Two Acres of Time: Unearthing the Ice Age at the Byron Dig

Description

In 1959, what appeared to be the bones of a mastodon were found in a western New York pasture. When researchers began to investigate further in the early 1980s, the site proved to hold far more. Known as the Hiscock Site, it contained an astonishingly rich trove of fossils and artifacts dating from the late Ice Age through the onset of European settlement. For nearly three decades, work at the site―the “Byron Dig”―unearthed new evidence of changing fauna, flora, cultures, and environments over the past 13,000 years. In Two Acres of Time, Richard S. Laub―the principal investigator of the project―tells the story of the Byron Dig. Recounting twenty-nine years of intensive excavation involving more than a thousand participants, he provides a comprehensive account of a working paleontological and archaeological field project and its contributions to our knowledge of the past. Laub explores how understanding of the site evolved through the years, the surprises that came to light along the way, and how contributions from numerous researchers helped achieve a fuller picture of the significance of the findings. The book also shows how people from all walks of life―not only scientists but also volunteers and local small-town residents―worked together to unearth and interpret the site’s contents and to preserve them for future generations. This extensively illustrated book connects life at a scientific excavation project to the grand sweep of long-ago epochs, and is a compelling read and resource for researchers and general readers alike. Table of Contents In Appreciation Introduction Prologue Part I: Getting There 1. Discovery Interlude 1: The American Mastodon 2. First Steps 3. Brigadoon Part II: The Heroic Age (1983–1990) 4. First Try, 1983 5. Emerging Patterns 6. Friday’s Footprint Interlude 2: The Clovis People 7. Steady Going, and First Symposium 8. The Dig Matures (I) 9. The Dig Matures (II) 10. Calling Cards of Stone Part III: New Terrain (1991–2001) 11. A Lucky Drought 12. Tools! 13. More Discoveries (I) 14. More Discoveries (II) 15. Of Death and Life 16. Second Symposium Part IV: Exploding Pits (2002–2005) 17. Bonanza (I) 18. Bonanza (II) 19. Money Worries Part V: Winding Down (2006–2011) 20. Into the Shallows I—Disappointment 21. Into the Shallows II—A Stirring of Hope 22. A Bolt from the Blue 23. To Where All Things Must Come 24. Some Parting Thoughts Appendix A. Human Teeth and a Rib from the Hiscock Site, by Douglas W. Owsley Appendix B. Hiscock Radiocarbon Dates, Corrected for Isotopic Fractionation Appendix C. Uncorrected Radiocarbon Dates for Hiscock Samples Cited in Appendix B Appendix D. Bibliography of Scientific Publications About the Hiscock Site Notes Specimen Number Index Index