Comment on Cook and Comstock's “Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study“

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 610-612
Author(s):  
John P. Hart ◽  
Kevin C. Nolan
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Careful Selection ◽  
Fort Ancient ◽  
Analytical Errors ◽  
Selection Of

In their recent report, Cook and Comstock (2014) purport to address the "old wood" problem in temperate eastern North America. Here we point out several interpretive and analytical errors in their work. We conclude that careful selection of wood charcoal for radiocarbon assay can result in accurate chronology for events of interest. However, this does not obviate the need to critically assess the extant database of wood charcoal dates in any chronology building effort.

Evaluating the Old Wood Problem in a Temperate Climate: A Fort Ancient Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 79 (04) ◽  
pp. 763-775 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cook ◽  
Aaron R. Comstock
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
American Southwest ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Arid Climate ◽  
Temperate Climate ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Eastern Woodlands ◽  
Fort Ancient

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.

Focusing on the Old Wood Problem: A Response to Hart and Nolan

2015 ◽  
Vol 80 (3) ◽  
pp. 613-614
Author(s):  
Robert A. Cook ◽  
Aaron R. Comstock
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Wood Charcoal ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Ohio Valley ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Analytical Errors

Our recent paper demonstrated that radiocarbon assays sampled from wood charcoal were not systematically skewed when compared to non-wood samples from the same site. This suggests that the “old wood” problem may not be quite as problematic in the temperate Middle Ohio Valley as many suspect. In their comment, Hart and Nolan missed our broader point and mischaracterized our findings. Specifically, we did not suggest that our findings apply to the entirety of eastern North America, nor did we make analytical errors. A thorough reading of our paper clearly supports the following rebuttal. Our main point is that scholars should think twice before discarding radiocarbon dates from wood charcoal, for in some contexts they are the most useful means of determining important chronological information. Despite the suggestion to the contrary, “old wood” concerns do form elements of several hygiene protocols, including Nolan's (2012).

Risks Associated with Growing Non-native Larches in Eastern North America

1985 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 101-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Robbins
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Proper Selection ◽  
Planting Stock ◽  
Seed Sources ◽  
Animal Damage ◽  
Growth Loss ◽  
Disease Free ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract Risks associated with growing non-native larches include growth loss and mortality related to their frost susceptibility, shade intolerance, stress on poor sites, diseases, insects, and animal damage. Proper selection of planting sites and seed sources, using disease-free dormant planting stock, and monitoring plantations for injury help reduce these risks. North. J. Appl. For. 2:101-104, Dec. 1985.

scholarly journals Indirect narration : a case study of Conrad's Heart of darkness and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby

2007 ◽  
Vol 40 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 117-127
Author(s):  
Majda Šavle
Keyword(s):  
Careful Selection ◽  
Narrative Style ◽  
Great Gatsby ◽  
Innovative Technique ◽  
The Great Gatsby ◽  
Heart Of Darkness ◽  
Selection Of

Joseph Conrad's narrative style bas influenced many writers, including F. Scott Fitzgerald. The objective of my study on verbs used in discourse in Conrad's Heart of Darkness and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby was to confirm  the speculation  that besides Conrad's innovative technique of indirect narration there were other techniques (such as careful selection of imagistic detail) Fitzgerald learned from Conrad.

scholarly journals Geophysical Detection and Assessment of Leveled Mounds: An Example from the Upper Mississippi Valley

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
William Green ◽  
Adam S. Wiewel ◽  
Steven L. De Vore
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Visual Inspection ◽  
Geophysical Methods ◽  
Late Woodland ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Magnetic Survey ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Survey Results ◽  
Burial Mounds

Most earthen burial mounds of eastern North America have been destroyed—or have they? We review geophysical methods for assessing whether leveled mounds retain intact deposits or features. Magnetic survey holds promise for locating and evaluating leveled mounds because it is rapid and sensitive to magnetic variations associated with anticipated features such as pits and deposits of mound fill. As a case study, we discuss our magnetic survey of the Gast Farm site (13LA12) in eastern Iowa. The survey covered 8.64 ha, encompassing loci of one previously reported mound and possible geometric earthworks as well as Middle and Late Woodland habitation areas. Interpretation of survey results incorporated quantitative differentiation of magnetic anomaly types using GIS techniques, along with standard visual inspection. We found no evidence of geometric earthworks but identified at least six leveled mounds. Displaced mound fill appears to account for the earthwork-like features. We conclude that leveled mounds are detectable and may retain subsurface integrity. Their associated features, including burials, may be identifiable even when above-ground evidence has disappeared.

Aggregation of Selected Three-Day Periods to Estimate Annual and Seasonal Wet Deposition Totals for Sulfate, Nitrate, and Acidity. Part II: Selection of Events, Deposition Totals, and Source–Receptor Relationships

1995 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey R. Brook ◽  
Perry J. Samson ◽  
Sanford Sillman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
North America ◽  
Model Simulation ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
So2 Emissions ◽  
Study Program ◽  
Area Of Interest ◽  
Main Components ◽  
Selection Of

Abstract A method for deriving estimates of long-term acidic deposition over eastern North America based on a limited number of Regional Acid Deposition Model runs has been developed. The main components of this method are the identification of a representative sample of events for model simulation and the aggregation of the deposition totals associated with the events. Meteorological categories, defined according to 3-day progressions of 850-mb wind flow over eastern North America, were used to guide the selection of events. This paper describes how events were selected from the categories and how they were combined (aggregated) to estimate long-term deposition. The effectiveness of the category-based approach was compared against alternate aggregation approaches and it was found to provide the best sample-based estimates of long-term wet sulfate deposition across eastern North America. Thirty events from the 1982–85 time period were selected using a set of predetermined criteria and aggregated to estimate seasonal and annual SO2−4, NO−3, and H+ deposition at 20 Utility Acid Precipitation Study Program sites. The accuracy of the estimates varied geographically and depending upon whether they were for the annual or seasonal time periods. Over the main area of interest (a smaller 13-site region), the mean rms errors for annual deposition were 10%, 15%, and 12% for sulfate, nitrate, and acidity, respectively. Source–receptor relationships associated with the 30 events were examined for three sites located in Michigan, North Carolina, and upstate New York. It was found that the amount of time that transport was to these areas from the U.S. Midwest (an area of high SO2 emissions) was represented to within 20%.

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