[Synopsis]

That IS a very interesting site redbird. Thanks. Bookmarked!

[mkfarnam]

Originally Posted by karibear

That's not exactly true. There are quite a few east-west ranges, both in the continental US and North America overall. The one most in the news is the Brooks Range in Alaska, because that's where the North Slope oil fields are - and it's called the North Slope because it's on the north side of the east-west Brooks Range. Still in AK is the Alaska Range, running east from Denali for quite a way. Alaska is tricky, though, there are five separate ranges, and something like 27 separate tectonic plates all shifting and jostling around.

Closer to OK, are several ranges in CA, the Santa Ynez, San Gabriel, and San Bernadino Ranges. Still closer are the Uinta Mountains in northern Utah, the Mogollon Rim, the Balcones Escarpment, the Ouachita and Boston Mountains on the edge of the Ozark Plateau, and the Holyoke Range in Massachusetts. Not exactly what one would consider a 'mountain range' but old mountains wear down a lot over time.

The Clovis points are great, I get totally engrossed in that kind of thing, wondering just what everyday life was like for those people.

, hunting mammoths with nothing but spears and ingenuity. Even the thought of hunting buffalo on horseback is boggling, and that would be relatively easy. But only relatively.

To them, it was new technology.
BTW, I lived at the foothills of the San Bernardino Mnts' the range includes, The Gabriels mnt's,
San Jasinto peak, Mnt San Gorgonio and some smaller ones.



"San Jacinto Peak, showing its north escarpment, one of the highest in the contiguous United States."

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2d/IMG_0675.JPG/800px-IMG_0675.JPG (broken link)

"North face of San Jacinto Peak".
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/5/51/%3F%3F_283.jpg/800px-%3F%3F_283.jpg (broken link)

San Jacinto Peak - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Synopsis]

Ouachita Mountains:

[_redbird_]

When Synopse was just a little boy...

snippet from Wiki-wannabe-encycylopedia...


The geologic history of the Wichita Mountain region began with the deposition of late Precambrian to early Cambrian sandstones. These sandstones were intruded by coarse gabbro sills of about 575 million years ago as the region began to rift apart in a failed continental breakup. The gabbro intrusion was followed by erosion and further intrusion of granite accompanied by volcanic eruptions of rhyolite lava and explosive volcanic breccias some 50 million years later. Following these igneous episodes the region subsided and shallow sea sediments were deposited over the area consisting of sandstones and limestones.

During the Pennsylvanian Period (330-290 million years ago) the region was subjected to intense pressure during the continental collision or orogeny which produced the Ouachita Mountains to the east. This resulted in faulting and folding along with up to 20,000 feet of local uplift. This uplift created rugged mountains which have been reduced to their present state by erosion. At 2,464 ft (750m) Mt Scott is the second tallest mountain in the Refuge and the third tallest in the state. Mt. Pinchot in the Special Use Area is 12 feet taller. A paved road leads to the summit of Mt. Scott, from which visitors can see for dozens of miles on a clear day.

[_redbird_]

When I worked as an archeological assistant, I used to spend a lot of time immersed in the collections of flints, cherts, and stone tools found in TX and Oklahoma.

It simply amazes me to hold something that was made 4,000 years ago.


Found 9-29-02 Tulsa Co. OK

Ensor

Late Archaic to Early Woodland,4000-1500 B.P.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff275/redbird4848/nf4t.jpg (broken link)

So many people don't realize the number of potential sites on their land. If you live near a river, go for a walk after a good rain, and chances are you will find an arrowhead or spear point.

[Synopsis]

For some reason I find the Wichita mountains to be more interesting than the Ouchitas in some respects. First off, the two tallest peaks in Oklahoma are in the Wichita Mountains, and I love the rocks and the way the light reflects off the rocky hills as dusk approaches.

[Synopsis]

Originally Posted by redbird4848

When I worked as an archeological assistant, I used to spend a lot of time immersed in the collections of flints, cherts, and stone tools found in TX and Oklahoma.

It simply amazes me to hold something that was made 4,000 years ago.


Found 9-29-02 Tulsa Co. OK

Ensor

Late Archaic to Early Woodland,4000-1500 B.P.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff275/redbird4848/nf4t.jpg (broken link)

So many people don't realize the number of potential sites on their land. If you live near a river, go for a walk after a good rain, and chances are you will find an arrowhead or spear point.

True, I've found a lot of arrowheads; some of them very large, as a kid. I wish that I would have kept them. Who knows how old they were?

[karibear]

Originally Posted by redbird4848

When Synopse was just a little boy...

snippet from Wiki-wannabe-encycylopedia...


The geologic history of the Wichita Mountain region began with the deposition of late Precambrian to early Cambrian sandstones.

Nah, just one of those Aha! moments when I suddenly realized one day that all the assumptions I'd made about mountains, etc, were totally bogus. So I started doing some research [not all that easy before the internet, either] and went from mountains to prehistory, to prehistoric archaelogy, to village sites/artifacts, to NA prehistory and history, including Central and South America.

None of that was taught in school or even undergraduate college classes. It was frustrating to think about so much pure history under our feet that no one knew or cared about. The closest thing to 'history' most people got was watching Davy Crockett! The part of St Louis County where I grew up had a lot of little woodlots all over, and gravel for track beds [street cars] was taken from whichever quarry was nearest or cheapest. My brother had a cigar box full of arrowheads he'd picked up just wandering around, but the places where he got most of them have been turned into condos and 6 lane highways. I'd bet a nickel 95% or more of the people who live there now have no clue that there ever were mounds, that STL was built on mounds, or where they had been.

There was a state park in MO that has the same rock formation you mentioned, the Precambrian, and it was one of our favorite places to go when I was a kid. I think it's been pretty much destroyed, one of the state's resevoirs sprang a leak and washed away all but the rocks themselves. If you look it up on the net, you can find pictures of what it used to look like and a lot of political hoo-ha about settlements, etc, but there isn't any real information about it anymore, other than saying people had to wait for hours for their turn at the picnic area. Some park.

And all those photos of mountains are gorgeous. Sort of makes one wonder what drove people back in the day to move west, when there were such huge obstacles in their way.

[Synopsis]

Mountains, to me, are some of the most wonderful and astounding creations in all of the world. They offer solitude, obstacles to weather and man alike, and most of all they are almost beautiful beyond imagination. If I were to choose any one place on this earth to live, it would be close to or in the mountains, whether they be 2500 ft. tall or 15,000 feet tall. There is something about mountains that never cease to amaze me.

[karibear]

Originally Posted by redbird4848

When I worked as an archeological assistant, I used to spend a lot of time immersed in the collections of flints, cherts, and stone tools found in TX and Oklahoma.

It simply amazes me to hold something that was made 4,000 years ago.

It is an incredible feeling. It's the everyday kinds of things that get me, the baskets and bits of fabric and things like that. I have a few artifacts I found at an old village site - which is NOT to say I recommend anyone searching on their own - after a team of student archaelogists finished with it. I figured anything I found in their pile of "what we've gone through and didn't find anything in" was fair game. They aren't nearly as old as the flint arrowheads, but they are still old enough to make me feel like I'm a part of their history when I hold them.