Cavechat.org

(maybe this should have gone to Caves in the News, but I'm sticking it here, anyway!)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... d=89355318

All Things Considered, April 3, 2008 · Archaeologists are abuzz over the discovery of several 14,000-year-old pieces of fossilized human excrement found in Oregon.

These coprolites, as they're called by experts, are remarkable for several reasons. For one thing, they're older than most artifacts left by the earliest Americans. For another, they contain DNA, which gives scientists a rare opportunity to learn about the first people to arrive in North America.

Interesting article on human migration to the Americas based on DNA from coprolites from caves in Oregon.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... QVUHKI.DTL

I merged these two topics. I thought I would be merging my thread into the "In the News" forum, but I seem to have done it backwards.

Here's an article on the oldest human in the New World, that has been known about since the '30s, but it appears no one wanted to believe the first scientist, so...seventy some odd years later, a dried up human fece shows that man was in the New World about 14,000 plus years ago...after all. Here's the link:
http://www.sciencedaily.com:80/releases ... 141109.htm

OK, try number two. I merged Ernie's post to the thread, THEN moved it to Caves, Caving in the News.

Someone else wanna start a new thread? Someday maybe I'll learn how this merge business works!

14,000 years in the future scientists will be studying triple zip-loc bagged human feces found in an ancient parking area near a cave.

Names, we need names of WHO pooped in the cave! How rude!

I'm pretty sure it was the Russians.... I hear they have a hard time keeping their Berings Strait...

No doubt future scholars will conclude that humans in our timeperiod habitated rural sinkholes and pit caves near roads, probably for defense against the staggering number of dogs and cats roaming the landscape. Proof will come from the diverse collection of household artifacts found in them and dating ancient mold trapped in refrigerators cached in these locations

Here's a follow-up article on the coprolites in Oregon's Paisley Cave. There are several links to meander around to, so...enjoy! A video interview with Dr. Dennis Jenkins, who excavated Paisley Five Mile
Caves, has now been posted on the Archaeology Channel. This information was provided by Claude Koch of WVGrotto in the Portland area.
http://tinyurl.com/5wguol