Devil's Tower Research Articles

Underappreciated pioneers.

This contribution focuses on a 1928 multiauthor paper reporting the discovery of a child's skull at Devil's Tower cave on the Rock of Gibraltar. It was ground-breaking. Two of the lead authors, Dorothy Garrod and Dorothea Bate, were women, and it was one of the earliest reports of a fossil hominin to incorporate and integrate detailed information about its stratigraphic and environmental context.

A genetic analysis of the Gibraltar Neanderthals

The Forbes' Quarry and Devil's Tower partial crania from Gibraltar are among the first Neanderthal remains ever found. Here, we show that small amounts of ancient DNA are preserved in the petrous bones of the 2 individuals despite unfavorable climatic conditions. However, the endogenous Neanderthal DNA is present among an overwhelming excess of recent human DNA. Using improved DNA library construction methods that enrich for DNA fragments carrying deaminated cytosine residues, we were able to sequence 70 and 0.4 megabase pairs (Mbp) nuclear DNA of the Forbes' Quarry and Devil's Tower specimens, respectively, as well as large parts of the mitochondrial genome of the Forbes' Quarry individual. We confirm that the Forbes' Quarry individual was a female and the Devil's Tower individual a male. We also show that the Forbes' Quarry individual is genetically more similar to the ∼120,000-y-old Neanderthals from Scladina Cave in Belgium (Scladina I-4A) and Hohlenstein-Stadel Cave in Germany, as well as to a ∼60,000- to 70,000-y-old Neanderthal from Russia (Mezmaiskaya 1), than to a ∼49,000-y-old Neanderthal from El Sidrón (El Sidrón 1253) in northern Spain and other younger Neanderthals from Europe and western Asia. This suggests that the Forbes' Quarry fossil predates the latter Neanderthals. The preservation of archaic human DNA in the warm coastal climate of Gibraltar, close to the shores of Africa, raises hopes for the future recovery of archaic human DNA from regions in which climatic conditions are less than optimal for DNA preservation.

Geology, Myth, Media

Geology, Myth, Media A.J. Nocek (bio) This article argues for the relevance of mythical signification in our geological epoch. More than this, it contends that we need to revise our assumptions about media and communication systems in order to grasp the importance of myth in an era where the future of human and nonhuman life on the Earth is entirely uncertain. To make this case, I focus on the growing consensus in the sciences and theoretical humanities that mythical stories about geological and planetary processes cannot simply be disqualified or disregarded because they do not conform to the norms of modern scientific epistemology (e.g., Vitaliano; Piccardi and Masse). Whether these stories come to us from pre-modern civilizations and attempt to give sense and meaning to geological events such as natural disasters, or they have more contemporary roots in neo-pagan activism and feminist healing practices (e.g., Stengers; Salomonsen; Keller), there is a mounting need to account for the important ways in which myth has facilitated, and could still facilitate, meaningful engagements with the Earth's complex material transformations. There is little doubt that this urgency stems in large part from our shared anxiety over what is to come of the human species in our geological epoch (e.g., Lee; Scranton; Thacker), and the attendant need to piece together knowledge about the Earth before the advent of sophisticated modeling, as well as a more general desire to develop alternative (i.e., non-modern) material and epistemic practices in collaboration with the Earth's surface environments.1 This article addresses the varied and complex challenges that confront theories of planetary history and transformation that incorporate mythical storytelling into their epistemologies. The difficulties facing such efforts could not be more pronounced than they are in today's rancorous political climate, which has, and not unproblematically, been dubbed, "post-truth," and which has also mobilized various kinds of "fiction" to the detriment of the planet (e.g., Klein). In this context, I discuss how Roland Barthes was all too familiar with the myriad ways in which mythical signification in particular could be wedded to exploitative systems of power. In what follows, I address these and other challenges in what [End Page 84] I consider to be mutually informing "layers of complication" that give shape to the problem of incorporating mythic signification into our epistemologies of planetary and geological phenomena. For instance, I trace the limitations of modern science's attempt to integrate geological myths into its epistemic practices in the quickly emerging field of geomythology. I also consider the importance of expunging dangerous myths from our theories of planetary evolution. Along the way, I expose how media and communication theory is an invaluable resource for unpacking these layers of complication, mainly because it brings into sharp relief the communicative essentialisms underwriting our various theories of geomythology. In the end, I insist that it is actually our limited understanding of media and communication in the context of planetary and geological processes that stands in the way developing a robust theoretical framework for mythical signification in our current geological epoch. The work of Isabelle Stengers, Alfred North Whitehead, and contemporary media theory will prove especially useful for framing this argument. Layer 1: Geomythology as Geocommunication Unusual topography has often inspired myths about the formation and purpose of the Earth's surface. The island of Mangaia in the Cook Islands is a good example of this. At the center of the island is an eroded volcano surrounded by a "moat-like depression." According to one myth, the once "smooth and regular" island was formed as a result of a competition between the rain god and the sea god that caused tremendous erosion and mudslides (see Vitaliano, "Geomythology"). Another good example of the intersection of topography and myth is the Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Two Native American tribes living nearby tell a slightly different story about the tower's formation, but both accounts reference how they were able to flee the deadly grip of a very large bear because their deity answered their desperate plea and raised the Earth under their feet. To this day, the bear's claws are still visible in...

