The Millington Site, a new book released by the Center for Big Bend Studies was presented to the public at Front Street Books last Thursday night in Alpine by the authors Dr William “Andy” Cloud and Dr. Jennifer Piehl.
The archeological find, accidentally discovered when a backhoe operator was digging ditches for sewer lines near Presidio High School in 2002, has become a major site for study of the La Junta peoples who lived in the area during late pre-historic time of about 1200-1450 A.D.
Previous archeological work in the area suggested that the La Junta people were primarily farmers working the alluvial soils near the confluence of the Rio Grande and Rio Conchos with primitive irrigation techniques growing squash, beans and maize.
But the new evidence at the Millington site suggests that the La Junta people were still very much hunter-gatherers and only occasionally relying on farming.
“They were using flood water irrigation but were not investing heavily in agriculture,” Piehl said.
The morturiaral aspects of the human remains has provided, through chemical analysis at UT-Austin, clues about their health and diet.
“There’s a lot of evidence in the skeletal remains,” Piehl, a forensic archeologist, said. “An extraordinary amount of arthritis was found as well as a lot of broken ankles and feet.”
Arthritis in males was found primarily in the knees and ankles and coupled with the broken bones suggests hunting was a primary activity in the rough desert La Junta area.
“These results were similar to hunter-gatherers found in other areas,” Piehl said.
Carbon and nitrogen isotopes were isolated in the bone remains and allowed Piehl to track their diet. The isotopic signature of carbon remnants suggests maize while nitrogen remnants suggest beans because they are nitrogen fixers and have a different photosynthesis pathway.
Piehl found that less than 25 per cent of their diet was corn and that the vast percentage of their protein came from meat. Rodent hairs were found preserved in their teeth which could suggest that they were either very hungry or that cooking meat was not always necessary.
The climate of the time was very much like our present climate, suggesting that the game in the area was similar to ours. Rodents including rabbits and rats along with deer and javalina were likely their main sources of meat.
The human remains at the Millington Site were buried in the flex position. Males had their heads facing south while females were facing north. This ideological aspect of their customs has not yet been unraveled. It is believed however that the La Junta people had their own indigenous practices but picked up a lot of culture aspects from other tribes that passed through the area. Some believe that the La Junta was a sub-culture of the larger Casa Grande civilization that dominated the Chihuahua desert to the south.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
The Chinati Volcano
In the middle of Brewster County, looming large, square-shouldered and something like an African beast, Elephant Mountain stands 6200 feet above sea-level offering vistas of the volcanic history of West Texas; the Paisano Plateau, the Window at the Chisos, the Solitario, the Apache Mountains and in the far distance in south Presidio County the remnants of one of the biggest volcanic explosions of all time: Chinati.
When the Chinati Volcano erupted it killed everything within a hundred mile range of its vent. The red hot rock that blew into the atmosphere and cooled as ash likely darkened the sky for years, nucleating giant electrical thunderstorms that altered the climate. A span of trees near Candaleria that were walloped with the explosive force fell in a semi-circular pattern indicating the direction of the blast and can still be seen today, petrified. Chinati is ranked as the 20th most powerful volcano in the history of the planet.
Thirty to 35 million years ago, west Texas was a violent place, a cauldron of volcanic activity. And it is this period of time that formed and now defines the geography of West Texas. A very brief geological history of the Trans-Pecos starts 200 million years ago with the deposition of limestone from the giant Permian Sea that covered the area. A 140million years later, mountains began to build as plates shifted below the earth’s surface. In the Tertiary Period volcanism, followed by the Miocene Epoch where tremendous faulting occurred. And then 15 million years of erosion to bring us to the present.
The mountain savannah on top of Elephant Mountain is covered with a dark clay soil, older than most soils of the region, it somewhat protected from the tremendous force of millions of years of erosion, as many of the high plateaus in the region are. Some scientists speculate that when the hot volcanic ash landed, it welded to already existing surface rock creating a super hard substance known as ignimbrite and this rock, found at the base of many of our region’s mesas, was more resistant to erosion.
Green Valley, a low expanse of land that runs below Mitchell Mesa near Casa Piedra east through the Folkes and O-2 ranches, can be seen from Elephant Mountain, illustrating the power of erosion. In some places the desert floor is thousands of feet below the plateaus suggesting tons of earth that has been swept down valleys like Calamity and Terlingua Creeks and eventually into the Rio Grande where, over the years, this earth was pushed downriver into the Gulf of Mexico, spreading Texas across the globe.
When the Chinati Volcano erupted it killed everything within a hundred mile range of its vent. The red hot rock that blew into the atmosphere and cooled as ash likely darkened the sky for years, nucleating giant electrical thunderstorms that altered the climate. A span of trees near Candaleria that were walloped with the explosive force fell in a semi-circular pattern indicating the direction of the blast and can still be seen today, petrified. Chinati is ranked as the 20th most powerful volcano in the history of the planet.
