Solid Core Drilling of Monks Mound: Technique and Findings

1968 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nelson A. Reed ◽  
John W. Bennett ◽  
James Warren Porter

AbstractSolid core drilling was used to provide guidelines for future excavation of Monks Mound at the Cahokia site. The objective was to study, within reasonable limits of time and finances, the internal structure of the largest earthen mound in North America. The process is described along with a discussion of its problems and limitations as applied to similar archaeological situations. Radiocarbon dates indicate construction over approximately 250 years, from A.D. 900 to 1150. Evidence of construction stages is described and used to arrive at an estimate of labor figures and the necessary sustaining population of the Cahokia settlement. It is suggested that most of the mounds at the site were built after the completion of Monks Mound.


1970 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 703-715 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. T. Andrews

Average rates of postglacial uplift reach a maximum value of nearly 4 m 100 y−1 over southeastern Hudson Bay, and another high cell, with rates of about 2.5 m 100 y−1, lies between Bathurst Inlet and Southampton Island. Current rates of uplift are underestimated if exponential curves are fitted solely to dated raised marine deposits without considering the amount of future recovery. Rates of rebound are, instead, derived from A/t where A is uplift in the first 1000 y since deglaciation, and t is time since deglaciation. For the northwest margin of the former ice sheet coefficients of determination for rate of uplift, at specific times, as a function of distance are [Formula: see text]. Maps of rates of uplift for northern and eastern North America are presented for 8000 y B.P., 6000 y B.P. and the present day. They reveal the existence of three uplift centers and show that rates of uplift declined from a maximum of 10 to 12 m 100 y−1, immediately following deglaciation, to a current maximum of about 1.3 m 100 y−1. Agreement is satisfactory when calculated rates of uplift are compared with those derived from geological observations, radiocarbon dates, and from water-level records. A final map shows isochrones on the uplift rate of ~1 m 100 y−1. The rate dropped to this value about 10 000 y ago on the outer northwest and southeast coasts, whereas the value might not be reached for another 2000 y in southeastern Hudson Bay.



2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hachem Dhouib ◽  
Stéphane Mathis ◽  
Florian Debras ◽  
Aurélie Astoul ◽  
Clément Baruteau

<p>Gaseous giant planets (Jupiter and Saturn in our solar system and hot Jupiters around other stars) are turbulent rotating magnetic objects that have strong and complex interactions with their environment (their moons in the case of Jupiter and Saturn and their host stars in the case of hot Jupiters/Saturns). In such systems, the dissipation of tidal waves excited by tidal forces shape the orbital architecture and the rotational dynamics of the planets.</p> <p>During the last decade, a revolution has occurred for our understanding of tides in these systems. First, Lainey et al. (2009, 2012, 2017) have measured tidal dissipation stronger by one order of magnitude than expected in Jupiter and Saturn. Second, unexplained broad diversity of orbital architectures and large radius of some hot Jupiters are observed in exoplanetary systems. Finally, new constraints obtained thanks to <em>Kepler</em>/K2 and TESS indicate that tidal dissipation in gaseous giant exoplanets is weaker than in Jupiter and in Saturn (Ogilvie 2014, Van Eylen et al. 2018, Huber et al. 2019).</p> <p>Furthermore, the space mission JUNO and the grand finale of the CASSINI mission have revolutionized our knowledge of the interiors of giant planets. We now know, for example, that Jupiter is a very complex planet: it is a stratified planet with, from the surface to the core, a differentially rotating convective envelope, a first mixing zone (with stratified convection), a uniformly rotating magnetised convective zone, a second magnetized mixing zone (the diluted core, potentially in stratified convection) and a solid core (Debras & Chabrier 2019). So far, tides in these planets have been studied by assuming a simplified internal structure with a stable rocky and icy core (Remus et al. 2012, 2015) and a deep convective envelope surrounded by a thin stable atmosphere (Ogilvie & Lin 2004) where mixing processes, differential rotation and magnetic field were completely neglected.</p> <p>Our objective is thus to predict tidal dissipation using internal structure models, which agree with these last observational constrains. In this work, we build a new ab-initio model of tidal dissipation in giant planets that coherently takes into account the interactions of tidal waves with their complex stratification induced by the mixing of heavy elements, their zonal winds, and (dynamo) magnetic fields. This model is a semi-global model in the planetary equatorial plane. We study the linear excitation of tidal magneto-gravito-inertial progressive waves and standing modes. We take into account the buoyancy, the compressibility, the Coriolis acceleration (including differential rotation), and the Lorentz force. The tidal waves are submitted to the different potential dissipative processes: Ohmic, thermal, molecular diffusivities, and viscosity. We here present the general formalism and the potential regimes of parameters that should be explored. The quantities of interest such as tidal torque, dissipation, and heating are derived. This will pave the way for full 3D numerical simulations that will take into account complex internal structure and dynamics of gaseous giant (exo-)planets in spherical/spheroidal geometry.</p> <p> </p>



Radiocarbon ◽  
2004 ◽  
Vol 46 (2) ◽  
pp. 933-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irina P Panyushkina ◽  
Steven W Leavitt ◽  
Alex Wiedenhoeft ◽  
Sarah Noggle ◽  
Brandon Curry ◽  
...  

