ENVIRONMENTS OF THE
FIRST AMERICANS

Field work in the summer of 1999, followed by additional field work in early February, 2001, resulted in the successful extraction of a lake sediment core from Bellisle Lake, Folsom, New Mexico, in order to extract fossil pollen for paleoenvironmental analysis.

The Folsom site is historically famous for the presence of stone projectile points in association with a bison bone bed first documented in the 1920's, and for providing the first evidence of human occupation in North America during the Late Pleistocene (end of last glacial period about 10,800 years ago). The fossil pollen project is in collaboration with Dr. David Meltzer, who has renewed research at the Folsom site. Analysis of lake sediments near to, but away from the immediate depositional setting of, the bison bone bed will provide information about the regional environment at the Folsom site during the time of occupation. The pollen work at Folsom will be integrated into an overall picture of the ancient environment of some of the earliest occupants of North America and will complement work by other scientists collaborating on the Folsom project.