Checkmate and Devil's Tower.

Checkmate and Devil's Tower.

The Intelligence Devil Tower

The Intelligence Devil Tower

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Reviews

Reviews

Holy River and Magic Mountain: Public Lands Management and the Rediscovery of the “Sacred in Nature”

Recent years have witnessed debates over use of public lands for spiritual purposes. Those debates are usually viewed as pitting spiritual and cultural values of Native Americans against secular interests of dominant culture (Burton, p. 3). Lloyd Burton, in Worship and Wilderness, demonstrates that real situation is much more complex and multidimensional. He breaks new ground, going beyond standard legal and anthropological categories, to present a rich ethnographic study (p. 6). doing so, Burton reaches a surprising conclusion: that Native Americans and dominant culture alike are rediscovering the sacred in nature (p. 6). He believes that revival of environmental (p. 269) will foster more harmonious relationships among peoples and further Native American interests. Burton's book is thorough and balanced enough to support alternative readings (p. 14), and this article offers one. This reading emphasizes not similarities between indigenous and immigrant peoples, but long-standing historical differences between them. A cultural dialogue that acknowledges these differences ultimately may do more to further Burton's aspirations than any revival of ancient The Revival of Ancient Environmental Wisdom and Future of Public Lands Management Burton asserts that Western religion is beginning to relearn lessons from its own history that surviving tribal peoples have managed never to forget (p. 8). He first observes that core elements of Native American religions are contemplation-an extrarational way of knowing-and connection-a close relationship between individual and environment. Indigenous peoples are intimate with nature. In fact, to speak . . . of spiritual traditions and environment is conceptually awkward, since . . . indigenous spiritual traditions are altogether of environment rather than separable from (p. 33). Some tribes literally believe that they were born from earth (p. 34) or that they join with it upon death (p. 44). Burton then claims that native spirituality serves as an elder brother, anticipating movements within dominant culture.1 As evidence, Burton points to revival of pre-Christian earthen spiritual traditions (p. 272), eco-feminism movement (p. 187), growing interest in Buddhism and Taoism (pp. 255-8), emergence of New Age religions (p. 274), greening of Jewish and Christian faiths (pp. 258-61), and even spiritual experiences of persons lacking religious beliefs (pp. 6, 58-61). Burton thinks that rediscovery of environmental learning is transforming public lands management.2 For one, rediscovery is encouraging a consensus-oriented mutual accommodation of intercultural differences, (p. 198) a process preferable to adversarial, either/or context of constitutional litigation (p. 5). By building on shared values, rather than on power and rights, negotiators can reach a just and durable agreement (pp. 289-90). By sparking interfaith dialogue and hosting spiritual ceremonies, national parks serve as classrooms, mediating institutions that teach importance of environmental wisdom. Burton illustrates interest-based negotiation with conflict over Devil's Tower, a site used by rock climbers for recreation and Native Americans for worship. For several months in mid1990s, representatives from each group met, finally agreeing to a one-month voluntary limitation on climbing activities. This remarkable agreement resulted from mutual education, cross-cultural brokering, and solutions rooted in cultural values.3 Burton also believes that rediscovery of environmental wisdom is transforming legal doctrine. Traditionally, native peoples seeking to preserve their way of life could only appeal to federal government's trust responsibility, which is derived from its authority to enter into treaties. …

Advocating Religion on Public Lands: Native American Practice or Buddhist Sermon?

