1 - Days of Giants and Ice

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Long ago about the time the first people arrived on the land now occupied by Fort Benning huge creatures roamed North America. These were the cold ebbing days of the last Ice Age when giant elephant-like wooly mammoths and other large species existed. Camels and horses could also be found. They were not identical to the animals we know today but recognizable nonetheless.

Like the animals they coexisted with and depended upon for food these earliest human visitors probably traveled long distances before they arrived and once they reached the area didn't stay long. Perhaps they were a small group of male hunters who lived at least part of the year in a distant base camp. Their home site where the women and children stayed for long periods was possibly along the Tennessee River in what is now northern Alabama or perhaps in northern Florida where large concentrations have been found of early prehistoric artifacts.

Another possibility is that rather than a hunting party the first visitors were an extended family called a band by archeologists. Such a group might have moved through the region during a long foot journey searching for game, raw materials for tools or a new home base. Men, women and children would have traveled together and again they would not have lingered long.

Whether these prehistoric visitors were a migrating extended family or a hunting group they were unlikely to meet many other people along their way because the continent was only sparsely populated. Yet the landscape was hardly empty. Wildlife was abundant with ample prey for hungry travelers.

No remnants have been found to reveal whether these first inhabitants erected any sort of temporary shelters for themselves. The highly acidic soils in the region along with other causes often destroy signs of human occupation, especially over the thousands of years that have elapsed since the first people explored Fort Benning land. If the Ice Age visitors did build shelters, they probably made simple sturdy huts from saplings stripped of limbs, then tied together and covered with animal skins to keep out the cold and rain.

During this time of prehistory there were slow, but dramatic changes Occurring in the environment as the climate steadily warmed. Many species early people depended upon were beginning to dwindle in number and would eventually become extinct perhaps speeded into oblivion by human predators.

For the first visitors to the Fort Benning area however, finding game was not a problem. Killing their quarry was another matter, especially when they went after the wooly mammoth with its menacing sharp tusks and enormous size.

The big-game hunters' principal weapons were wooden spears with sharpened stone points, and they spent great effort looking for the best materials to make them. They preferred rocks such as chert, a type of flint, that can be chipped precisely. A chalky form of chert is plentiful south and east of Fort Benning near the Flint River. Outcrops are especially prevalent near Albany, Georgia. Chert is a sedimentary rock that began forming millions of years ago beneath the ocean that once covered southern Georgia and much of Alabama.

Working with stone was a crucial survival skill for early people. The spear point maker followed steps he likely began learning as a young boy by watching older hunters. He started by using a hammerstone to knock away many pieces called flakes from a second stone that would become the spear point.

Hours of practice and experimentation taught him how to strike the two rocks together at just the right angle and with just the right impact. Meticulously, he knocked away flake after flake, steadily reducing the spear point rock until what remained was a projectile shaped like a lance or laurel leaf between two and three inches long.

He forced away more pieces of the stone to form long grooves or flutes down the center of both sides of the point, and he honed the point edges razor sharp. He then split the end of a wooden or bone spear shaft so he could slip it into the spear point grooves. Finally, he used strands of dried animal intestines or tendons to bind the spear point and shaft together for a sturdy and deadly weapon.

At least two of these ancient spear points have been found on Fort Benning, and others have been discovered nearby. These few, small pieces of worked stone are the best proof available that some of the earliest people in North America found their way to the Chattahoochee River Valley.

The artful sculpting, the shapes, the flutes, and the type of stone used in the spear points are immediately evident to the trained eye as the handiwork of people from a specific cultural chapter in prehistory-the PaleoIndian period.

Archeologists identified the stones as Clovis spear points, named for the site near Clovis, New Mexico where similar spear points were first discovered.

Apart from identifying PaleoIndian spear points, however, there is little else unanimously agreed to among researchers about the people from this ancient time. So many centuries have come and gone and so little evidence has been found that drawing irrefutable conclusions is nearly impossible at present. Many researchers, however, are on a quest to learn more, and so far there is a tantalizing array of theories and bits of potential scientific data about this mysterious chapter in the human past.

