Re: Savannah Runner Found Dead in Lake


<richardparker01@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1124105759.078720.119020@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >Lee Olsen wrote, about Olorgesailie:
>>So Isaac and Potts have proven the
>> impossible, Homo was running around in the open at Olorgesailie.
>
> Pity that Lee chose Olorgesailie as the place where "Isaac and Potts
> proved the impossible, Homo was running around in the open at
> Olorgesailie". The level where the human mandible (and most of the
> tools) were found is directly above a fossil lake bed.

You mean it wasn't actually in a fossil lake bed? That would be what Lee
said.

>
> The Smithsonian has put a daily diary of site happenings on line
> (possibly written by Rick Potts himself as expedition leader) - you
> probably couldn't find better 'primary sources'.
>
> At:
> http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/aop/olorg1999/dispatch/6_30/june30.htm
> or http://tinyurl.com/9wj7f
>
> The diary writer explains the Members or strata in detail:
> "Member 1: A series of lake deposits and"paleosols," or ancient
> soils, intermixed with tuffs, which are compacted layers of volcanic
> ash. ...One of the lower ash layers, coded Tuff A-5, has been dated to
> 992,000 years ago...
> Member 2: Clean "Diatomites."
> Member 3: A "massive" tuffy-diatomite.
> Member 4: "Pumice tuffs" with channel sandstones.
> Member 5:A poorly-developed paleosol layer that has a small pumice
> layer that was dated to 974,000 years ago. This means that the many
> meters of sediments from the A-5 tuff of Member 1 to Member 5 were
> deposited rapidly in roughly 18,000 years."
>
> This is testimony to the remarkable accuracy of modern hi-tech dating
> methods, which can now resolve a difference of less than 0.2% between
> two million-year old time horizons.
>
>
> "Member 7: Another distinctive channel sandstone with a
> well-developed, or "mature"paleosol on top. In contrast to the rapid
> deposition below, a few meters of sediment were deposited here in over
> 200,000 years. We can date the top of this layer to 747,000 years ago.
> The Member 7 beds are the most famous of the OF, being the layer where
> high concentrations of hand axes and baboon fossils were discovered."
>
> At:
> http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/aop/olorg2004/dispatch/28jun04/28jun04.htm
>
> or http://tinyurl.com/d4px8
>
> "....Member 5 is defined by a thick layer of diatomite with some
> carbonate.
> Diatomite is made of the shells of diatoms, which are tiny, single
> celled organisms that live in water. "
>
> Although this Member seems to have changed its composition in the few
> years between the 1999 and the 2004 descriptions, it is now quite
> definitely a thick layer of diatomite.
>
> ": ...The hominin, for example, was found on the boundary between
> Members 5 and 6, the same layer in which the stone tools were found
> near the Site Museum."
>
> And Member 6 has re-appeared.
>
>
> See also:
> http://www.mnh.si.edu/anthro/humanorigins/aop/olorg2004/dispatch/10aug04/10aug04.htm
>
> or http://tinyurl.com/9kg9s
>
> The diary writer goes on to say (late in last year's season):
>
> "So I was excited to hear from Kay that the geology students
> carefully noted the presence of many more fossils of turtles,
> crocodiles, and hippopotamuses in Locality B. We found hardly any of
> these animals in our previous digs in Locality A.
> Could it be that Locality B was wetter, perhaps a lake or wetland at
> the time, and thus more attractive to water-loving animals like turtles
> and hippos? Did these fossil animals come from the same layers, and the
> same time period, as the zebras and antelopes we unearthed in Locality
> A? Some of the participants in the Field Course thought so, but they
> didn't have enough time to return to Locality B and look into the
> question thoroughly.
> Within a few minutes of arriving, we saw one reason why the geology
> students (and Kay) were excited about Locality B - lots of stone tools.
> In the photograph, you can see Muteti holding one of the handaxes lying
> out on the surface. It's definitely a big one!"
>
> Shame they all had to go home about then - they might have found
> another hominid bit amongst the remains of hippos and crocodiles.
>
> But probably not - crocodiles would have scared them all away from
> the water.
>
> What seems to go unnoticed in these reports is any effect at all on
> emerging humans of volcanic eruptions.
>
> If a single volcanic eruption can cause the mighty American military to
> abandon its most important bases in SE Asia (Clark and Subic) then
> frequent similar eruptions must have had some effects on the emerging
> human intellects of the 'Cradle of Mankind'.
>
> But no - crocodiles were much more threatening.
>
> Regards
>
> Richard
>


.

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