Tech & Science
Technology and Science news from Boulder, Colorado
CU-Boulder research efforts dates oldest petroglyphs known in North America
Aug 13th
The petroglyphs located at the Winnemucca Lake petroglyph site 35 miles northeast of Reno consist of large, deeply carved grooves and dots forming complex designs on several large limestone boulders that have been known about for decades, said CU-Boulder researcher Larry Benson, who led the new effort. Although there are no people, animals or handprint symbols depicted, the petroglyph designs include a series of vertical, chain-like symbols and a number of smaller pits deeply incised with a type of hard rock scraper.
Benson and his colleagues used several methods to date the petroglyphs, including determining when the water level the Winnemucca Lake subbasin—which back then was a single body of water connecting the now-dry Winnemucca Lake and the existing Pyramid Lake—reached the specific elevation of 3,960 feet.
The elevation was key to the study because it marked the maximum height the ancient lake system could have reached before it began spilling excess water over Emerson Pass to the north. When the lake level was at this height, the petroglyph-peppered boulders were submerged and therefore not accessible for carving, said Benson, an adjunct curator of anthropology at the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.
A paper on the subject was published this month in the Journal of Archaeological Science. Co-authors on the study included Eugene Hattori of the Nevada State Museum in Carson City, Nev., John Southon of the University of California, Irvine and Benjamin Aleck of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe Museum and Visitor’s Center in Nixon, Nev. The National Research Program of the U.S. Geological Survey funded the study.
According to Benson, a white layer of carbonate made of limestone precipitated from the ancient, overflowing Winnemucca Lake had coated some of the petroglyph carvings near the base of the boulders. Previous work by Benson showed the carbonate coating elsewhere in the basin at that elevation had a radiocarbon date of roughly 11,000 years ago.
Benson sampled the carbonate into which the petroglyphs were incised and the carbonate that coated the petroglyphs at the base of the limestone boulder. The radiocarbon dates on the samples indicated the carbonate layer underlying the petroglyphs dated to roughly 14,800 ago. Those dates, as well as additional geochemical data on a sediment core from the adjacent Pyramid Lake subbasin, indicated the limestone boulders containing the petroglyphs were exposed to air between 14,800 and 13,200 years ago and again between about 11,300 and 10,500 years ago.
“Prior to our study, archaeologists had suggested these petroglyphs were extremely old,” said Benson, also an emeritus USGS scientist. “Whether they turn out to be as old as 14,800 years ago or as recent as 10,500 years ago, they are still the oldest petroglyphs that have been dated in North America.”
While Native American artifacts found in the Lahontan Basin—which encompasses the Winnemucca Lake subbasin—date to the time period of 11,300 to 10,500 years ago, it does not rule out the possibility that the petroglyphs were carved as early as 14,800 years ago, Benson said.
The oldest dates calculated for the Winnemucca Lake petroglyph site correspond with the time frame linked to several pieces of fossilized human excrement found in a cave in Oregon, said Benson, who also is affiliated with CU’s Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. The caves, known as the Paisley Caves in south central Oregon, held not only fossilized human coprolites that dated to roughly 14,400 years ago, but also bones of horses and camels that went extinct in North America prior to 13,000 years ago.
The younger time interval calculated for the Winnemucca petroglyphs corresponds to dates obtained from a second significant archaeological finding in the region—Spirit Cave Man, who was discovered more than 70 years ago some 60 miles east of Reno and whose hair, bones and clothing were dated to about 10,600 years ago. The remains of the man, who was found partially mummified in a shallow grave in Spirit Cave, Nev., were discovered with a fur robe, a woven marsh plant shroud and moccasins.
Petroglyphs near Long Lake in central Oregon—which were previously thought to be the oldest examples of rock art in North America—share similar features with some of the rock art the Winnemucca site, said Benson. At least one of the petroglyph panels from Long Lake was buried by ash from an eruption of the nearby Mount Mazama volcano roughly 6,700 years ago, proof that it was carved sometime before the eruption.
“We have no idea what they mean,” Benson said of the Winnemucca Lake petroglyphs. “But I think they are absolutely beautiful symbols. Some look like multiple connected sets of diamonds, and some look like trees, or veins in a leaf. There are few petroglyphs in the American Southwest that are as deeply carved as these, and few that have the same sense of size.”
Benson obtained permission to non-invasively examine the petroglyphs from the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, which owns the land. Study co-author John Southton, a faculty member at University of California, Irvine, radiocarbon dated the material for the study.
-CU-
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Google Hosts Free Event to Help Colorado Small Businesses Get Online
Aug 9th
U.S. Rep. Polis and Boulder Mayor Appelbaum to kick off event, business owners to launch free websites with step-by-step guidance from Google staff
Boulder, CO, August 13, 2013 – Google, along with U.S. Rep. Jared Polis and Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum will launch its Colorado Get Your Business Online program in Boulder.
Since the statewide program began in 2012, more than 1,300 Colorado businesses have taken advantage of free Google tools to launch a website and grow their businesses online. However, 63% of Colorado small businesses still don’t have a website while 97% of internet users go online to find local products and services. The August 13th workshop features step-by-step guidance for business owners to learn how to build their own website, as well as attend sessions devoted to promoting their business online, all offered free of charge.
Also at the event, Google will present the City of Boulder with an inaugural award recognizing Colorado’s strongest online business community as a digital capital of America – a city that embraces the power of the web to grow its businesses and fuel its economy.
Local elected officials and businesses will be available to discuss the program with media.
WHAT: Google Get Your Business Online event and workshop for Colorado businesses
WHO: U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, Boulder Mayor Matt Appelbaum, local business owners and Google trainers, designers and website developers
WHEN: News conference: Tuesday, August 13th from 10:00 to 10:20 a.m. Workshops run 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
WHERE: Rembrandt Yard, 1301 Spruce Street, Boulder, CO 80301
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Boulder New Tech Meetup hosts 2 days of Techstars
Aug 3rd
- Happy Birthday New Tech – 7 years ago this month 40+ people got together at the Me.dium offices on Pearl street in Boulder.
- Membership is now 9,614
- We’ve had 141 New Tech meetings
- We host 3 meetings a month (Boulder, Denver, Fort Collins)
- Over 700 companies are mapped at bdnt.org (if you’re not on the map, shame on you, go do it now)
- We help 100’s of companies find employees up and down the front range
- Wish yourself a Happy Birthday fellow New Tech member, you are AMAZING.
- August in Boulder means TechStars and we have 2 nights of presentations. August 5 and 6. Monday the 5th is oversold, but Tuesday the 6th has a few open seats. (http://bdnt.org)
- September 16-21 is Denver Startup Week ( a celebration of all things startup) and New Tech has decided to blow it up and I mean blow itttttttt up. Stay tuned as our New Tech hosts plan the biggest New Tech Ever and celebrate, shall i say it, 10,000 members.
- We get tons of requests from the community every month, but these 3 always outnumber the rest:
- How do I present my company (fill out this form)
- Do you know where i can find a full time developer/designer/admin/BD/sales (http://bdnt.org/hiring)
- Do you know where I can find a freelance developer/designer (I am so excited to announce our Freelancer Availability Search Engine, stay tuned and constantly refresh your browser at http://bdnt.org for more details….)
Job highlights from the job board (to see more jobs: http://bdnt.org/hiring):
- Web Stack Hacker
- Data Science Engineer
- Front-End Engineer & Craftsman
- A hitchhikers Guide to Boulder
- Boulder Startup Center
- Startup Colorado
Blog of the month
http://www.siliconflatirons.com/
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SOURCE : Robert Reich