|
Publications Related to the
Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey
Hall, Don
"Allendale Site Near Savannah
River Yields Clues to Paleoindians"
Mammoth Trumpet Vol. 11
No. 1, pp 10-12. 1996
Ellis, C., A.C. Goodyear, D.F. Morse, and K.B.
Tankersley
"Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in
Eastern North America"
Quaternary International, Vol. 49/50, pp.
151-166. INQUA/Elsevier Science Ltd.1998.
Goodyear, A.C.
"The Early Holocene Occupation of the Southeastern United States: A
Geoarchaeological Summary"
Ice Age Peoples of North
America
Edited by R. Bonnichsen and K. Turnmire, pp. 432-481. Oregon State
University Press.1999.
Marshall, Eliot
"PreClovis
Sites Fight for Acceptance"
Science Vol. 291, pp. 1730-1732
2001
Chandler, J.
"The Topper Site: Beyond Clovis at Allendale"
Mammoth Trumpet Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 10-14. 2001
Forman,
Steve
"Luminescence
Dating of Quaternary Sediments, New Methods for Dating Archaeological
Components"
Mammoth Trumpet Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 10-13.
2003.
Goodyear, A.C. and K. Steffy
"Evidence of a Clovis
Occupation at the Topper Site, 38AL23, Allendale County, South
Carolina"
Current Research in the Pleistocene Vol. 20 pp.
23-25 2003.
Goodyear, A.C
."Evidence of Pre-Clovis
Sites in the Eastern United States"
Paleoamerican Origins:
Beyond Clovis, pp. 103-112
Edited by R. Bonnichsen, B. Lepper, D. Stanford,
M. Waters. Texas A&M University Press 2005.
Curtis, Erin
"Clovis in the
Southeast Conference 2005"
Mammoth Trumpet Vol. 21 No. 2, pp.
1-3, 12 2006
Chandler, J.
"Clovis at
Topper"
Mammoth Trumpet Vol. 21 No. 4, pp. 1-3, 15-20
2006
Goodyear, A.C.
"Recognizing the Redstone Fluted Point in the South
Carolina Paleoindian Point Database"
Current Research in the
Pleistocene, Vol. 23, 100-103 2006
Steffy, K., A.C. Goodyear.
"Clovis Macro
Blades from the Topper Site (38AL23) Allendale County, SC" .
Current Research in the Pleistocene Vol. 23, 147-149
2006
Firestone, R.B., A. West, J.P. Kennett, L. Becker and
Others
"Evidence for an Extraterrestrial Impact 12,900 Years Ago
that Contributed to the Megafaunal Extinctions and the Younger Dryas Cooling"
Proceedings National Academy Sciences Vol. 104, No. 41,
pp. 16016-16021 2007
Miller, D. Shane
"Topper Clovis:
2005-2007 Firebreak Excavations" Masters Thesis, Department of
Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville 2007
Largent,
Floyd
"The Clovis
Comet, Part I: Evidence For a Cosmic Collision 12,900 Years Ago"
Mammoth Trumpet Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 1-4
2008
Collins, Michael B.
"2008 Paleoamerican Workshop:
A Brief Report"
Current
Research in the Pleistocene Vol 25, pp 195-197 2008
Miller, D. Shane, A.C.
Goodyear
"A Probable Halfted Uniface from the
Clovis occupation at the Topper Site"
Current Research in the Pleistocene, Vol 25, 2008
Goodyear, A C
"Update
on Research at Topper"
Legacy, Vol. 13, No.1, March
2009
Goodyear, AC, K. Derting, D.
Shane Miller, and Ashley M. Smallwood
Exotic Clovis Stone Tools from the Topper Site - 38AL23,
Allendale County, South Carolina"
Current Research in the Pleistocene
Vol 26, pp 60 - 62 2009
Smallwood, Ashley M.
and A C Goodyear
"Reworked
Clovis Biface Distal Fragments from the Topper Site, 38AL23: Implications for
Clovis Technological Organization in the Central Savannah River
Region"
Current
Research in the Pleistocene
Vol 26, pp 120 - 122 2009
Goodyear, A C.
"Instrument-Assisted Fluting as a Technochronological Marker
among North American Paleoindian Points"
Current Research in the Pleistocene
Vol 2 pp 86 - 88 2010
Sain, Douglas
Clovis Blade Technology at the Topper Site
(38AL23)
Current Research in the
Pleistocene, Vol 27, pp 136-139 2010
Miller, D. Shane
"Clovis
Excavations at Topper 2005-2007: Examining Site Formation Processes at an
Upland Paleoindian Site along the Middle Savannah River"
Occasional
Papers 1, Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey South Carolina Institute of
Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, April
2011
Topper Research Time Line:
May, 1998 — Dr. Al Goodyear and
his team dig up to a meter below the Clovis level and encountered unusual stone
tools up to two meters below the surface.
