Hopefully, many of you by now will be aware of our new publication in Science Advances. This is one of the first major articles that the Gault team, in conjunction with some of our wonderful collaborators, have published that fully describes the archaeological materials excavated from below Clovis in Area 15 of the Gault Site!
The article reports on the four OSL ages that were taken by W. Jack Rink and analyzed by his team. These ages demonstrate that the Gault Assemblage is 16,000 years and older, making it one of the earliest sites in North America.
It also reports on the analysis of a small portion of the ~150,000 artifacts we have recovered from the Gault Assemblage layers, including eleven projectile point fragments! The technology in this assemblage shares some general similarities with Clovis but does not appear to be direct relative.
In a broader context, this places the Gault site as one of the earliest sites in North America, with a unique technology not seen anywhere else. Considering it is down here in the heart of Texas, it means there must be older sites out there that demonstrate how these people made it into the New World, likely following a Coastal route. The site also highlights the growing complexity and diversity in the early archaeological record of the Americas.
We would like to say a huge and very special thank you to all our external collaborators:
Kathleen Rodrigues
W. Jack Rink
Amanda Keen-Zebert
Anastasia Gilmer
Charles D. Frederick
Elton R. Prewitt
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