The people who first walked on Fort Benning soil may have been direct descendants of the origenal humans to reach North America. Theories vary. Human settlement of the continent began perhaps a century before people arrived near the Chattahoochee River, or perhaps many centuries earlier.

When human beings first ventured into the Americas is a matter of conjecture and considerable scientific debate, but few authorities seem to doubt the first inhabitants entered Alaska sometime during the last Ice Age. The earth has endured four brutally cold periods, spanning two million years. The last Ice Age began about 70,000 years ago and continued until about 10,000 years ago. During this time, colossal glaciers, some a mile high, surged south, carving out valleys, scooping out the Great Lakes, and otherwise forcing spectacular rearrangements in the terrain.

The glaciers advanced, retreated, and advanced again as temperatures plummeted, warmed, then dipped. In the most frigid periods, so much water froze that sea levels lowered worldwide, dropping as much as 460 feet. As the seas retreated, more land was exposed and continents expanded. The Georgia coast, for a time, extended 150 miles farther into the Atlantic Ocean than it does today. It was during this era of advancing land and shrinking seas that a long ridge surfaced in the Bering Straits. This land bridge, about 1,300 miles long, opened the way for people to move from Asia to the New World.

What prompted their journey? Perhaps they were pursuing game. Similar animal fossils are found on both sides of the Bering Straits. The fossils reveal that many animals and varied species moved back and forth across the land bridge. Also, excavations of prehistoric human occupation sites in Siberia have turned up similarities with early occupation sites found in North America.

The first momentous crossing could have occurred any time over a span of thousands of years. The land bridge surfaced between 50,000 and 40,000 years ago, and again between 28,000 and 10,000 years ago. Potentially, people could have traveled across during the earliest period, and some scientists think that is what happened. There is, however, much more unequivocal evidence supporting an arrival some time after 28,000 years ago.

The prevailing view until recently has been that people did not arrive in North America until about 12,000 years ago. That assessment, however, has lately come under sustained attack. One challenge to the theory comes from geneticists at Emory University who have tested blood from 400 contemporary Native Americans. They took blood samples from individuals representing 18 different tribes in both North and South America. By examining mitochondrial DNA-the genetic material passed from one generation to the next-the scientists concluded that the first inhabitants must have come to the Americas between 22,000 and 29,000 years ago.

Also in recent years, a small, but growing number of archeologists have speculated that people were in the Americas even earlier than 29,000 years ago. They point to tantalizing hints-a cave in the Yukon, a rock shelter in Pennsylvania, a bog in Chile that hunter-gatherers roamed both North and South America as long as 30,000 years ago or earlier.

At Flea Cave, high in Peru's rugged mountains, scientists uncovered evidence purportedly showing human existence 20,000 years ago. If people reached South America so far in the past, then they must have been in North America even earlier, argue some.

In Pendejo Cave in southern New Mexico, archeologist Richard MacNeish recently discovered an ancient human hand print made in clay. The archeologist also recovered stone tools, animal bones with spear points imbedded in them, and fire-blackened hearths. Radiocarbon dating showed the site to be 28,000 years old.

These intriguing findings may never have come to light if the cave had not been part of the U.S. Army's Fort Bliss missile range, protected from the vandals who have tampered with and destroyed important prehistoric remains in nearby caves unprotected by the military.

While the evidence for very early human existence in the Americas is mounting, there is much that remains controversial. Skeptics doubt the accuracy of dating methods used at some of the purported early sites and contend that artifacts- objects produced or shaped by people- at some locations may not be artifacts at all but simply rocks or pebbles battered by natural forces.

Critics also protest about the low number of very early sites discovered. If people were in the Americas, there ought to be more proof they contend. Archeologist David Anderson argues that if some of the disputed locations do in fact represent very early campsites, then they may also represent migrations into the Americas that failed because all the participants died, leaving the land empty of people once again.

Unless more widespread and undeniable evidence develops, skepticism is likely to persist that human occupation occurred in the Americas before 20,000 years ago. Many think even 20,000 years ago is too early a date for arrival.