May 1999 — Team
of outside geologists led by Mike Waters, a researcher at Texas A&M, visit
Topper site and propose a thorough geological study of locality.
May
2000 — Geology study done by consultants; ice age soil confirmed for
preClovis artifacts.
May 2001 — Geologists revisit Topper
and obtain ancient plant remains deep down in the Pleistocene terrace. OSL
(optically stimulated luminescence) dates on soils above ice age strata show
preClovis is at least older than 14,000.
May 2002 —
Geologists find new profile showing ancient soil lying between Clovis and
preClovis, confirming the age of ice age soils between 16,000 - 20,000 years.
May 2003 — Archaeologists continue to excavate preClovis
artifacts above the terrace, as well as new, significant Clovis finds.
May 2004 — Using backhoe and hand excavations, Goodyear and
his team dig deeper, down into the Pleistocene terrace, some 4 meters below the
ground surface. Artifacts, similar to preClovis forms excavated in previous
years, recovered deep in the terrace. A black stain in the soil provides
charcoal for radio carbon dating.
November 2004 —
Radiocarbon dating report indicates that artifacts excavated from Pleistocene
terrace in May were recovered from soil that dates some 50,000 years. The dates
imply an even earlier arrival for humans in this hemisphere than previously
believed, well before the last ice age.
May 2005 —
Intensive excavations begin on the Clovis occupation on the hillside at Topper.
Excavations units prepared for site tour for the 2005 Clovis in the Southeast
Conference.
October 2005 — Clovis in the Southeast
Conference held in Columbia, SC, concluded with Topper site tour and barbecue.
March 2006 — Publicly funded Pavilion constructed over deep
excavation in the Pleistocene terrace.
May 2006 — Expedition
continues in deep Pleistocene terrace to the 50,000 year old level, and
hillside Clovis excavations complete southern firebreak block, and new
excavation block begun.
October 2006 — Dedication of new
Topper site Pavilion with open house and barbecue.
April 2007
— Viewing deck inside the Pavilion constructed and donated by Clariant
Corporation and their employees.
May 2007 — Expedition
continues - excavations in the the Pleistocene terrace and hillside Clovis
excavations expanded.
May 2008 — Expedition continues -
excavations in the the Pleistocene terrace and hillside Clovis excavations
expanded - Smith Lake Creek two week joint SEPAS & SCIAA
dredging operation.
May 2008
— The BBC's - Time Team
America films a documentary on the Topper site
to be aired in June of 2009
March 2009 —
Undergraduate field school conducted in association with Dr. David Anderson of
the University of Tennessee
March 2009
— Safety catwalk constructed under PT pavillion by Topper Site avocational
volunteers and SEPAS, Inc.
May 2009
— Expedition continues - excavations in the Pleistocene terrace and
hillside Clovis excavations
expanded - Smith Lake Creek two week joint SEPAS & SCIAA
dredging operation.
March 2010 — Undergraduate field school conducted in
association with Dr. David Anderson of the University of Tennessee
May 2010 — Expedition
continues - excavations in the Pleistocene terrace and hillside Clovis
excavations expanded - Smith Lake Creek two week joint SEPAS & SCIAA
dredging operation; excavations at Bubba site
begin.
March 2011 —
Undergraduate field school conducted in association with Dr. David Anderson of
the University of Tennessee
May 2011 —
Expedition continues - excavations in the Pleistocene terrace and hillside
Clovis excavations expanded - Smith Lake Creek two week joint SEPAS & SCIAA
dredging operation; excavations continue at Bubba
site.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
November 17,
2004
New evidence puts man in North America
50,000 years ago.
USC releases radiocarbon dates on
Topper Site
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Peggy
Binette or Margaret Lamb
Phone: 803.777.5400;
E-mail:
Peggy@sc.edu
Topper Site - Allendale County South
Carolina
Radiocarbon tests of carbonized plant remains where
artifacts were unearthed last May along the Savannah River in Allendale County
by University of South Carolina archaeologist Dr. Albert Goodyear indicate that
the sediments containing these artifacts are at least 50,000 years old, meaning
that humans inhabited North American long before the last ice age.
The
findings are significant because they suggest that humans inhabited North
America well before the last ice age more than 20,000 years ago, a potentially
explosive revelation in American archaeology.
Goodyear, who has
garnered international attention for his discoveries of tools that pre-date
what is believed to be humans’ arrival in North America, announced the
test results, which were done by the University of California at Irvine
Laboratory, Wednesday (Nov .17).
“The dates could actually be
older,” Goodyear says. “Fifty-thousand should be a minimum age since
there may be little detectable activity left.”
