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x46
Archeologists may have found oldest foundation
5/3/2002 8:15 AM
By: Denice Menard

This foundation, made of rocks, may be the oldest in North America.  
Archaeologists at the Gault site in northwest Williamson County have meticulously gathered bits of history for three years.

They poke away with tools, carefully charting information and sifting through mounds of soil.

It's a tedious process that has produced 800,000 artifacts belonging to the Clovis people, the first North American inhabitants from 11,000 years ago.

But their work will come to an end at the of May. Archaeologists are now intrigued by one finding in particular.

"About a year ago, we uncovered a stone pavement that appears to be prepared by a people. It's about two meters square, a little over six and half feet square, and seems to have been intentionally constructed,” said Michael Collins, the principal investigator at the site.

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Archeological sightings

A three-year dig is wrapping up in Williamson County.



The rocks may have been the foundation for an ancient building, or a platform to store items off the ground.

Archaeologists say if the Clovis were the creators of the rock foundation, then the structure has a major place in North American pre-history.

"It's the oldest we know anything of right now,” Collins said.

It'll be years before experts know for sure if the small patch of rocks is indeed the oldest structure on the continent.

But they said the discovery has already given them a better understanding of North America's earliest people.

"Most of the known Clovis sites through the years have been very small sites with very little material and people were present probably for just a few days,” Collins said.

Their new finding has changed that perception.

"I think it indicates to us that they aren't as mobile as we'd like to think of them because it took some doing to put it together and I don't think they were doing it if they were staying here overnight,” said Clark Wernecke, project director for the dig.

Until further research can be conducted, archaeologists said they'll keep digging for more clues about the remarkable history they've uncovered.



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