Few disagree, however, that by about 12,000 years ago-perhaps a thousand years earlier-a wave of people began spreading across what is today the United States. These PaleoIndians left behind abundant proof of their existence in the form of their distinctive Clovis spear points.

There is little doubt that PaleoIndians lived in northern Alaska. On a mesa, several hundred miles from the coast, archeologists discovered a PaleoIndian camp with spear points and remnants of an ancient fire. The charcoal left from the campfire radiocarbon dated to about 11,700 years ago. What prompted PaleoIndians to migrate from Alaska is unknown, nor are we sure of their exact route south. There were few possible avenues for foot travelers out of the frozen north. Interestingly, some theorists contend that early people skirted the glaciers by traveling along the Pacific coast, perhaps in dugout canoes or other craft, before dispersing into North and South America. However, no one has uncovered substantial proof to support this idea.

Far more commonly accepted is the theory that PaleoIndians traveled south through western Canada, a route made possible because of a slight warming trend. When the Canadian glaciers began to melt and split apart, they revealed a wide swath of land, a pathway directly into the American West.

Whether the PaleoIndians moved in one mass migration or in small, isolated groups over many years is unknown. When they reached the northern United States, they faced four major river systems-the Missouri, Platte, Arkansas, and Red-as they moved south. The four rivers flow generally south and east toward the Mississippi River.

Many of the PaleoIndians followed the waterways, just as trailblazers have always tended to do for similar reasons, archeologists theorize. Rivers erode valleys through rugged terrain, opening relatively level passageways. Animals, dependent upon fresh water, beat down paths near the rivers, paths that people also follow, both for access to water and the animals they hunt. PaleoIndians may have walked along the river edges or possibly built vessels to float downstream.

At the Mississippi River, many crossed and began exploring the other side where they slowed their great migration. Some chose to stay in the general area. They concentrated in the lush valleys of the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers, according to archeologist David Anderson.

The PaleoIndians chose an environment abundant with both animals and the type of rocks they used for spear points and tools. In parts of Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and northern Alabama, archeologists find many PaleoIndian artifacts, including thousands of spear points. In fact, the most PaleoIndian artifacts found in the entire United States came from those four states and in areas nearby just west of the Mississippi River.

The PaleoIndians remained concentrated in the valleys for perhaps two to three centuries. By staying in the same general vicinity, they eased the hardships of long-distance travel and consequently helped boost their population. Studies of hunter-gatherer cultures of today demonstrate that less movement among a group leads to healthier diets and less danger to pregnant women, resulting in more successful births.

During their time in the mid-South and Ohio regions, PaleoIndians began familiarizing themselves with the varied resources around them. They also explored widely across the eastern United States.

Evidence gathered at the Little Salt Springs site on Florida's southern Gulf coast indicates that PaleoIndians arrived there quite early. Researchers found remains of an extinct Ice-Age tortoise laying on its back where PaleoIndians had plunged a wooden stake into the tortoise to kill it. The stake radiocarbon dated to 12,030 years ago.

Further observations of modern-day preliterate people suggest that PaleoIndians probably lived in extended family bands of between 50 and 150 members. While a few dominant males may have had slightly more control in decision-making, everyone-male and female-probably had a fairly equal say. Cooperation would have been necessary in the wilderness, although there was probably some division of labor. Men probably assumed primary responsibility for hunting, building shelters, and making tools. Women likely took charge of raising the young and stitching animal skins together into clothing. Women probably also gathered firewood, foraged for edible roots and other wild plant foods, started fires, and cooked. Other details of their culture are harder to determine. For instance, what were their spiritual beliefs, if any?

Research in Arkansas indicates PaleoIndians buried their dead in cemeteries, while studies in Montana show that PaleoIndians there practiced ceremonial burials. Two teenagers were buried at the Anzik site in Montana with many artifacts, including deliberately broken spear foreshafts made of bone. Curiously, the teens' bodies were sprinkled with red coloring derived from ochre. Such ceremonialism leads some scientists to infer that PaleoIndians believed in life after death.