The abrupt millennial-scale changes associated with the Younger Dryas (YD) event (“chronozone”) near the dawn of the Holocene are at least hemispheric, if not global, in extent. Evidence for the YD cold excursion is abundant in Europe but fairly meager in central North America. We are engaged in an investigation of high-resolution environmental changes in mid-North America over several millennia (about 10,000 to 14,000 BP) during the Late Glacial–Early Holocene transition, including the YD interval. Several sites containing logs or stumps have been identified and we are in the process of initial sampling or re-sampling them for this project. Here, we report on a site in central Illinois containing a deposit of logs initially thought to be of YD age preserved in alluvial sands. The assemblage of wood represents hardwood (angiosperm) trees, and the ring-width characteristics are favorable to developing formal tree-ring chronologies. However, 4 new radiocarbon dates indicate deposition of wood may have taken place over at least 8000 14C yr (6000–14,000 BP). This complicates the effort to develop a single floating chronology of several hundred years at this site, but it may provide wood from a restricted region over a long period of time from which to develop a sequence of floating chronologies, the timing of deposition and preservation of which could be related to paleoclimatic events and conditions.



2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 151-159 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon J. Ogden

Although nearly 50 years have passed since P.B. Sears introduced pollen analysis to North America, it remains an occult art. Dramatic improvements in sampling and analytic techniques continue to be limited by intractable problems of differential production, dispersal, ballistics, sedimentation, and preservation. It is a basic tenet of pollen stratigraphy that the data set, consisting primarily of microfossils preserved in sediments, is better than anything we have yet been able to do with it. Basic agreement between late- and postglacial pollen records has been confirmed wherever the method has been applied. Quantitative sampling techniques, sample preparation, and analytic procedures, together with multiple radiocarbon dates, permits calculation of sedimentation rates and absolute pollen influx. Of approximately 300 sediment cores from northeastern North America, fewer than 30 have more than 3 radiocarbon determinations from which least squares power curve regressions can be reliably calculated in the determination of sedimentation rates. Analogy with modern environments represented by surface pollen spectra is limited by an insufficient number of samples of uniform quality to characterize a vegetational mosaic covering 40 degrees of latitude (40-80°N) and longitude (60-100°W). The present surface pollen data bank includes about 700 samples, unevenly spaced and of uneven quality, permitting a grid resolution of no better than 10,000 km2.



1984 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 757-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard A. Rogers ◽  
Larry D. Martin

The 12 Mile Creek site in western Kansas was the first site yielding a fluted projectile point to be excavated in North America by scientific personnel. The Bison from this kill site were used in forming the original concept of B. occidentalis. A new study of the site including radiocarbon dates and a pollen analysis suggests the kill took place in a pine parkland about 10,300 years ago. The artifact from this site reported by Williston seems to be a Clovis projectile point.



2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (04) ◽  
pp. 763-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cook ◽  
Aaron R. Comstock

Abstract Schiffer (1986) first identified the old wood problem for wood charcoal-based dates from archaeological contexts in the American Southwest. The potential for dates to be skewed toward excessively old calendar ages in this region has recently generated reticence in part of the archaeological community towards including wood charcoal dates in general. Some scholars have even begun to cleanse the radiocarbon databases of regions throughout North America, partly with this presumed limitation in mind. However, the issues that contribute to the old wood problem have not been closely examined outside the arid climate of the American Southwest, resulting in some studies excluding hundreds of radiocarbon dates. The present study fills that void by examining the radiocarbon record from four well-dated Fort Ancient sites in southwestern Ohio and southeastern Indiana. Specifically, we test whether or not there are significant differences between wood charcoal and non-wood charcoal assays. Our findings suggest that wood charcoal dates should not be excluded. We explore reasons for this difference in the Eastern Woodlands and propose an ideal dating regime.



2010 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 434-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dhimiter Bello ◽  
Brian L. Wardle ◽  
Jie Zhang ◽  
Namiko Yamamoto ◽  
Christopher Santeufemio ◽  
...  


2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-315 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynn H. Gamble

Advanced maritime technology associated with long-distance exchange and intensified resource acquisition has been linked to the development of stratification and greater sociopolitical complexity in the Pacific Rim region. One such example is the emergence of hereditary chiefs among the Chumash Indians of southern California. Plank boats owned by an elite group of wealthy individuals and chiefs were an integral part of an elaborate economic system that was based on maritime exchange. An artifact assemblage associated with the construction, maintenance, and use of this watercraft was identified and analyzed. It included wooden planks, asphaltum plugs, asphaltum caulking, and chipped stone drills. Radiocarbon dates and other relative-dating techniques provide strong evidence that the plank canoe originated at least 1,300 years ago in southern California. This represents the earliest use of this type of watercraft in North America and probably in the New World. The timing of this innovation provides evidence that sociopolitical complexity developed in the region at least 500 years earlier than previously proposed.



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