The dawn of modern
homo sapiens occurred in Africa between 60,000 and 80,000 years ago. Evidence
of modern man’s migration out of the African continent has been documented
in Australia and Central Asia at 50,000 years and in Europe at 40,000 years.
The fact that humans could have been in North America at or near the same time
is expected to spark debate among archaeologists worldwide, raising new
questions on the origin and migration of the human species.
“Topper is the oldest radiocarbon dated site in North
America,” Goodyear says. “However, other early sites in Brazil and
Chile, as well as a site in Oklahoma also suggest that humans were in the
Western Hemisphere as early as 30,000 years ago to perhaps
60,000.”
In 1998, Goodyear, nationally known for his research on
the ice age Paleoindian cultures dug below the 13,000-year Clovis level at the
Topper site and found unusual stone tools up to a meter deeper. The Topper
excavation site is on the bank of the Savannah River on property owned by
Clariant Corp., a chemical corporation head-quartered near Basel, Switzerland.
He recovered numerous stone tool artifacts in soils that were later dated by an
outside team of geologists to be 16,000 years old.
For five years,
Goodyear continued to add artifacts and evidence that a pre-Clovis people
existed, slowly eroding the long-held theory by archaeologists that man arrived
in North America around 13,000 years ago.
Last May, Goodyear dug even
deeper to see whether man’s existence extended further back in time. Using
a backhoe and hand excavations, Goodyear’s team dug through the
Pleistocene terrace soil, some 4 meters below the ground surface. Goodyear
found a number of artifacts similar to the pre-Clovis forms he has excavated in
recent years.
Then on the last day of the last week of digging,
Goodyear’s team uncovered a black stain in the soil where artifacts lay,
providing him the charcoal needed for radiocarbon dating. Dr. Tom Stafford of
Stafford Laboratories in Boulder, CO., came to Topper and collected charcoal
samples for dating.
“Three radiocarbon dates were obtained from
deep in the terrace at Topper with two dates of 50,300 and 51,700 on burnt
plant remains. One modern date related to an intrusion,” Stafford says.
“The two 50,000 dates indicate that they are at least 50,300 years. The
absolute age is not known.”
The revelation of an even older date
for Topper is expected to heighten speculation about when man got to the
Western Hemisphere and add to the debate over other pre-Clovis sites in the
Eastern United States such as Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Pa., and Cactus Hill,
Va.
In October 2005, archaeologists will meet in Columbia for a
conference on Clovis and the study of earliest Americans. The conference will
include a day trip to Topper, which is sure to dominate discussions and
presentations at the international gathering.
DR. ALBERT C.
GOODYEAR III
University of South Carolina archaeologist Albert C.
Goodyear joined the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology in
1974 and has been associated with the Research Division since 1976. He is also
the founder and director of the Allendale Paleoindian Expedition, a program
that involves members of the public in helping to excavate Paleoamerican sites
in the central Savannah River Valley of South Carolina.
Goodyear earned
his bachelors degree in anthropology from the University of South Florida
(1968), his masters degree in anthropology from the University of Arkansas and
his doctorate in anthropology from Arizona State University (1976). He is a
member of the Society for American Archaeology, the Southeastern Archaeological
Conference, the Archaeological Society of South Carolina, and the Florida
Anthropological Society. He has served twice as president of the Archaeological
Society of South Carolina and is on the editorial board of The Florida
Anthropologist and the North American Archaeologist.
Goodyear developed
his interest in archaeology in the 1960s as a member of the Florida
Anthropological Society and through avocational experiences along
Florida’s central Gulf Coast. He wrote and published articles about sites
and artifacts from that region for The Florida Anthropologist in the late
1960s. His master’s thesis on the Brand site, a late Paleoindian Dalton
site in northeast Arkansas, was published in 1974 by the Arkansas Archeological
Survey. At Arizona State University, he did field research on Desert Hohokam
mountain hunting and gathering sites in the Lower Sonoran desert of Southern
Arizona.
Goodyear, whose primary research interest has been America's
earliest human inhabitants, has focused on the period of the
Pleistocene-Holocene transition dating between 12,000 and 9,000 years ago. He
has taken a geoarchaeological approach to the search for deeply buried early
sites by teaming up with colleagues in geology and soil science. For the past
15 years he has studied early prehistoric sites in Allendale County, S.C., in
the central Savannah River Valley. These are stone tool manufacturing sites
related to the abundant chert resources that were quarried in this locality.
This work has been supported by the National Park Service, the National
Geographic Society, the University of South Carolina, the Archaeological
Research Trust (SCIAA), the Allendale Research Fund, the Elizabeth Stringfellow
Endowment Fund, Sandoz Chemical Corp. and Clariant Corp., the present owner of
the site.
Goodyear is the author of over 100 articles, reports and
books and regularly presents public lectures and professional papers on his
Paleoindian discoveries in South Carolina.
|