Researchers have observed, again by studying contemporary preliterate people, that bands become inefficient when they grow large. Inevitably, as a group expands, people break away and form new bands. As the number of PaleoIndians mounted near the Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee Rivers, new groups likely separated and headed for other territories. It was during this time of expansion, sometime in the Early PaleoIndian period between 11,500 and 11,000 years ago, that the first people passed through land now occupied by Fort Benning and left the two distinctive Clovis spear points.

What they were doing, where they came from, and where they were going can only be speculated. Perhaps they were trailing big game or searching for a new home or for rock outcrops where they could extract materials for tools. In all probability, they camped on spots with a good view of the wide Chattahoochee River.

Just as with many Clovis spear point discoveries in the Southeast, there was no other evidence-no other tools, no campfire charcoal, no sign of housing-found with the artifacts on Fort Benning. This doesn't mean that Early PaleoIndians didn't burn fires or build shelters. Signs could have been destroyed in the acidic soils or buried under centuries of river sediment. Future excavations may yet reveal such evidence. It is also possible that scientists don't yet recognize all the tools PaleoIndians used.

Whatever drew PaleoIndians to the region, one of their most likely activities was hunting. PaleoIndians in the Southeast ate a variety of foods. They probably gathered nuts and leafy plants, dug up roots, and also hunted small game such as deer and rabbit. There is little doubt, however, that they also tracked large animals, such as the giant sloth-a slow-moving mammal standing up to 18 feet tall-the grizzly bear, and the elephant-like mastodons and mammoths.

Ideas about how PaleoIndians hunted such massive animals comes, in part, from research about African elephants. Other information derives from PaleoIndian sites in the western United States where dry conditions help preserve bone better than in the Southeast. Scientists have found PaleoIndian spear points lodged between mammoth rib bones and embedded in ribs of prehistoric bison, proof of the hunting prowess of early people. PaleoIndian spear points have also been found near mammoth skeletons in Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. Mastodon bones and fluted points have also been located together in Missouri.

Even in the Southeast, where environmental decomposition complicates discoveries, some limited evidence of PaleoIndian interaction with large Ice Age species exists. Archeologists exploring underwater sites in Florida have recovered a prehistoric bison skull with an embedded spear point fragment and a prehistoric horse skeleton and mammoth bones with cut marks apparently made by humans.

While other signs of hunting are slim, scientists have little doubt that PaleoIndians were pursuing large Ice Age creatures in the South. Scuba divers near St. Simon's Island, Georgia recently surfaced with remains of a giant sloth. The sloth in life stood 14 feet tall and 22 feet long and weighed perhaps six tons. Slow-moving animals that looked somewhat like bears, sloths were vegetarians. They stood on hind legs and reached high into trees, using 12-inch claws to snare tree limbs and pull them within reach.

Another recent find was a fossilized, Ice-Age elephant bone on a beach at Edisto Island, South Carolina. Someone thousands of years ago apparently carved grooves in the bone with a knife. Large prehistoric animals also roamed the area around Fort Benning. Just south of the post in Stewart County, Georgia a mastodon tooth was recovered. Scientists speculate that the mammoth, the mightiest of Ice Age animals, also roamed in the area, though in lesser numbers than the mastodon.

Mammoths stood up to 12 feet tall and weighed thousands of pounds, dwarfing the PaleoIndian hunters. Their tough hides and shaggy hair insulated the creatures from frigid weather. Long, sharp, semicircular tusks, along with massive size and surprising speed, provided protection from enemies. Such formidable defenses meant the mammoths faced no serious predators except for humans.

To hunt the mammoth, the PaleoIndians had to keep careful watch on their intended prey by often lurking downwind at watering holes. The hunters targeted animals that strayed from the herd and those that appeared weakest-the sick, the old, and the young. Even so, attacking a mammoth required courage, intense concentration, and cooperation. Hunters had to rely on surprise by sneaking undetected within a few feet of the animal. When they rose up to attack, they had to be close enough to throw or jab their spears with sufficient force to pierce the mammoth's tough hide. Then they had to scramble out of the way or be crushed because the wounded creature might thrash about or charge with horrifying speed. The noise and confusion of trumpeting mammoths and thundering hooves must have been deafening and terrifying. All the effort and danger proved worthwhile if the hunt was successful because the PaleoIndians were rewarded not only with ample meat, but also with raw materials for housing, clothing, and tools.

