, site-wide data sets. The question of foodways variability within Chinese immigrant communities has been relatively neglected. An intrasite comparative approach is used here to investigate differences in plant-food consumption between residents...

This report details excavations at the Kitchen Branch site (41CP220) in Camp County, Texas. Working on behalf of the Texas Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration, archeologists from AmaTerra Environmental, Inc., Archeological and Environmental Consultants, LLC, Hicks & Company Environmental, Archeological, and Planning Cons...

The Paisley Caves are the most widely accepted (by professional archaeologists) pre-Clovis site in North America. This is primarily because the directly radiocarbon-dated artifacts found with extinct megafaunal remains (horse, camel, llama, mammoth/mastodon, reindeer, and American lion) are human coprolites from which ancient dna (Pleistocene haplo...

The early Medieval settlement at Roztoky (Prague-west district, Central Bohemia) represents an extraordinary case and, at the same time, a difficult challenge in terms of interpretation among sites of the Prague-type Culture (6th-7th century AD). Primarily, the high overall number of settlement features of the given culture is what makes this site...

The Early Medieval settlement at Roztoky (Prague-west district, Central Bohemia) represents an extraordinary case and, at the same time, a difficult challenge in terms of interpretation among sites of the Prague-type Culture (6th–7th century AD). Primarily, the high overall number of settlement features of the given culture is what makes this site...

The Paisley Caves in Oregon record the oldest directly dated human remains (DNA) in the Western Hemisphere. More than 100 high-precision radiocarbon dates show that deposits containing artifacts and coprolites ranging in age from 12,450 to 2295 14C years ago are well stratified. Western Stemmed projectile points were recovered in deposits dated to...

Renewed in-depth multi-disciplinary investigation of a large coastal mound settlement in Peru has extended the occupation back more than 7000 years to a first human exploitation ∼13720 BP. Research by the authors has chronicled the prehistoric sequence from the activities of the first maritime foragers to the construction of the black mound and the...

Settlement features of the Late Copper Age Baden culture at Kopáncs were excavated at the south-western boundary of Hódmezo{combining double acute accent}vásárhely in the autumn of 2009. Feature (pit) 98/103 yielded a brownish-grey, 11 cm high intact bowl with burnt patches, slightly outcurving rim and a body form of an upturned truncated cone, tem...

Paleoethnobotanical analysis of anthropogenic soils sampled from archaeological features dating to the Classic Maya Period (A.D. 250-900) reveal diagnostic phytoliths that help the authors bring to light evidence of a novel sustainable agricultural strategy and a variety of nutritional and medicinal plants that were utilized by the Classic Maya of...

We describe a geoarchaeological survey of a 5-km reach of the Rio Puerco channel and its tributaries, centered on the Guadalupe Ruin, a pueblo of the late 10th–12th centuries A.D. in north-central New Mexico, with associated pollen, charcoal, micromorphological, and radiocarbon analyses. Severe erosion has drastically bisected the Puerco valley wit...

The arguments of Poinar et al. neither challenge our conclusions nor would contribute to the verification of our data. We counter their questions about the authenticity of our ancient DNA results and the reliability of the radiocarbon data and stand by the conclusion that our data provide strong evidence of pre-Clovis Native Americans.

Goldberg et al. use data from micromorphological and Fourier transform infrared analyses to argue that Paisley Cave pre-Clovis coprolite 1374-5/5D-31-2 is of herbivore, rather than human, origin. We argue that the diagnostic capability of the techniques used by Goldberg et al. are limited, and we present new genetic data that support our original c...

The timing of the first human migration into the Americas and its relation to the appearance of the Clovis technological complex in North America at about 11,000 to 10,800 radiocarbon years before the present (14C years B.P.) remains contentious. We establish that humans were present at Paisley 5 Mile Point Caves, in south-central Oregon, by 12,300...

The 14th century Caddo Leaning Rock site was initially discovered in the Fall of 2004. It was located during reconnaissance to search out a location for the survey portion of the Texas Archeologica! Society's Academy IO I held in Tyler in February 2005. This was not a formal survey with transect lines. nor one using regularly spaced shovel tests. b...

Worldwide, the period between 12,000 and 9000 radiocarbon years before present (RCYBP) witnessed the shift from glacial to post-glacial times and marks the transition from the Pleistocene to the Holocene. On the southern Plains of North America this period is marked by rapidly changing climatic conditions, shifting flora and faunal associations, an...

Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) teeth excavated from the Dent site (5WL269) in 1932 and 1933 by the Denver Museum of Natural History (DMNH) (now the Denver Museum of Nature and Science) were examined for phytoliths (Table 6.1). All teeth had been "stabilized" with varnish, which was removed prior to recovering calculus for examination of their phytolit...

Understanding the past environment is made more difficult because no modern analogs exist for many of the previous vegetation communities or environmental systems. Vegetation communities when Paleoindians lived on the North American continent were governed by climatic conditions and an earth-sun relationship that do not exist on earth today. Theref...

