UO's Dennis Jenkins and Paisley Caves, Oregon

Dennis Jenkins, top left, on site at Paisley Caves on the east side of the Cascades, about 220 miles southeast of Eugene, Ore. At top right is a photo from 1966 showing the UO's Luther Cressman, considered the "father of Oregon anthropology" on location at a small cave at Fort Rock Cave in Oregon. Cressman, acting on information given to him, found  the Paisley Caves in about 1937, and, by 1940, he theorized that artifacts he had uncovered were older than those found at many other North American sites, but a lack of documentation hurt his cause. Jenkins recent work, including the discovery of the camel bones (an ankle, bottom left) and other foot bones, along with dried human feces, has proven -- with the help of new technology -- that Cressman was indeed correct.

And, at right, Jenkins is shown holding a piece of the human caprolite (dried feces) that dates to 14,300 years ago.

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