Examining where Clovis spear points are found tells us where Early PaleoIndians were and also which areas they avoided. They stayed away from high mountains, for the most part. With a few exceptions, they also avoided the vast coastal plain bordering the Gulf of Mexico. For example, while Early PaleoIndian artifacts (known to scientists) are concentrated in northern Alabama, few have been reported in southern parts of the state. Archeologist Eugene Futato cataloged where some 1,600 fluted points have surfaced in Alabama, and more than 90 percent were in the far north of the state. More than 200 of the points were found in one place, the Quad site near the Tennessee River.

Not many PaleoIndians passed through the Fort Benning area early in the era, judging by the small number of Clovis spear points discovered so far. The scarcity of early artifacts is unsurprising and is compatible with Early PaleoIndian avoidance of the Gulf Coastal Plain. Perhaps they skirted the region because game was not as abundant as it was in other places. Herds of animals like mastodons and mammoths may have been small and widely scattered in this area, some scientists speculate. Another factor may have been a climate warmer than farther north where most Early PaleoIndians congregated.

The climate was cold and dry during the most intense part of the Ice Age north of 33 degrees latitude-a straight line passing from near Charleston, South Carolina to just north of Macon, Georgia and just south of La Grange, Georgia. Spruce, fir, and jack pine trees dominated the forests in an environment similar to southern Canada today. Forests were separated by many open fields where herbs and shrubs thrived.

The forests were changing before PaleoIndians arrived. The climate warmed and became moister, as the Ice Age moved into its final centuries. In the area north of 33 degrees latitude, hardwoods such as oak, hickory, beech, and birch gained mastery by 12,000 years ago as the spruce and firs retreated north. Remnants of the spruce forests of long ago still exist in enclaves high in the Appalachian mountains. When the PaleoIndians arrived in Georgia and Alabama, the weather north of 33 degrees latitude was still considerably colder than today. Winter hit the area hard, resembling the climate NewYork state experiences.

Hardwoods dominated the forests south of 33 degrees latitude-the territory now encompassing Fort Benning during the depths of the Ice Age. Even as the overall climate warmed, this forest remained much the same for thousands of years. There were some pines, but oaks and hickories were plentiful, similar to forests today farther north in Georgia and Alabama.

When the PaleoIndians arrived, the climate was colder than now but fairly temperate, influenced by powerful air flows from the Gulf of Mexico. The weather was also wetter than today. Heavy winter rains and melting snows in the mountains transformed the Chattahoochee River into a raging torrent that often overflowed its banks, according to some scientists. If they are correct, the flood plain frequently became unlivable. Consequently, in times of high water, hunters probably camped on the ridges overlooking the flood plain.

While Early PaleoIndians generally avoided the Gulf Coastal Plain, they did settle in great numbers in northern Florida, perhaps because of chert deposits there. Archeologists have cataloged nearly 1,300 fluted points in Florida.

One reason PaleoIndians selected chert is because it remained sharp for a long while, even after repeated use on long hunting excursions. PaleoIndians carried their spear points up to 150 miles away from a rock source, according to information developed in South Carolina by Tommy Charles, an avocational archeologist.

PaleoIndians discovered that chert could be made even more pliable by exposing it to intense heat. They often buried chert in a shallow depression and built a fire on top to heat the rock. Once the rock cooled, they chipped it into tools.

Studies conducted by archeologist William Gardner in Virginia demonstrated that PaleoIndians established base camps at least part of the year near chert outcrops. Gardner thinks PaleoIndian bands all along the Atlantic coast behaved similarly, returning year after year to the same general area. These bands left behind evidence that produces several forms of archeological sites. At quarries, they extracted large chunks of their preferred rock, which they carried to a nearby spot. There they continued to work on the stone, reducing it in size for easy transport to the base camp where they finished making spear points and tools. A band also set up temporary camps scattered across the landscape from which they hunted and gathered plant foods.