Thirty to 35 million years ago, west Texas was a violent place, a cauldron of volcanic activity. And it is this period of time that formed and now defines the geography of West Texas. A very brief geological history of the Trans-Pecos starts 200 million years ago with the deposition of limestone from the giant Permian Sea that covered the area. A 140million years later, mountains began to build as plates shifted below the earth’s surface. In the Tertiary Period volcanism, followed by the Miocene Epoch where tremendous faulting occurred. And then 15 million years of erosion to bring us to the present.
The mountain savannah on top of Elephant Mountain is covered with a dark clay soil, older than most soils of the region, it somewhat protected from the tremendous force of millions of years of erosion, as many of the high plateaus in the region are. Some scientists speculate that when the hot volcanic ash landed, it welded to already existing surface rock creating a super hard substance known as ignimbrite and this rock, found at the base of many of our region’s mesas, was more resistant to erosion.
Green Valley, a low expanse of land that runs below Mitchell Mesa near Casa Piedra east through the Folkes and O-2 ranches, can be seen from Elephant Mountain, illustrating the power of erosion. In some places the desert floor is thousands of feet below the plateaus suggesting tons of earth that has been swept down valleys like Calamity and Terlingua Creeks and eventually into the Rio Grande where, over the years, this earth was pushed downriver into the Gulf of Mexico, spreading Texas across the globe.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Pena Blanca Springs Meteorite
Pena Blanca Springs Meteorite
On a hot August Saturday some sixty years ago at the Gage Ranch, a few miles southeast of Marathon, Texas, ranch hands and children shook themselves off as they splashed out of the swimming hole brimming from the waters of the Pena Blanca Spring. The cook at the nearby Forker House sat in a chair on the porch. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She peeled potatoes. A cabrito smoked in a pit and in the distance an old Ford truck with cowboys dusted up a caliche road.
A boom in the sky interrupted the otherwise clear day. A herd of horses nearby snorted and hooved in the dirt, followed by a noise that sounded like a car running on a flat tire. The old Ford had already parked at the tank and the cowboys were looking up. A second later they were dripping wet.
“It looked,” the cook said. “like a black bag falling out of the sky, with white dust coming out of it.”
Marathon resident Mattie V. Stuessy, sixteen at the time, was inside her family's home at the old railroad town of Haymond, a few miles from the watering hole. Her father Pless Chambers worked for the railroad. “I heard the sound.” Stuessy said. “But I thought it was daddy unloading ties.”
When asked about the incident four days later by student and meteorite collector O.E. Monnig of Ft. Worth, Mrs. Catto, whose home laid 75 yards from the tank, slammed her fist against her palm to illustrate the impact sound of the meteorite hitting the water. “I feel mighty lucky,” she said.
Meteorites fall everyday onto the earth, but few are found, fewer seen in descent and only a handful have ever been heard. But these are the characteristics of meteorites. They flash in the sky as they enter and burn in the earth’s atmosphere and are termed meteorites when they make it to the earth’s surface, most landing in the oceans. Meteors, however, vaporize in the atmosphere and never land. The cosmic velocity of a 1000 pound meteorite can reach 24 miles a second in space but once in our atmosphere, gravity can slow it down to as little as 250 miles per hour. The sound the swimmers heard was a sonic boom and the flat tire effect came from the scalloped profile of the rock sizzling through the air.
The Pena Blanca Springs Meteorite was dated at 4.5 billion years old or about the same age as the earth, coinciding with the formative epoch of our solar system. Ninety-nine per cent of meteorites are in this age category. Meteorites generally consist of fragments from asteroids that hover mostly in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter though sometimes meteorites contain parts of other planets or moons. Imprisoned by the gravity of our solar system, these rocks wander in space, some as far out as the Kuiper Belt until they collide with planetary atmospheres such as ours.
The Murchison Meteorite fell on Australia in 1969 and was dated to be about 30 million years older than the formation of our solar system. The rare particles found in it suggest that its origination may have been part of a super nova explosion that many scientists believe was the causal effect of our solar system.
The estimated weight of the Pena Blanca Springs Meteorite was about 200 lbs before it shattered against a bed of novaculite rock running under the tank. The meteorite is considered “stoney” meaning, the metal content was minimal, although there was a trace of iron and nickel. Because they are easier to spot and identify due to their weight and dark color, most “found” meteorites are almost pure iron and nickel, however iron/nickel meteorites represent only 6 per cent of fallen meteorites.
The Pena Blanca Springs meteorite contained organic compounds including carbon, oxygen and hydrogen and gave off a slight sulphur dioxide odor. It is classified by scientists as an aubrite, carbonaceous chondrite meteorite. It also contained amino acids, the proteins necessary for constructing life. The “Allende” meteorite that landed in Chihuahua in 1969, and the Murchison Meteorite, contained many types of amino acids, including some that don’t exist on earth. The leading suggestion that life started in some primordial ooze on earth might be upstaged by what’s happening outside of our planet.
