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101-487: On September 2, 1968, while diving in 5.5 meters (18 feet) of water off the northwest coast of North Bimini, Joseph Manson Valentine, Jacques Mayol and Robert Angove encountered what they called a "pavement" of what later was found to be noticeably rounded stones of varying size and thickness. These stones form a northeast-southwest linear feature, which is now commonly known as either the "Bimini Road" or "Bimini Wall". Two similar linear features lie parallel to and shoreward of

202-509: A "second course" of "masonry". Presuming that the blocks of beachrock forming the Bimini Road originally formed at some unknown depth below sea level and have been dropped by erosion by several metres, dating the age of the Bimini Road by its relation to past sea level would be a useless technique that would produce misleading results. Natural pavements composed of stone blocks, which often are far more rectangular and consistent in size than

303-437: A bias that must be identified. Potential sources of bias include, The taphonomic pathways involved in relatively inert substances such as calcite (and to a lesser extent bone) are relatively obvious, as such body parts are stable and change little through time. However, the preservation of "soft tissue" is more interesting, as it requires more peculiar conditions. While usually only biomineralised material survives fossilisation,

404-512: A child. When he was 7, he would skin dive with his older brother in seas around Nanatsugama  [ jp ] ( Karatsu , Japan), where he saw a dolphin for the first time. Mayol described the fateful encounter in his book, "Homo Delphinus: The Dolphin Within Man". On 23 November 1976, at 49, he became the first free diver to descend to 100 metres (330 ft), and when he was 56 he managed to descend to 105 metres (344 ft). During

505-444: A continuous course, and too infrequently lie directly beneath the blocks that form the surface of the Bimini Road. This is not what would be expected of an actual underlying course of man-made masonry . David Zink states: Most of the blocks were now clearly resting on either the underlying bedrock or on smaller stones on the sea floor. This led him to conclude: ...this fact had an important archaeological consequence: it meant that

606-435: A continuous second layer (course) of stones beneath the stones forming the currently exposed "pavement" has not been published in a reputable, scientific venue with the detail that is needed for critical evaluation. Pictures posted on various Web pages of stones alleged to be artificial "wedge stones" and "prop stones" fail as convincing evidence for a second course of stones because they are typically smaller in size, do not form

707-506: A deposit could be ripped up and redeposited elsewhere, meaning that a deposit may contain a large number of fossils from another place (an allochthonous deposit, as opposed to the usual autochthonous ). Thus, a question that is often asked of fossil deposits is to what extent does the fossil deposit record the true biota that originally lived there? Many fossils are obviously autochthonous, such as rooted fossils like crinoids , and many fossils are intrinsically obviously allochthonous, such as

808-564: A low number of bones with articular ends intact is therefore probably the result of carnivore activity. In practice John Speth applied these criteria to the bones from the Garnsey site in New Mexico. The rarity of bone cylinders indicated that there had been minimal destruction by scavengers, and that the bone assemblage could be assumed to be wholly the result of human activity, butchering the animals for meat and marrow extraction. One of

909-443: A meaningful uranium-thorium date. As a result, this specific date is only an apparent date that completely lacks any scientific value for interpreting the age of marine limestone underlying the Bimini Road. Currently, specific species of corals and mollusks that can be demonstrated to lack any recrystallisation using petrographic and X-ray diffraction techniques are the preferred samples for dating. Any limestone sample that shows

1010-440: A metre or so below sea level, beneath the island's surface. This cementation created a band consisting of a thick primary layer of semilithified sediments and thinner discontinuous lenses and layers of similar semilithified sediments beneath it. Later, when erosion of the island's shoreline occurred, the band of semilithifed sediment was exposed within the intertidal zone and the semilithified sediments were cemented into beachrock. As

1111-400: A mudslide may overrepresent a time period. At a shorter scale, scouring processes such as the formation of ripples and dunes and the passing of turbidity currents may cause layers to be removed. Thus the fossil record is biased towards periods of greatest sedimentation; periods of time that have less sedimentation are consequently less well represented in the fossil record. A related problem

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1212-475: A naturally occurring geological feature, as a result of the unusual arrangement and shape of the stones, some believe that the formation is the remains of an ancient road, wall, or some other deliberately constructed feature. For example, articles published in Argosy (an American pulp magazine ) and either authored or coauthored by Robert F. Marx , a professional diver and visitor to the Bimini Road, argued that

1313-448: A northeast/southwest-trending feature with a pronounced hook at its southwest end. It consists of stone blocks measuring as much as 3–4 metres (10–13 ft) in horizontal dimensions, with the average size being 2–3 metres (7–10 ft). The larger blocks show complementary edges, which are lacking in the smaller blocks. The two narrower and shorter, approximately 50 and 60 m (160 and 200 ft)-long linear features lying shoreward of

1414-444: A random collection of shells likely would yield a radiocarbon date that is a few hundred years earlier than when the final accumulation of shells, which were cemented to form beachrock, actually occurred. The radiocarbon dates from the cement demonstrate that the beachrock composing the Bimini Road formed about 2,800 radiocarbon years ago by the cementation of pre-existing sediments that accumulated about 1,300 years earlier. Compared to

