UO E-clips, April 4

New evidence of earliest North Americans (Associated Press): New evidence shows humans lived in North America more than 14,000 years ago, 1,000 years earlier than had previously been known. Discovered in a cave in Oregon, fossil feces yielded DNA indicating these early residents were related to people living in Siberia and East Asia, according to a report in Thursday's online edition of the journal Science. "This is the first time we have been able to get dates that are undeniably human, and they are 1,000 years before Clovis," said Dennis L. Jenkins, a University of Oregon archaeologist, referring to the Clovis culture, well known for its unique spear-points that have been studied previously.

Oregon site may hold signs of 1st Americans (The Oregonian): Near the marshy edge of an ancient lake in south-central Oregon, wandering Stone Age hunters took shelter in a shallow cave at the foot of a basalt ridge. They camped only briefly, leaving little evidence of their stay: a flaked-stone spear or arrow point, a few shards suggesting tool-making or sharpening, a grinding stone and -- most important for researchers -- several piles of excrement preserved in the dry cave floor. From these unintended time capsules, scientists say they've extracted DNA that is unquestionably human. And carbon dating suggests that people first occupied the caves 14,300 years ago -- more than a thousand years before the rise of the Clovis hunters, long presumed to be the first Americans.

Evidence supports earlier date for people in North America (The New York Times): The discovery was one for the pages of an archaeology classic, something with a title like “Gods, Graves and Scat.” Some people, coming into new country long ago, stopped at a cave for years perhaps, or only a day’s rest. Time enough, in any event, for them to relieve themselves -- you know, answer nature’s call, if they bothered with euphemism. The cave was their in-house outhouse. Exploring Paisley Caves in the Cascade Range of Oregon, archaeologists have found a scattering of human coprolites, or fossil feces. The specimens preserved 14,000-year-old human protein and DNA, which the discoverers said was the strongest evidence yet of the earliest people living in North America.

UO research points to earliest Americans (Register-Guard): Human remains found in a cave in Southeastern Oregon have pushed back the known occupation of the Americas by more than a thousand years and vindicated the work of a University of Oregon archaeologist more than 70 years ago. The evidence, found by current UO archaeologist Dennis Jenkins and his students, offers the first hard evidence that humans found their way into the New World before the emergence of what is known as the Clovis people about 13,000 years ago. The material found in caves near Paisley during digs in 2002 and 2003 has been radiocarbon dated to about 14,300 years ago.

U of O scientists find ancient discovery (KGW-TV Channel 8 Portland): NEWSCASTER: Tonight scientists are marveling at an Oregon discovery that is changing history. University of Oregon archeologists have uncovered the oldest evidence ever of humans in the Americas. They found it just to the east of Crater Lake in the Paisley Caves. The night team's Jack Penning is live in the newsroom, and, Jack, this changes much of what we knew about the people who first lived in the Northwest. REPORTER: It changes everything, Laural. The discovery was a small piece of feces. U of O scientists say they were able to get DNA from that and to date it to 14,000 years ago. That's 1,000 years older than anything ever discovered in North and South America. The Eugene lab of Dr. Dennis Jenkins. It's long been a center for archeological discovery.

Japanese-American students to receive honorary degrees at UO (Register-Guard): They look earnest, they look hopeful, they look young. They are students at the University of Oregon, mostly freshmen and sophomores, intent on pursuing careers in business, music, architecture and journalism. They gaze from the university’s 1942 yearbook, the Oregana. But their academic careers and futures were thrown into disarray with the signing of Executive Order 9066, the presidential edict ordering Japanese-Americans to leave the West Coast amid the hysteria and prejudice that followed Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. They scattered to other universities farther east, or joined the military. They rebuilt their lives.

Athletic department to build new academic center (Daily Emerald): Plans for the athletic department's new academic center for athletes, which is being built using an undisclosed donation, describe it as a "model facility for universities across the country." The three-story building, which will be built on the parking lot on the corner of 13th Avenue and Agate Street, will house 37 individual tutoring rooms, a 112-seat lecture hall, 24 staff members and a reflecting pool. Combined with the new arena and an alumni center, the learning center is part of the University's plans for an east gateway to the campus.

LTD plans for shuttle service to Olympic Trials at risk (Register-Guard): New federal rules pertaining to private charter bus service could preclude Lane Transit District from providing free shuttle bus service for the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials that begin June 27 at Hayward Field. LTD’s ability to provide service for the Eugene Marathon -- to be held one month from today -- and such event staples as the Butte to Butte race, Oregon Country Fair, Lane County Fair and University of Oregon football games also could be in peril.

UO Index of Economic Indicators rises in February (Register-Guard): There is no button to push to fast forward to see how the state’s economic saga will end. Are we in recession? Are we headed into one? If so, when will it hit and how bad will it be? Instead, economy watchers, such as Tim Duy, economist and author of the University of Oregon’s Index of Economic Indicators, pore through monthly housing, labor and manufacturing data to try to make sense of subtle changes in the figures. “This is like the slow-motion slowdown,” Duy said after analyzing the index’s February numbers.

Oregon's economy improves in February (Portland Business Journal): The University of Oregon Index of Economic Indicators partially rebounded from January's sharp decline, rising 0.6 percent in February to 102.4, based on a 1997 benchmark of 100. Despite a period of persistent weakness dating back to last August, the UO Index has failed to make a sustained drop into a range consistent with the 2001 recession. This indicates a period of slow economic activity with a significant chance of tipping into an actual recession, said Tim Duy, director of the Oregon Economic Forum and an adjunct assistant professor at the university.