Len V. Hills

Identification of Horse Exploitation by Clovis Hunters Based on Protein Analysis

Positive results were obtained from protein residue analysis on three Clovis points from Wallys Beach, southwestern Alberta. Two tested positive for Equus, the third for a bovid, probably Bison or Bootherium. All genera are present in the site remains. This finding clearly demonstrates use of Equus by Clovis hunters. Four 14C dates indicate that the site was in use between 11,000 and 11,300 B.P.

Late Pleistocene horse and camel hunting at the southern margin of the ice-free corridor: Reassessing the age of Wally’s Beach, Canada

Significance Archaeological discoveries at Wally’s Beach, Canada, provide the only direct evidence of horse and camel hunting in the Americas at the end of the last Ice Age. Here, seven horses and one camel were attacked and butchered near a river crossing by prehistoric hunters. New radiocarbon dates revise the age of these kill and butchering localities to 13,300 y ago. Other North American kill and butchering sites show that prehistoric hunters preyed on 6 of the 36 genera of large mammals, called megafauna, for at least 2,000 y before these animals became extinct, around 12,700 y ago. Accurate dating is necessary to build meaningful chronologies for the Ice Age peopling of the Americas and to understand megafauna extinctions. The only certain evidence for prehistoric human hunting of horse and camel in North America occurs at the Wally’s Beach site, Canada. Here, the butchered remains of seven horses and one camel are associated with 29 nondiagnostic lithic artifacts. Twenty-seven new radiocarbon ages on the bones of these animals revise the age of these kill and butchering localities to 13,300 calibrated y B.P. The tight chronological clustering of the eight kill localities at Wally’s Beach indicates these animals were killed over a short period. Human hunting of horse and camel in Canada, coupled with mammoth, mastodon, sloth, and gomphothere hunting documented at other sites from 14,800–12,700 calibrated y B.P., show that 6 of the 36 genera of megafauna that went extinct by approximately 12,700 calibrated y B.P. were hunted by humans. This study shows the importance of accurate geochronology, without which significant discoveries will go unrecognized and the empirical data used to build models explaining the peopling of the Americas and Pleistocene extinctions will be in error.

Late pleistocene horse hunting at the Wally's Beach site (DhPg-8), Canada

Evidence from the Wallys Beach site in southwestern Alberta indicates Pleistocene horses were hunted by Clovis age peoples. A number of artifacts are associated with a horse skeleton, including a cut-marked hyoid indicative of butchering and a flake projecting below one of the vertebrae that establishes the archaeological material is not intrusive. A large unmodified cobble apparently was used to mark the kill or anchor the cache. Six other finds of horse remains also have associated lithic artifacts. Horse behavior is explored to speculate on hunting strategy. It is concluded that humans and climate change probably contributed to the late Pleistocene extinction of North American horses.

Arctic black shale formation during Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2

The Late Cretaceous Oceanic Anoxic Event 2 (OAE2) represents a major perturbation of the global carbon cycle caused by the widespread deposition of organic-rich black shales. Although the paleoceanographic response and the spatial extent of bottom-water anoxia in low and mid-paleolatitudes are reasonably well constrained for OAE2, similar data from high paleolatitudes are lacking. Here, we present palynostratigraphy and organic-carbon isotope stratigraphy from the Sverdrup Basin, Axel Heiberg Island (Canada). It is shown that episodes of high marine organic-carbon burial at paleolatitudes of ∼70°N is contemporaneous with the widely observed occurrence of black shale deposition during OAE2. Paleontological, lithological, and geochemical data indicate normal marine conditions with persistent anoxic bottom waters during OAE2. The results imply that the high marine primary productivity pulse during OAE2 may have caused massive organic-carbon burial on the Arctic shelf in general, with important implications for hydrocarbon source-rock distribution in the Arctic region.

Morphological and ultrastructural features of Nikitinsporites canadensis chaloner, a devonian megaspore from the frasnian of canada

Abstract The morphology and ultrastructure of the Devonian megaspore Nikitinsporites canadensis is described. Ornamentation of the sporoderm consists of numerous elongate appendages with bifurcated tips. The sporoderm is constructed of two layers of approximate equal thickness, with the inner zone made up of lamellar plates. The probable function of the sporoderm appendages is discussed, and the systematic affinities of the taxon reviewed.

