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Richard S. Laub tells the story of the Byron Dig, an astonishingly rich trove of fossils and artifacts. Recounting twenty-nine years of intensive excavation involving more than a thousand participants, he provides a comprehensive account of a working paleontological and archaeological field project.
List of contents
In Appreciation
Introduction
Prologue
Part I: Getting There
1. Discovery
Interlude 1: The American Mastodon
2. First Steps
3. Brigadoon
Part II: The Heroic Age (1983–1990)
4. First Try, 1983
5. Emerging Patterns
6. Friday’s Footprint
Interlude 2: The Clovis People
7. Steady Going, and First Symposium
8. The Dig Matures (I)
9. The Dig Matures (II)
10. Calling Cards of Stone
Part III: New Terrain (1991–2001)
11. A Lucky Drought
12. Tools!
13. More Discoveries (I)
14. More Discoveries (II)
15. Of Death and Life
16. Second Symposium
Part IV: Exploding Pits (2002–2005)
17. Bonanza (I)
18. Bonanza (II)
19. Money Worries
Part V: Winding Down (2006–2011)
20. Into the Shallows I—Disappointment
21. Into the Shallows II—A Stirring of Hope
22. A Bolt from the Blue
23. To Where All Things Must Come
24. Some Parting Thoughts
Appendix A. Human Teeth and a Rib from the Hiscock Site, by Douglas W. Owsley
Appendix B. Hiscock Radiocarbon Dates, Corrected for Isotopic Fractionation
Appendix C. Uncorrected Radiocarbon Dates for Hiscock Samples
Cited in Appendix B
Appendix D. Bibliography of Scientific Publications About the Hiscock Site
Notes
Specimen Number Index
Index
About the author
Richard S. Laub served as curator of geology at the Buffalo Museum of Science from 1973 to 2011, during which time he did occasional teaching at the University of Buffalo. He initiated and directed the Hiscock Site project from 1983 to 2011.
Summary
Richard S. Laub tells the story of the Byron Dig, an astonishingly rich trove of fossils and artifacts. Recounting twenty-nine years of intensive excavation involving more than a thousand participants, he provides a comprehensive account of a working paleontological and archaeological field project.
