|
|
|
Finding
Pre-Clovis Humans
in the Oregon High Desert
An interview with Dennis
Jenkins
In this
interview, conducted at Paisley Five Mile Point Caves on June
13, 2007, by Rick Pettigrew of ALI, Dr. Dennis Jenkins describes
the remarkable discovery of human DNA in coprolites dated between
14,000 and 15,000 calibrated years ago. This evidence, reported
in the 3 April 2008, issue of the journal Science, strongly
supports the proposition that human migrants to North America
arrived at least 1000 years before the widespread Clovis complex
appeared. The data also support the conclusion that the first
human population originated in northeast Asia. Dr. Jenkins, standing
in the very spot where his field school team recovered the evidence,
relates why and how the excavation was carried out, explains the
significance of the find and shares his personal reflections on
making a momentous discovery. Images woven into the interview
show the environment surrounding the caves and the student archaeologists
comprising the field crew.
The Interview:
To see the interview, click
on the bandwidth for your player below.
|
|
 |
Dr. Dennis Jenkins
|
Dennis
L. Jenkins received his B.A. (1977) and M.A. (1981) degrees
from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) and his
Ph.D. from the University of Oregon in 1991. He is an Archaeologist/Field
School Supervisor for the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology/Museum
of Natural and Cultural History, University of Oregon. As
Co-Director and Supervisor of the University of Oregon Archaeological
Field School, Jenkins has worked for much of the last 15
years on the archaeology of the Fort Rock Basin and Chewaucan
Basin areas, focusing on paleoenvironmental studies, lacustrine
adaptations, settlement and subsistence patterns, exchange
systems, and the evolution of hunter-gatherer foraging strategies
in arid landscapes. His primary research interests involve
Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene cultural transitions
and settlement-subsistence issues among hunter-gatherers
of the Great Basin. His archaeological experience spans
some 31 years with more than 100 excavations. Jenkins began
work in the Fort Rock Basin during the summer of 1986. He
hired on with the Oregon State Museum of Anthropology, where
he currently works as a Senior Research Associate, in l987.
He directs excavations related to highway construction projects
in the Northern Great Basin and adjoining regions. His research
includes the application of specialized analytical techniques
involving DNA and obsidian sourcing and hydration and prehistoric
bead type and distribution analyses.
Jenkins has authored or coauthored numerous publications,
including co-editing (with C. M. Aikens) the 1994 volume,
Archaeological Researches in the Northern Great Basin:
Fort Rock Archaeology Since Cressman (University of
Oregon Anthropological Papers No. 50, 1994), and more recently
Early and Middle Holocene Archaeology of the Northern
Great Basin (University of Oregon Anthropological Papers
No. 62, 2004).
His most recent research involves the recovery of human
DNA from pre-Clovis coprolites recovered with extinct faunal
remains (camelids, horses, bison, and pika) in the Paisley
Caves.
|
Back
to the top
- Please
support the following underwriter, who helped bring you this
video!
-
Back to the top
|
|
The
Archaeology Channel
Windows Media Player