The Stratigraphic and geographic distribution of carboniferous megaspores

they have received greater attention but it is apparent that in order for palynologists to obtain maximum stratigraphic and paleoecologic data from them, much work must be done on both published material and on new research. The paucity of data on Carboniferous megaspores reflects: (1) problems in concentrating megaspores; (2) their lower abundance in sediments relative to miospores; and (3) in general, their incidental recovery from standard miospore preparation. The term megaspore is herein used to designate a spore 200 Am or larger in size but may include seed coats.

The use of “Quaternary O” in megaspore palynological preparations

Abstract A technique utilizing Quaternary O for extraction of megaspores from shales, sandstones and calcareous shales is described. It is concluded that this technique is an economical means of treating the large samples necessary for detailed examination of large numbers of megaspores and that it opens a new avenue of research within the general field of palynology.

Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous (Tithonian to pre-Albian) plant macrofossils, northern Bowser Basin, British Columbia, Canada

The Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Currier and overlying McEvoy and Devils Claw formations in the northern Bowser Basin, northwestern British Columbia, Canada contain abundant plant macrofossils comprising 22 species, as well as approximately 20 species of invertebrates. Dominant plant macrofossil general include Baiera, Cladophlebis, Ginkgo and Nilssonia although Coniopteris, Ctenis, Elatides, Pityophyllum, Podozamites, Ptrophyllum, Sagenopteris and Sphenobaiera are also represented. The presence of various species of the Upper Jurassic zone bivalves, Buchia Rouillier, at the top of the underlying marine Jackson unit and Herzogina Chavan (Neocomian) at the base of the lowermost plant-bearing unit, the Currier Formation, permit the assignment of a Tithonian age for the base of the plant-bearing succession. A pre-Albian age is proposed for the top of the succession, the Devils Claw Formation, on the basis of the: (1) predominance of the genus Nilssonia (six species) and of cycadohytes in general which decline rapidly after the Aptian; (2) a bundance of ginkgophytes which decrease in significance during the Albian; (3) near absence of Sagenopteris which is dominant in the Aptian and early Albian; and (4) absence of angiosperms macrofossils which entered the Rocky Mountain region during the middle Albian. This age is older than the previously published Albian to Cenomanian age for the Devils Claw Formation. Pterophyllum bellii nom. nov. is proposed for Pterophyllum rectangulare Bell 1956 which was illegitimately named on the basis of priority of the name Pterophyllum aequale rectangulare (Nathorst) Nathorst 1879 which is distinct species.

Worldwide stratigraphic and geographic distribution of selected Jurassic—Cretaceous plant macrofossils and their significance to the northern Bowser Basin, British Columbia, Canada

An analysis of the worldwide stratigraphic and geographic distribution of selected plant macrofossils from the Tithonian to Early Cretaceous (pre-Albian) Currier, McEvoy and Devils Claw formations in the Bowser Basin, British Columbia is presented. This study extends the North American age ranges of most of the species to include the Early Jurassic and, for a few species, the Rhaetian and Late Cretaceous. Previously documented North American occurrences of these taxa are almost exclusively from Middle Jurassic to Early Cretaceous strata. The Bowser Basin paleoflora compares most closely with the latest Jurassic-Berriasian Kootenay flora in the dominance of ginkgophytes and cycadophytes (particularly Nilssonia), the insignificance of conifers with needles and scale leaves and the lack of angiosperm megaplants. The Albian and younger paleofloras in Western Canada are all substantially different in the presence of a significant angiosperm element. This flora is compositionally similar to those of the Late Jurassic to Early Cretaceous Siberian Paleofloristic Province of Siberia including its southern margin, the Tetori-type floras of the Inner Zone of Japan.

The genus Ocksisporites Chaloner

Abstract The genus Ocksisporites Chaloner is emended to include only spores which are isosceles triangular in shape and which may bear fluke-tipped echinae. Two new species O. connatispinosus and O. rugulatus ae erected and the type specie is emended. The present evidence suggests that the genus is widely distributed in Frasnian rocks in northern Canada. The genus Ocksisporites can be differentiated from Ancyrospora on the basis of possessing ornament on both the proximal and distal surfaces of the megaspore whereas the latter possesses ornament only on the distal surface.