I have removed some things and added others. I have checked all the links through the Wallace Ruin Summary Report, but if you find any broken before this please let me know. I plan to get back to link checking sometime. I will soon be adding the basic Solutrean reports by Philip Smith that you will be able to download free. These are his Solutréen En France book 1966 (in French) and his original 1962 PhD dissertation (in English) upon which the book was based. These postings are in cooperation with Professor Smith. It is a privilege to be able to make these available. They are pdf files and quite large as they are scanned versions. Bruce 31 August 2010.
Prof. BRUCE BRADLEYNew Appointment Co-Principal Investigator, Gault Project
Thank you for coming to this site. I apologise that I have yet again neglected my personal page. I have things up and running again and hope to be able to make some adjustments and additions in the next few months. There are quite a few new things to report.
I am now Associate Professor in the
Department of Archaeology at the
University of Exeter I
am teaching various courses including lithic technology and analysis, archaeological materials and have
been appointed Director of the
Experimental Archaeology Masters Programme . It
is unique and extremely well designed.
It is a one-year (11 1/2 months) Masters in Experimental
Archaeology. Although students have a
set number of courses, labs, etc., there is ample opportunity to explore their
own interests. For more information check out the
department
web page.
Recent Publications
I co-author of the book Clovis Technology with Mike Collins and Andy Hemmings. I also have contributions in two other books dealing with Paleoindian materials; Hell Gap and the 3rd edition of Prehistoric Hunters.
I am also continuing my various research projects and have added reports to this page, specifically a final report on Stix and Leaves Pueblo (5MT11555) and the latest work at Wallace Ruin (5MT6970) (37mb download).
UPCOMING PUBLICATION:
Solutrean Origin of Clovis Theory
Our long-awaited book for the University of California Press is in final edit [as of August 2010 and is scheduled for release in 2011]. We have made numerous presentations in public and academic venues throughout North America, Western Europe and even polar Siberia. Dennis and I published a summary of the theory in World Archaeology in December 2004. This was followed 1n 2005 in World Archaeology by a rebuttal by Straus, Meltzer and Goebel. Then in 2006 in World Archaeology Dennis and I published our response. Unfortunately, I am not at liberty to make these available on this web page as they are in copyright.
The "Clovis First" and "Beringia Only" theories have been crumbling for years, but for many of us are now totally collapsed. There is now overwhelming direct evidence for pre-Clovis occupation of the American continents, and virtually no direct evidence that all of these early people must have come through Siberia.
FLINTKNAPPING by Dr. Bruce Bradley
I am not handling sales of tapes or DVDs . However, you can order them from http://www.petroglyphtrail.com or call 800-687-5967
"I watched your video with a couple friends this week. I haven't seen it for a long time and when I first watched it several years ago it seemed like magic. I've done a couple of demos lately and have tried to figure out ways to keep them more interesting during the relatively long thinning and shaping stage without switching midway through to a prepared piece. That's what really struck me about your demo -- when you are ready to start making the point you are already halfway there and the audience was kept interested all the way along. AND they learn the difference between uniface/biface and cutting/scraping without even switching tools. Amazing to watch. I have lots to learn." Tim Rast
See his great page Knappers Anonymous
This video is a great addition to any flintknapping library and is being shown in most beginning archaeology courses in universities and colleges across North America. It has also been well received in primary and secondary classrooms and works well with grades 4 and above. Flintknapping has also been acclaimed by beginning and intermediate knappers as a great instructional tool. This tape is 45 minutes long and works well in a 1 hour class. The DVD is indexed with chapters so that it will be easier to view specific areas of interest. The Clovis and Solutrean dvds are more specialized and demonstrate the reduction of bifaces. There are also bonus features. The Solutrean is a two dick set.
Experimental Archaeology
If experimental archaeology is your interest there are many different internet resources, in North America and around the world. To get started just Google experimental archaeology.