Loyd Burton's Worship and Wilderness is a multifaceted book. It is at once a critique of the U.S. constitutional religious free exercise doctrine, a plea for environmental stewardship, a cry for justice for native peoples, and a Buddhist sermon. Sometimes these various facets are in tension with one another. Indeed, that is the attraction of this volume. It is an easy read. Burton catches you coming around the corner whenever you think you have found a comfortable response. It is a wonderful and lively combination of idealism and common sense-a heartfelt plea to live lightly in the land. My brief response to Burton's book is organized around three topics: religion-American law-the First Amendment, and accommodating multiculturalism. Religion-American Religion This is a book is about religion in the United States, about religion generally. That fact is important because religion takes a certain form in the U.S. context, mostly for legal reasons. Religious ideas and institutions are domesticated and tamed by law. One can see that process when one uses classical categories of comparison. One such category, is a key concept for this book. Important theorists of including Eliade and Smith, have reflected on the importance of place for religion. Smith goes so far as to divide religions into two ideal types, and utopian (Eliade 1957; J. Smith 1978). Locative religions are related to particular places, places on this earth, holy places. Utopian religions are centered on life in the next world rather than on actual places on earth, and are therefore more easily portable. Both are always legally controlled, particularly in the U.S. context, as this book demonstrates. Most religions, of course, have both locative and Utopian aspects, but American religions, particularly American Christianity, has been peculiarly placeless. have, for the most part, been next-worldly in their explicit religious life, notwithstanding their famous Weberian tendency to invest worldly pursuits with sacred status. Imported American religions have tended to be utopian, in the main. Such a tendency is evident in many legal contexts. In cases in which I have served as an expert witness on behalf of plaintiffs seeking a legal place for for example, the experts for the opposing sides have characterized Christians generally (the unspoken implication is real Christians) as interested in places or things, and as therefore in need of legal accommodation for the use of such places and things.1 Indeed, in various contexts have had very little difficulty classifying religions that are interested in places and things as not religion, or at least as desirable or legally protected religion.2 In his classic volume of essays, The Lively Experiment, now almost 30 years old, Mead reflected on the rootlessness of American Christianity, comparing it with European Christianity (Mead 1976). He saw as having had plenty of space but no time. They were in a hurry. It was space that freed them from the authoritarianism of the European churches; it was space, place, that defined freedom. Space allowed freedom, in a sense, such as it is. One sees that desire for elbow room, for unbounded liberty, in the brash insistence of the climbers in the Devil's Tower case, as described by Burton in his book (p. 4). The growing sense that that space is unbounded has found unprepared, as Mead saw it: Americans become increasingly aware that their space is almost filled up and hence that their predominant conception of freedom is somehow and inadequate (Mead 1976:15). Mead suggested that there is unfinished work to be done in our understanding of freedom. Burton shows us some of the ways in which our conception of freedom is askew and inadequate and offers native religion as a corrective. Native religions have resources, it is implied, because freedom is so defined by empty space (p. …

Always in Demand: Recent Books in Latin American Economic and Business History

Sugar Baron: Manuela Rionda And The Fortunes Of The Pre-Castro Cuba. By Muriel McAvoy. (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2003. Pp. 352. $27.95 cloth.) Encumbered Cuba: Capital Markets And Revolt, 1878–1895. By Susan J. Fernandez. (Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida, 2002. Pp. 192. $59.95 cloth.) Government, Foreign Investement, And Railroads In Brazil, 1854–1913. By William R. Summerhill III. (Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press, 2003. Pp. 297. $60.00 cloth.) Alpine, New Jersey, is an affluent community in Bergen Country, just across the Hudson River from Yonkers, New York. It was once known, it is said, as the "Hamptons of New Jersey" in consideration of its well-heeled residents, one of whom, it seems, was a certain Manuel Rionda Polledo, one of a group known as Alpine's "40 Millionaires." Part of his estate, "Río Vista" still stands, an artifact of Jersey folklore called "Devil's Tower." Built sometime around 1910, the clock tower offered, from its location on the Palisades, excellent views of New York, and according to some accounts, was to be a place of interment for Manuel's beloved wife, Harriet. Today the tower is said to be haunted. The same Rionda had a grandnephew, Manuel Rionda del Monte, who was killed at the Bay of Pigs in 1961. By then, though, Manuel Rionda Polleda had been long gone, dead in New Jersey in 1943 at age 89. Wall Street paid him warm tribute, as well it should have, for in his own estimation, Manuel Rionda was the man "who did the most to introduce American capital into Cuba" (289). Considering that Yankee merchants and traders had been knocking at the door for nearly two hundred years when Rionda died, that must be counted as a remarkable epitaph. I must admit I had never heard of him before Professor McAvoy's book, although he rates several mentions in Hugh Thomas' encyclopedic [End Page 346] history of Cuba. Whether or not he merits the full biographical treatment he receives here is hard to say, although that is no reflection on the book, which is excellent. I should be the last person to complain about a lack of flesh-and-blood detail in what is, after all, essentially a business history, but I occasionally had the impression that Rionda was a useful device around which to organize financial data drawn principally from the Braga Brothers Collection at the University of Florida. Having never examined the documents, I can only imagine that they are strong on the sort of thing that warms the hearts of cost and general ledger accountants, but leave the rest of us gasping for air. It is difficult to get much human-interest material from these kinds of records, and it is not necessarily clear that whether Manuel Rionda smoked, drank or gambled (other than on sugar) is of much interest to McAvoy. Yet a lot of high-level business and political influence rests on just such personal foibles, and an occasional allusion to bribes, or funds needed "to grease the wheels" in Washington, D.C. (42) made me wonder how much McAvoy was holding back. Rionda was an immigrant from the Spanish region of Asturias, and when he went to America, he joined his brothers. But he didn't stay in Cuba and was sent to the United States for an education. Running throughout the narrative is an appreciation, now scarcely comprehensible, of how closely the fortunes of Cuban sugar, not to say Cuban politics, were linked to the United States. Rionda certainly spent more of his life in the States than in Cuba, where the family's interests were managed by other members of a clan of García Marquesian proportions. From the outset, it was clear to Rionda that the United States could make or break Cuba economically, and it subtracts not a bit...

