14 Significant Archaeological Sites in the USA

[Melensdad]

Who wants to go on a road trip?

I've actually been to a couple of these, but didn't know about most of them. With a 5 year old in our home, seems like learning vacations with a destination that is substantial make a lot of sense. Might be looking into some of these sites to take Kobe to see.

14 of the most significant archaeological sites in the US

The US' history goes back thousands of years, thanks to a wealth of archaeological sites that give insight into the first humans in North America.

www.businessinsider.com

14 of the most significant archaeological sites in the US​

Jenny McGrath​

​

The archeological dig at the Meadowcroft National Historic Site in 2013. AP Photo/Keith Srakocic​

Prehistoric camels, mammoths, and giant sloths once roamed what's now New Mexico, when it was greener and damper.​

​

As the climate warmed around 11,000 years ago, the water of Lake Otero receded, revealing footprints of humans who lived among these extinct animals. Some even seemed to be following a sloth, offering a rare glimpse into ancient hunters' behavior.​

​

Recent research puts some of these fossilized footprints at between 21,000 and 23,000 years old. If the dates are accurate, the prints would predate other archaeological sites in the US, raising intriguing questions about who these people were and how they arrived in the Southwestern state.​

​

"Where are they coming from?" Feder said. "They're not parachute dropping in New Mexico. They must have come from somewhere else, which means there are even older sites." Archaeologists simply haven't found them yet.​

​

While visitors can soak in the sight of the eponymous white sands, the footprints are currently off-limits.​

In the 1970s, archaeologist James M. Adovasio sparked a controversy when he and his colleagues suggested stone tools and other artifacts found in southwestern Pennsylvania belonged to humans who had lived in the area 16,000 years ago.​

​

For decades, scientists had been finding evidence of human habitation that all seemed to be around 12,000 to 13,000 years old, belonging to the Clovis culture. They were long believed to have been the first to cross the Bering land bridge. Humans who arrived in North America before this group are often referred to as pre-Clovis.​

​

At the time, skeptics said that the radiocarbon dating evidence was flawed, AP Newsreported in 2016. In the years since, more sites that appear older than 13,000 years have been found across the US.​

​

Feder said Adovasio meticulously excavated the site, but there's still no clear consensus about the age of the oldest artifacts. Still, he said, "that site is absolutely a major, important, significant site." It helped archaeologists realize humans started arriving on the continent before the Clovis people.​

​

The dig itself is on display at the Heinz History Center, allowing visitors to see an excavation in person.​

PLEASE GO TO THE LINK ABOVE for the rest of the story, there is simply TOO MUCH to quote here on the FF.

Below are just SOME of the other sites listed, just in photos, but I didn't include all the descriptions. If you like history, then each of the 14 sites probably deserves its own link!

Cooper's Ferry, Idaho​

​

Excavators at Cooper's Ferry in 2013. Loren Davis/Oregon State University​

​

​

​

​

Page-Ladson, Florida​

​

Divers search in the sediment at the Page-Ladson site. Texas A&M University via Getty Images​

Paisley Caves, Oregon​

​

One of the Paisley Caves near Paisley, Oregon. AP Photo/Jeff Barnard​

Swan Point, Alaska​

​

Excavators working at the Swan Point site in June 2016.Charles Holmes/University of Alaska, Fairbanks​

Blackwater Draw, New Mexico​

​

A palaeontologist excavating a mammoth in Portales, New Mexico, circa 1960. Dick Kent/FPG/Archive Photos/Getty Images​

Poverty Point National Monument, Louisiana​

​

Poverty Point in Louisiana. National Park Service​

Horseshoe Canyon, Utah​

​

The Great Gallery in Horseshoe Canyon. Neal Herbert/National Park Service​

Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado​

​

Visitors line up at Mesa Verde National Park. Shutterstock/Don Mammoser​

 

[bczoom]

I can think of several more, possibly more impressive.
South Dakota Mammoth site is the first that comes to mind.

 

[tommu56]

The archaeologist's were trying to find artifacts from the Revolutionary War in Valley Forge National park straight out in front of the Chapel they were stumped with the grid pattern the artifacts being found and they were from the 1960' not late 1770's or early 1780's had them stumped????
Our scout troop was there on a pilgrimage (camping trip in February) in 1998 the archaeologists were there putting a program on about these "finds" from the 60's in the revolutionary war museum attached to the Chapel and were talking to us about the "odd findings" had them stumped.
Jerry our scout master raised his hand and told them what the stuff was and took them over to the scouting museum (In a log cabin just behind the Chapel) and showed the picture's of the 1964 Boy Scouts of America Jamboree set up on the Parade Ground in front of the Chapel the layout matched the discovery's they had plotted out they were the pit toilets dug in the ground for the Jamboree and scouts must have put more in the pits than waste .

Photos link for the Scouts and Scouters on here

USSSP - History: The 1964 National Jamboree in Pictures

U.S. Scouting Service Project - Scouting History, Boy Scout History, Scout History

usscouts.org