The chances of being hit by a meteorite are rare. Some scientists calculate that if you lived on 400 acres of land, you’d have to wait a hundred thousand years to chance see a meteorite hit your domain. That’s the odds. And the formation of life, proteins compounding to kick start life out of stardust are astronomically improbably – but still possible.
Life is precious. Those swimmers who splashed in the waters of the Pena Blanca Spring back on August 2, 1946 experienced a close call. They may not have known that meteorites contain the building blocks that can give life but they surely knew that a big rock falling out of the sky can take it away.
On a hot August Saturday some sixty years ago at the Gage Ranch, a few miles southeast of Marathon, Texas, ranch hands and children shook themselves off as they splashed out of the swimming hole brimming from the waters of the Pena Blanca Spring. The cook at the nearby Forker House sat in a chair on the porch. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She peeled potatoes. A cabrito smoked in a pit and in the distance an old Ford truck with cowboys dusted up a caliche road.
A boom in the sky interrupted the otherwise clear day. A herd of horses nearby snorted and hooved in the dirt, followed by a noise that sounded like a car running on a flat tire. The old Ford had already parked at the tank and the cowboys were looking up. A second later they were dripping wet.
“It looked,” the cook said. “like a black bag falling out of the sky, with white dust coming out of it.”
Marathon resident Mattie V. Stuessy, sixteen at the time, was inside her family's home at the old railroad town of Haymond, a few miles from the watering hole. Her father Pless Chambers worked for the railroad. “I heard the sound.” Stuessy said. “But I thought it was daddy unloading ties.”
When asked about the incident four days later by student and meteorite collector O.E. Monnig of Ft. Worth, Mrs. Catto, whose home laid 75 yards from the tank, slammed her fist against her palm to illustrate the impact sound of the meteorite hitting the water. “I feel mighty lucky,” she said.
Meteorites fall everyday onto the earth, but few are found, fewer seen in descent and only a handful have ever been heard. But these are the characteristics of meteorites. They flash in the sky as they enter and burn in the earth’s atmosphere and are termed meteorites when they make it to the earth’s surface, most landing in the oceans. Meteors, however, vaporize in the atmosphere and never land. The cosmic velocity of a 1000 pound meteorite can reach 24 miles a second in space but once in our atmosphere, gravity can slow it down to as little as 250 miles per hour. The sound the swimmers heard was a sonic boom and the flat tire effect came from the scalloped profile of the rock sizzling through the air.
The Pena Blanca Springs Meteorite was dated at 4.5 billion years old or about the same age as the earth, coinciding with the formative epoch of our solar system. Ninety-nine per cent of meteorites are in this age category. Meteorites generally consist of fragments from asteroids that hover mostly in the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter though sometimes meteorites contain parts of other planets or moons. Imprisoned by the gravity of our solar system, these rocks wander in space, some as far out as the Kuiper Belt until they collide with planetary atmospheres such as ours.
The Murchison Meteorite fell on Australia in 1969 and was dated to be about 30 million years older than the formation of our solar system. The rare particles found in it suggest that its origination may have been part of a super nova explosion that many scientists believe was the causal effect of our solar system.
The estimated weight of the Pena Blanca Springs Meteorite was about 200 lbs before it shattered against a bed of novaculite rock running under the tank. The meteorite is considered “stoney” meaning, the metal content was minimal, although there was a trace of iron and nickel. Because they are easier to spot and identify due to their weight and dark color, most “found” meteorites are almost pure iron and nickel, however iron/nickel meteorites represent only 6 per cent of fallen meteorites.
The Pena Blanca Springs meteorite contained organic compounds including carbon, oxygen and hydrogen and gave off a slight sulphur dioxide odor. It is classified by scientists as an aubrite, carbonaceous chondrite meteorite. It also contained amino acids, the proteins necessary for constructing life. The “Allende” meteorite that landed in Chihuahua in 1969, and the Murchison Meteorite, contained many types of amino acids, including some that don’t exist on earth. The leading suggestion that life started in some primordial ooze on earth might be upstaged by what’s happening outside of our planet.
The chances of being hit by a meteorite are rare. Some scientists calculate that if you lived on 400 acres of land, you’d have to wait a hundred thousand years to chance see a meteorite hit your domain. That’s the odds. And the formation of life, proteins compounding to kick start life out of stardust are astronomically improbably – but still possible.
Life is precious. Those swimmers who splashed in the waters of the Pena Blanca Spring back on August 2, 1946 experienced a close call. They may not have known that meteorites contain the building blocks that can give life but they surely knew that a big rock falling out of the sky can take it away.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