Understanding The Ancient Vegetation of the region around the Allen site is central to understanding the conditions the site's occupants lived in, both because plants provide essential resources for all human groups and because overall patterns of vegetation, and changes in those patterns, provide important clues about ancient climate. This chapter...

In upland areas of Canyonlands National Park, Utah, thin deposits and paleosols show late Quaternary episodes of eolian sedimentation, pedogenesis, and climate change. Interpretation of the stratigraphy and optically stimulated luminescence ages of eolian and nearby alluvial deposits, their pollen, and intercalated paleosols yields the following hi...

Two prehistoric sites at the Rinker Materials Plant 225 in Green Valley, Arizona were surveyed in 1999. Rock piles were identified in both the Rinker Site (AZ EE:1:291), and the Mesquacia Site (AZ EE:1:293). Although rock piles have typically been interpreted as being associated with agricultural activities of the Hohokam, they are now proposed to...

Five combination pollen and phytolith samples were examined from depths between 97 and 149 cmbud at site 23LE327, situated on an alluvial/colluvial fan along the Mississippi River. Samples were collected from a cultural zone at the site that probably represents occupation no older than approximately 4,500 BP. This preliminary analysis was undertake...

Pollen and phytolith analysis of two samples from a tumulus at La Revive, France, raised questions concerning the interpretation of the sediments and reproducibility of results. In an attempt to answer specific questions, three additional samples were submitted for pollen and phytolith analysis during 2005. These three samples also were floated to...

Site CA-MNT -307 is located in Monterey County, California. Archaeological investigations at this large site complex included the excavation of Locus 2 and Hole in the Wall Cave. Both of these areas have been associated with several artifacts, including a stemmed biface, lithic flakes, shell beads, and non-human bones at Locus 2, as well as shell,...

Six phytolith samples were submitted from stratigraphic deposits at 3SC1777, a site located on a rocky upland slope overlooking the Fourche La Fave River floodplain. This Middle and Late Archaic site yielded projectile points providing date ranges from approximately 6,000- 4,000 years ago. Oxidizable carbon ratio (OCR) dates indicate occupation bet...

Three seasons of research at the Middle PPNB site of Ayn Abū Nukhayla indicate that it experienced intermittent, seasonal occupations spanning a period of ca. 200 years, centered on 8500 b. p. Despite being located in a hyperarid setting in southern Jordan, the site displays extensive architecture and other evidence of intensive occupation. Settlem...

This valuable book is an excellent overview of long-term archaeological investigations in the valley that remains at the forefront of studies on the First Americans. In southwest Nebraska, a stretch of Medicine Creek approximately 20 kilometers long holds a remarkable concentration of both late Paleoindian and late prehistoric sites. Unlike several...

This study examines prehistoric use of the Stillwater Marsh in the Carson Desert of western Nevada and the adjacent Stillwater Mountains based on an archaeological survey undertaken in 1980 and 1981, and excavations conducted in 1987. Much of the argument about the use of wetlands revolved around whether they were used be sedentary hunter-gatherers...

Examination of pollen and macrofloral remains from possible garden and yard areas yielded evidence for a variety of weedy plants, such as buffalo bur, crab-grass, clover, purslane, mustard family, and nut-grass. The makeup of the forest during the early historic period was similar to that in the prehistoric, although evidence indicates that the for...

The purpose of this study was to describe and interpret soil-geomorphic features on Fort Bliss in southern New Mexico and western Texas in order to obtain information about landscape evolution and paleoclimatic conditions during the late Quaternary. This information is intended to assist Fort Bliss archaeologists in evaluating archaeological site l...

Various food plants were examined for phytoliths. Identification of cultivation or availability of food plants may rest with recovery of phytoliths from the edible or even inedible portions of the plants. Recovery of phytoliths from coprolites represents the edible portions, and may be used to identify plants that contributed to the diet. Occasiona...

The lower Mississippi River has aggraded throughout the Holocene, resulting in stratification of cultural materials. Determination of this landscape evolution adds a temporal dimension to a model of human settlement. Sites most likely to be settled are high, well-drained surfaces near a stream. In the middle Holocene, conditions began to be suitabl...

Environment Consultants, Inc. (ECI) conducted a cultural resources mitigation of a portion of archaeological site 23DU227 in Dunklin County, Missouri. That portion of the site is to be impacted by the expansion of Ditch 19 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Ditch 19 bisects the site. A segment of the site was reported as existing under the presen...

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Colorado, Boulder, 1983. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [196]-202).

The pollen analysis of 59 coprolites from Hoy House and Lion House in Johnson Canyon, Colorado, has yielded information concerning the diet of the Anasazi living at these sites during Pueblo III times. Based on combined pollen and macro-floral analyses, the diet appeals to be composed primarily of the cultigens Zea, Cucurbita, and Phaseolus, with h...

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, Santa Barbara, 1991. Includes appendix: Pollen analysis of a floor at CA-SBA-46 (Mescalitan Island), Santa Barbara, California, by Linda Scott Cummings. Includes bibliographical references (p. 447-463). Photocopy of typescript.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Colorado, Dept. of Anthropology, 1989. Includes bibliographical references.