Leafy Spurge (Euphorbia esula) Control with Several Grass Species

Studies were established near Devil's Tower in Crook County, WY, to determine the potential of 11 grass species to compete with leafy spurge as an alternative to repetitive herbicide treatments. Of the 11 species, ‘Bozoisky’ Russian wildrye and ‘Luna’ pubescent wheatgrass showed the most promise for successful competition with leafy spurge and were selected for further study. Pubescent wheatgrass limited percent canopy cover of leafy spurge to 10 and 15% or less in tilled and no-till plots, respectively, 7 and 10 yr after seeding. Russian wildrye limited percent canopy cover of leafy spurge to 21% or less in tilled and 7 and 27% in the no-till plots, respectively, 7 or 10 yr after seeding. The control plots not seeded to a forage grass averaged 55% leafy spurge canopy cover.

Gibraltar woman and Neanderthal Man

Forbes' Quarry, on the Rock of Gibraltar, yielded a human skull in 1848, one of the earliest Neanderthal skeletal remains known to science. Fragments of a second Gibraltar skull, that of a child, were described from Devil's Tower rock shelter in 1928 and have recently been reconstructed and reinterpreted to emphasize the distinction of Homo neanderthalensis from H. sapiens. Neanderthal skeletal remains are confined to Europe, the Middle East and central Asia, their most recent occurrence arguably a refugium in southern Iberia. The race seemingly became extinct about 30 000 years Before Present, for reasons as yet unknown, but a programme of excavations in Gorham's and Vanguard caves on Gibraltar is in progress to elucidate palaeoenvironmental and behavioural changes as some of the last Neanderthals were succeeded stratigraphically by anatomically modern humans with an Upper Palaeolithic culture.

Mountains and plains: the ecology of Wyoming landscapes

Part 1 Wyoming and the Rocky Mountain West: Landscape History Modern Environments. Part 2 Along Creeks and Rivers: Riparian Landscapes. Part 3 Plains and Intermountain Basins: Grasslands Sagebrush Steppe Desert Shrublands and Playas Sand Dunes, Badlands, Mud Volcanoes, and Mima Mounds. Part 4 Foothills and Mountains: Escarpments and the Foothill Transition Mountain Forests The Forest Ecosystem Mountain Meadows and Snowglades Upper Treeline and Alpine Tundra. Part 5 Landscapes of Special Interest: The Yellowstone Plateau Jackson Hole and the Tetons The Black Hills, Bear Lodge Mountains, and Devil's Tower. Part 6 Sustainable Land Management: Using Wyoming Landscapes. Appendices: Latin Names for Plants Referred to in the Text by Common Name Latin Names for Birds, Mammals, Reptiles, Amphibian, and Invertebrates Referred to in the text by Common Name.