I continue to be involved in experimental archaeology and I am embarking on a three-year Leaverhulme Trust funded research project that will track knapping learning. I have two co-investigators, Dietrich Stout (Emory University) and James Steele (University College London). Within this project I will supervise a PhD as will James. The project includes three approaches: 1) brain development (as seen in fMRA scans) before during and at the end of learning; 2) conventional recording of learning; and 3) transmission chain experiments. As well as managing the project, my major role will be to train subjects in knapping with the goal of their attaining their potential in an accelerated learning environment. This will be accomplished through concentrated sessions with knapping and archaeological materials in Texas, France, Denmark and Exeter. There will be a lot of challenges but it should also be fun. My hope is that it will also help train a new generation of academic knappers.
I also did a funded experiment last year testing a new and brilliant idea of one of my PhD students in relation to a new way to move large monument stones like those at Recumbant Stone Circles in Scotland and possibly at Stone Henge. I would love to share this but for now I have to keep this secret. The project was funded by NOVA and it will be included in a documentary they will be airing. The date is not set yet but could be as soon as November 2010. Keep an eye out for it. Once the documentary has aired I'll be free to describe our experiment.
Flintknapping
I continue to keep my hand in knapping and through my teaching, knapping for experiments and doing demonstrations I mange not to get too rusty. Also, this spring I spent a week with Bill Woodcock knapping almost continuously on things he wanted made. He supplies the rock, travel and room and board (and entertainment) and although gruelling, I really get retuned. I also managed to get in some knapping at the Gault dig in April. Mike Dothager came down from Illinois and spent a few days showing and teaching his rocker punch technique. It really is an amazing method and he makes a good case for its ancient use based on archaeological finds. He has some nice sequences posted on YouTube.
Other Southwestern Archaeology
Stix and Leaves Pueblo (5MT11555) in Montezuma County, Colorado is an Early Pueblo II Village that I excavat and researched for off and on for 7 years. There is now a final excavation report [this is a large file and may it be better to save it to disk then open it]. You can also view separately the results of tree-ring dating for all of the excavations and check out the two articles on projectile points. The first is in Indian Artifact Magazine, Vol. 20, No. 1, and view images of projectile points from two Anasazi sites in southwestern Colorado. ANASAZI PROJECTILE POINTS
Color images and text a Chips article Vol. 13, #1 2001 Southwest Projectile Points
Research into Pueblo archaeology in the Four Corners area in the 1970s involved me in the great Chaco debate, and I have been there ever since. For almost everything you ever wanted to know about Chaco archaeology visit the Chaco Portal . This is a web page designed and hosted by Fort Lewis College Anthropology Department. An excellent resource with a searchable bibliography, short biographies of Chaco scholars, etc. Check it out.
Wallace Ruin, a Chaco Outlier near Cortez, Colorado. Wallace Ruin Summary Report, REPORT ON EXCAVATIONS 1998-2010 [this needs Adobe Reader]
Along with archaeology, I have also done many experimental projects including a replica kiva construction. Check out the many images of the complete process including its natural collapse after abandonment in 2003.
One outcome of the experimental kiva is that there are some amazing, accidental, solar alignments. These should serve as cautionary tales for budding archaeo-astronomers who see "significant" alignments everywhere. Check them out!
There have also been some surprises relating to post-abandonment decay, collapse and filling.
For some really interesting information on Chaco Culture and Pueblo II visit John Kantner's page .
Other PALEO-AMERICAN ARCHAEOLOGY
Sloan Dalton
Check out good photos of the points, awls, burins, and scrapers (made on points) from the Sloan Site, a Dalton Cemetary in NE Arkansas. These images are posted here to supplement the poor illustrations in the otherwise excellent book by Dan Morse (Sloan a Paleoindian Dalton Cemetary in Arkansas, 1997, Smithsonian Institution Press, ISBN 1-56098-712-X.Sloan Dalton Artifacts
Read an article about Clovis Ivory and Bone Artifacts published in Italy. Clovis Ivory and Bone Tools Some old archaeology information In 1995 I spent two weeks in northern Kazakhstan on an excavation at the Eneolithic (Copper Age) site of Botai with my colleague Sandra Olsen, of the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh. Her special interest is the domestication of the horse, and the central Asian steppe is a likely place to find evidence. It is known that horses were domesticated by the Bronze Age, so it must have happened earlier. I found many intriguing problems related to this subject and Sandi and I decided to collaborate on a new research project. We applied for and obtained a three year grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation and began field work in the summer of 2000. I will be posting articles and images here as we finish them. Kazakhstan is a fascinating country and the people are very friendly. There
was an article on our work in DISCOVER Magazine in the
March 2002 issue. Their photographer got some great pictures this summer of traditional Kazakh horse nomads.
