Anthropology

about the Meadowcroft Rock Shelter in western PA that he excavated. Confirmed dates at Meadowcroft, which is just north of Pittsburgh, go back to 14,000 years ago, with even earlier dates possible.

The land that bordered the southern edge of the glaciers was a good place for people to hunt. Meltwater from the glaciers in summer created pools and streams that drew game animals and provided soil for plants to draw grazing animals.

So, across the northern US, along the land that was once the southern edge of the glaciers, is a good place to look for ancient sites of human habitation.

My grandparents had a farm in northwestern PA, about 30 miles southwest of the city of Erie. It was close enough to Lake Erie (which was formed by the retreat of glaciers) that I think that human habitation there probably didn't go back more than 10,000 years ago.

My father told me about finding stone spearheads and arrowheads in the soil when they plowed. He saved a few and showed them to me when I was around 8 years old. I was too young to notice details in the way they were created and did not know about Clovis points vs. Folsom points back then. All I remember about them is that some were larger (spear heads) while others (arrow heads) looked tiny in comparison.

The woods on the farm were composed of old trees with very thick trunks, so probably were at least 100 years old and probably a few hundred years. My father told of cutting down one old tree and finding a hatchet in it that the tree had grown around.

That hooked me into an interest in the archeology of North America.