1515-401: A river, it may also be carried by the current near the surface of the river or near its bottom. Organisms in terrestrial and fluvial environments will not undergo the same processes. A fluvial environment may be colder than a terrestrial environment. The ecosystem of live organisms that scavenge on the organism in question and the abiotic items in rivers will differ than on land. Organisms within

1616-569: A safer and more practical approach than buddy breathing in the event of an emergency. Mayol was already an experienced free diver when he met the Sicilian Enzo Maiorca , who was the first person to dive below 50 metres (160 ft). Mayol reached 60 metres (200 ft) depth. A friendship, as well as rivalry, between the two men ensued. Their most famous records were set in the no-limits category, in which divers are permitted to use weighted sleds to descend and air balloons for

1717-424: A single genus, Ivesheadia , they are now thought to be the deteriorated remains of various types of frondose organism. Similarly, Ediacaran fossils from England, once assigned to Blackbrookia , Pseudovendia and Shepshedia , are now all regarded as taphomorphs related to Charnia or Charniodiscus . Fluvial taphonomy is concerned with the decomposition of organisms in rivers. An organism may sink or float within

1818-418: A speedy ascent. Between 1966 and 1983, Mayol was the no-limits world champion eight times. In 1981 he set a world record of 61 metres (200 ft) in the constant weight discipline, using fins. In 1976, Mayol broke the 100 metres (330 ft) barrier with a no-limits 101 metres (331 ft) dive off Elba, Italy. Tests showed that during this dive his heart beat decreased from 60 to 27 beats/min, an aspect of

1919-418: A uranium-thorium date of 14,992±258 BP (7132-19/2). Supporters of the idea that the Bimini Road is a man-made structure frequently cite this date in support of its being artificial. The uranium-thorium date published by Gifford and Ball is regarded as an invalid and meaningless date for two reasons. First, the sample being partially recrystallised means that this limestone was not a closed system as required for

2020-477: Is a buildup of organic and/or inorganic materials in one location (scavengers or human behavior). When mineral rich groundwater permeates organic materials and fills the empty spaces, a fossil is formed. The final stage of taphonomy is mechanical alteration; these are the processes that physically alter the remains (i.e. freeze-thaw, compaction, transport, burial). These stages are not only successive, they interplay. For example, chemical changes occur at every stage of

2121-542: Is a relatively new field that has increased in popularity in the past 15 years. It is a subfield of forensic anthropology focusing specifically on how taphonomic forces have altered criminal evidence. There are two different branches of forensic taphonomy: biotaphonomy and geotaphonomy . Biotaphonomy looks at how the decomposition and/or destruction of the organism has happened. The main factors that affect this branch are categorized into three groups: environmental factors; external variables, individual factors; factors from

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2222-404: Is an important study for archaeologists to better interpret archaeological sites. Since the archaeological record is often incomplete, taphonomy helps explain how it became incomplete. The methodology of taphonomy involves observing transformation processes in order to understand their impact on archaeological material and interpret patterns on real sites. This is mostly in the form of assessing how

2323-451: Is buried. Sediments cover smaller fossils faster so they are likely to be found fully articulated. However, erosion also tends to destroy smaller fossils more easily. Often fossils, particularly those of vertebrates, are distorted by the subsequent movements of the surrounding sediment, this can include compression of the fossil in a particular axis, as well as shearing. Taphonomic processes allow researchers of multiple fields to identify

2424-446: Is likely in lakes and riverbeds that gradually fill in with organic and inorganic material. The organisms of such habitats are also liable to be overrepresented in the fossil record than those living far from these aquatic environments where burial by sediments is unlikely to occur. A sedimentary deposit may have experienced a mixing of noncontemporaneous remains within single sedimentary units via physical or biological processes; i.e.

2525-545: Is the dolphins that became the foundation of Mayol's life philosophy of "Homo Delphinus". Throughout his book L'Homo Delphinus (2000 published in English as Homo Delphinus: The Dolphin within Man by Idelson Gnocchi Publishers Ltd.) Mayol expounds his theories about man's relationship with the sea, and explores the aquatic ape hypothesis of human origins. He felt man could reawaken his dormant mental and spiritual faculties and

2626-445: Is the slow changes that occur in the depositional environment of an area; a deposit may experience periods of poor preservation due to, for example, a lack of biomineralizing elements. This causes the taphonomic or diagenetic obliteration of fossils, producing gaps and condensation of the record. Major shifts in intrinsic and extrinsic properties of organisms, including morphology and behaviour in relation to other organisms or shifts in

2727-434: Is the study of how organisms decay and become fossilized or preserved in the paleontological record. The term taphonomy (from Greek táphos , τάφος 'burial' and nomos , νόμος 'law') was introduced to paleontology in 1940 by Soviet scientist Ivan Efremov to describe the study of the transition of remains, parts, or products of organisms from the biosphere to the lithosphere . The term taphomorph