The text has some weird bits, such as Sandi being afraid of horses- this is
baloney. Can't control what the press does. However, the best media story
about our work was on the radio- 5 November 2002
BBC Radio 4 Programme of Vasilkovka Research 2002 In the summer of 2001 we found and recorded a prehistoric flaking stone quarry site, we believe the first to be documented with quarry pits in Kazakhstan. Here is a
preliminary report of the Zhartas Quarry.
The summer of 2001 was unusually wet and cool in northern Kazakhstan. Rather then continue excavations at the Eneolithic site of Krasnyi Yar, we investigated a nearby Neolithic site that we named Zhusahn (the Kazakh word for sage). I was especially interested in this site because I wanted to see if there was a
significant change in the stone flaking technology. I was also curious to see if the same stone sources were in use during these consecutive time periods. Here is a report on our excavations and analyses at
Zhusahn I have intentionally kept the illustrations at a relatively high resolution, so those with slow
computers and internet connections, like me, should be patient when viewing the images. The field season of 2002 took us to another Eneolithic, Botai Culture site near Kokshetau. Vasilkovka IV turned out to be an interesting excavation. This year, summer came on a Tuesday. Although the winter had been quite mild, it didn't seem to want to give way to summer; and then it reasserted itself after just a short respite. Never the less, we managed to complete magnetometer and resistivity surveys, and excavated a pithouse and associated features. A report on this work is currently in
preparation. Stay tuned. RUSSIAN ARCHAEOLOGY In the summer of 2003 I was privileged to participate in another archaeological research project
in Russia, Zhokhov. I was invited by the project director Dr. Vladimir Pitulko
and sposor Dr. Edmund (Ted) Carpenter.. The Zhokhov site is Mesolithic in age (circa 8,500 years old) and is located in one of the farthest north places people ever lived in the Stone Age. It is on the small island of Zhokhova northeast of the main group of the New Siberian Islands, off of the north shore of Siberia (Yakutia).
Check out an
abstract of an article by Ted. In the summer of 2005 I took 13 Exeter archaeology students to the excavations at Zaraysk (see below) directed by Dr. Hizri Amirkhanov
and Dr. Segey Lev. This is one of my favourite places, digs, and groups of people
and we had an incredible time and learning experience. The first international conference to be held in the Russian town of Zaraysk was an interesting experience. I have worked in Zaraysk three summers and really enjoy it. Twice, I have lead groups of amateur archaeologists to help with the excavations. Learn about the conference and see some images of the Eastern Gravettian Conference in Zaraysk, Russia, 1997 We think that we have old bifacial projectile points in North America, but they don't hold a candle to some I have studied from European Russia. Read an article about Streletskayan Points of the Russian Upper Paleolithic Here is a brief description of the Russian Upper Paleolithic site of Kostenki. I worked at this site for several years and lead a group of amateurs there to help with the excavations. It is a fantastic place and I hope to return some day soon. The archaeology is tremendous, the people are great, and the setting on the Middle Don River is nearly idylic.
OTHER ARCHAEOLOGY In 1995 I attended the 7th International Flint Conference in Poland. We started in Warsaw and went to southeastern Poland, where there is a large flint mining district. It was an amazing trip, even though it never stopped raining. We visited an animal reserve on the Bylorussian border, where the nearly extinct Pzrewalski horse and the European Bison are being bred. Of course, we also visited ancient flint mines and modern quarries. I about died when I had to leave a quarry where nodules of chocolate flint were stacked in piles; free for the taking. I hope to get back there some day and indulge myself for a couple of weeks. Yet another way to become a chocoholic! For an article about Neolithic Polish flint mining click Poland. From the flint conference came a book dealing with flint and ancient flint mining Flint (in English). If you are interested, check out Man and Flint
Although I get to travel to some interesting and exotic
places, you can't beat the Four Corners of the American Southwest for
archaeology or exploration.
Web Page by Bruce Bradley, PhD (primtech@yahoo.com)
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