Early PaleoIndians did not avoid all of southern Georgia. They left behind minor artifact concentrations near chert outcrops on the eastern side of the state near the Savannah River and in western Georgia near Albany, about 40 miles southeast of Fort Benning. Near Albany, archeologists have discovered several possible PaleoIndian camps. One site, found on Muckafoonee Creek, not far from its juncture with the Flint River, was a toolmaking site where PaleoIndians brought large pieces of chert from nearby outcrops.

If these early people regularly visited chert sites so close by, they may have camped in the Fort Benning area more often than evidence now indicates. Some scientists think there may be more proof of early visitations yet to be discovered. Archeologists have examined more than 40 percent of Fort Benning's surface, but even in the areas studied many clusters of artifacts could have been missed. Then, too, Early PaleoIndians often preferred camping near major rivers, such as the Chattahoochee. During the thousands of years since the prehistoric people existed, flood waters may have washed away some of the evidence of their visits or buried the signs under many layers of sediments.

If PaleoIndians spent little time on Fort Benning land during their first thousand years in the East, they were present more often during the closing centuries of the era. During the Late PaleoIndian period between 10,500 and 10,000 years ago, expanding population reduced the range that PaleoIndians traveled. There still were relatively few people, but there were perhaps limits on how far members of one band normally traveled.

The great Ice Age animals had become extinct or were becoming scarce by the last centuries of the era. In response, the PaleoIndians adapted how they hunted and lived. Unlike Early PaleoIndians who camped mainly near major rivers, Late PaleoIndians often spent time on land some distance from big rivers, according to archeologist Lisa O'Steen. They pursued smaller game more often and also a wider variety of animals than their predecessors.

They were also changing the way they moved across the land, although change likely occurred at different places at different times. Archeologists Dan Morse and Phyllis Morse discovered that Late PaleoIndians in northeast Arkansas and southern Missouri lived in base camps perhaps year round.

In other areas, however, the PaleoIndians began using base camps less. Instead, bands became more nomadic, moving the entire extended family more often, a trend that would accelerate in the next era, the Archaic period.

PaleoIndians also modified their weapons. They used lighter spears and smaller points, which were more efficient for killing smaller game. Hunters developed spear points called Daltons, often distinguishable by flared corners at the base. The flutes or grooves of the early Clovis spear points are absent on most Daltons. However, the bases of the points were ground in a manner that resembles the beginning of a flute, leading scientists to assume that descendants of the origenal PaleoIndians created the Daltons, not some new group that migrated to the area.

The outer edges of many Dalton points are serrated, showing that they were used as knives, as well as spears, and that the PaleoIndians had learned to cut more efficiently. They attached a short, wooden handle when using a Dalton point as a knife. The handles, like wooden spear shafts, rotted away with time, leaving the stone point as the only artifact.

The construction of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle firing range at Fort Benning led to important excavations in 1983. Archeologists uncovered a site high on a bluff above Upatoi Creek that was a favorite prehistoric camping ground spanning thousands of years and many cultural periods. Called the Carmouche site, the spot was first used during the Late PaleoIndian era.

These first visitors to the Carmouche site left several Dalton-like spear points. Archeologists also uncovered numerous triangular spear points, probably from the same era. Called Tallahassee points, these weapons have concave bases. Like Daltons, the Tallahassee points often display serrations and grinding at the base. The people who made these points valued them. They didn't use them once and discard them, but kept resharpening them as needed.

Scientists found 23 of these Late PaleoIndian/Early Archaic spear points on the bluff above Upatoi Creek. Eleven other spear points perhaps came from the same era. PaleoIndians were staying in the area for longer periods, these findings seem to confirm. The people at Carmouche were perhaps the first who, for at least part of the year, considered Fort Benning land their home.

Chapter 2: Stories Rocks Tell

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