Documenting stratigraphy carefully is essential in any archaeological excavation, but it is particularly important in caves, where the complexity of depositional processes — including both natural accumulation of windblown sediment and the activities of both humans and animals — can create situations where materials from different time periods end up in the same layer, or where materials from one layer get displaced into another through processes that can be difficult to identify without careful observation.

The Jenkins excavations documented multiple stratigraphic layers at the caves, each with its own character and associated materials.

The deepest layers — the ones most relevant to the pre-Clovis question — were the focus of the most intense analytical attention after the initial DNA results were obtained.

What a Coprolite Can Tell You

The word “coprolite” comes from Greek roots meaning “dung stone,” and while the colloquial description of these objects is inevitable, it tends to obscure how scientifically remarkable they can be as archaeological specimens.

A coprolite is not simply old feces.