The diet of the Neanderthal Child Gibraltar 2 (Devil's Tower) through the study of the vestibular striation pattern

The vestibular surfaces of the first and second deciduous molars of the Neanderthal Child Gibraltar 2 (Iberian Peninsula) have been studied by SEM. The striation pattern of this fossil, defined as the number, length and orientation of striations in 1 mm2 of enamel, was compared to that observed in modern hunter-gatherer groups and to that of a sample of subadult individuals from a medieval site in Castile (Spain). Results show that Gibraltar 2 had a more abrasive diet than the medieval individuals of the same dental age, thus resulting in a high number of striations. Considering the proportion of horizontal to vertical striations, Gibraltar 2 displays a pattern close to that observed in Eskimos and Fueguians. This suggests that Gibraltar 2 could have been mainly carnivorous.

Neanderthalian remains fromFigueira Brava cave, Portugal

Some neanderthalian remains from Figueira Brava cave (bed 2) are described. All were found among human food leftovers and mousterian implements. Human remains are all compatible and correspond to a 16 to 17 years old, most probably male, individual. The only tooth, a left upper P4, shows several characteristics that allow it to be ascribed to a Neanderthalian. The whole context and correlation with the well-known site of Devil's Tower, Gibraltar (where remains from undoubtful Neanderthalians have been found) lead to the same conclusion, i.e., that Figueira Brava man is a neanderthalian. Morbidity features are also present: enamel punctiform hypoplasies, probably related to health and nutritional deficiencies; an ante mortem lesion with loss of some enamel with evidence of light afterwards fonctional abrasion; cement coating on very restricted crown surface areas, that may correspond to an hypercementosis process; a pulpolite and the reactional dentine formation, related to intensive masticatory efforts, this being corroborated by the general robustness of the tooth (and specially of the root) and by radicular hypercementosis. The same tooth also shows some hitherto undescribed post mortem modifications, i.e. 8 near parallel and subvertical incisions on the mesial surface and 10 more on the distal one produced by a cutting tool. The corpse was most probably torn apart without direct inhumation. After discussing the context, canibalism seems to be the only possible explanation.

Age at death of the Neanderthal child from Devil's Tower, Gibraltar and the implications for studies of general growth and development in Neanderthals.

This study combines traditional methods of assessing dental developmental status based upon modern human standards with new techniques based upon histological observations in order to reassess the age at death of the Gibraltar child from Devil's Tower. The results indicate that the most likely age of this individual at death was 3 years of age. This result is in agreement with an independent assessment of the age of the temporal bone of this specimen (Tillier, AM [1982] Z. Morphol. Anthropol. 73:125-148) and is concordant with dental developmental ages given for modern humans. Moreover, the fact that this specimen appears at the low end of the age scale for calcification stages in modern humans is also supportive of the findings of Legoux (Legoux, P [1970] Arch. Inst. Paleontol. Hum. Mem. 33:53-87) and Wolpoff (Wolpoff, MH [1979] Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 50:67-114) that dental eruption schedules in Neanderthals were also accelerated. If the cranial bones from Devil's Tower are associated with the dental material, as we believe, they indicate a remarkably precocious brain growth in this individual, which is consistent with what is known about general growth and development in Neanderthals.

Baseline Inventory of Mammals, Reptiles, and Amphibians of Devils Tower National Monument, Wyoming

Despite its small size, Devils Tower National Monument encompasses a remarkable array of ecological situations. The area is of particular interest to the ecologist and biogeographer because Devil's Tower and environs rise as an "is1and" of montane and saxicoline habitat out of a "sea" of shortgrass prairie.

Fire and the Vegetative Mosaic at Devil's Tower National Monument

The primary objective of the research underway is to determine the effects of past and present fire regimes on the vegetative mosaic at Devil's Tower. Secondary objectives are to develop a fire history, to assess the use of biogenic opal (phytoliths) as an indicator of vegetative boundaries, and to develop a burning plan to be used in vegetation management.

Les enfants neanderthaliens de Devil's Tower (Gibraltar)

Les enfants neanderthaliens de Devil's Tower (Gibraltar)

THE TEETH OF THE NEANDERTHAL CHILD FROM GIBRALTER: A RE-EVALUATION.

AbstractA morphological re‐evaluation of the dentition of the fossil child ex‐cavated from Devil's Tower, Gibraltar, was undertaken in this study.A thorough inspection of the original remains consisting of a right maxilla and a mandible with the remaining deciduous dentition and unerupted teeth was made. X‐rays were also taken for further examination.The significant morphological characters on the dentition of this juvenile Neanderthal appeared closer to the dentition of Modern Man, although primitive traits such as: sizes of cusps and arrangement of groove patterns, and crenulations were also observed on the occlusal surfaces of the teeth of this child.