2828-482: Is used to collectively describe fossil structures that represent poorly-preserved and deteriorated remains of various taxonomic groups, rather than of a single species. For example, the 579–560 million year old fossil Ediacaran assemblages from Avalonian locations in Newfoundland contain taphomorphs of a mixture of taxa which have collectively been named Ivesheadiomorphs . Originally interpreted as fossils of

2929-406: Is used to describe fossil structures that represent poorly-preserved, deteriorated remains of a mixture of taxonomic groups , rather than of a single one. Taphonomic phenomena are grouped into two phases: biostratinomy , events that occur between death of the organism and the burial; and diagenesis , events that occur after the burial. Since Efremov's definition, taphonomy has expanded to include

3030-551: The University of Miami dated samples from a core collected by E. A. Shinn in 1977 from the Bimini Road. In 1979, Calvert and others reported dates of 2780±70 C yr BP (UM-1359), 3500±80 C yr BP (UM-1360), and 3350±90 C yr BP (UM-1361) from whole-rock samples; a date of 3510±70 C yr BP (UM-1362), from shells extracted from the beachrock core; and dates of 2770±80 C yr BP (UM-1364) and 2840±70 C yr BP (UM-1365) from carbonate cementing

3131-580: The mammalian diving reflex , a reflex more evident in whales , seals , and dolphins . Mayol's last deep dive followed in 1983 when he reached the depth of 105 metres (344 ft), at the age of 56. Mayol's fascination with dolphins started in 1955 when he was working as a commercial diver at an aquarium in Miami, Florida . There he met a female dolphin called Clown and formed a close bond with her. Imitating Clown, he learned how to hold his breath longer and how to behave and integrate himself underwater. It

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3232-466: The oceanographic and ethological implications of observed taphonomic patterns, paleontologists have been able to provide new and meaningful interpretations and correlations that would have otherwise remained obscure in the fossil record . In the marine environment, taphonomy, specifically aragonite loss, poses a major challenge in reconstructing past environments from the modern, notably in settings such as carbonate platforms . Forensic taphonomy

3333-465: The Bimini Road consist of smaller tabular stone blocks that are only 1–2 m (3–7 ft) in maximum horizontal breadth. Having rounded corners, the blocks composing these pavements resemble giant loaves of bread. The blocks consist of limestone composed of carbonate- cemented shell hash that is called " beachrock ". Beachrock is native to the Bahamas. The highly rounded nature of the blocks forming

3434-648: The Bimini Road include Eugene Shinn of the U.S. Geological Survey ; Marshall McKusick , an Associate Professor of Anthropology at University of Iowa ; W. Harrison of Environmental Research Associates, Virginia Beach, Virginia; Mahlon M. Ball and J. A. Gifford of the Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science at the University of Miami ; and Eric Davaud and A. Strasser of the Department of Geology and Paleontology, University of Geneva , Geneva, Switzerland. After either inspecting or studying

3535-412: The Bimini Road indicates that a significant thickness of their original surface has been removed by biological, physical, and chemical processes. Given the degree to which these blocks have been eroded , it is highly implausible that any original surface features, including any tool marks and inscriptions, would have survived this degree of erosion. After a very detailed examination of the Bimini Road and

3636-487: The Bimini Road is an artificial structure. In a 1971 Argosy article, Marx reported that Carl H. Holm, who was President (not "head geologist" as reported by Marx) of Global Oceanic, once a manager for North American Rockwell , a ship designer; and retired naval officer, stated that there was "little doubt" that the massive stone blocks were cut by people. The same article noted that he was part of an expedition sponsored by North American Rockwell that included Edgar Mitchell ,

3737-654: The Bimini Road, they all concluded that it consists of naturally jointed beachrock. John A. Gifford, a professional geologist, spent a significant time studying the geology of the Bimini Islands for his University of Miami Master's thesis about the geology of the Bimini Islands. Calvert and others identified the samples that they dated from the Bimini Wall as being natural beachrock. Detailed studies by E. Davaud and A. Strasser of Holocene limestones currently exposed on North Bimini and Joulter Cays (Bahamas) reveal

3838-600: The Bimini Road. The marine limestone underlying the Bimini Road dates to the Sangamonian Stage, the last interglacial , when sea level was last high enough for the marine sediments , now lithified into limestone, to have accumulated. The consensus among geologists and archaeologists is that the Bimini Road is a natural feature composed of beachrock that orthogonal and other joints have broken up into roughly rectangular, polygonal, and irregular blocks. The geologists and anthropologists who have personally studied

3939-427: The Bimini Wall. The Bimini Wall and two linear features lying shoreward of it are composed of flat-lying, tabular, and roughly rectangular, polygonal, and irregular blocks. Descriptions of the Bimini Road found in various books and articles greatly exaggerate the regularity and rectangularity of the blocks composing these features. The Bimini Road, the largest of three linear features, is 0.8 km (0.50 mi) long,

4040-524: The EPS, facilitating the release of calcium ions into the environment and creating a Ca-enriched film. The degradation of the EPS and formation of the Ca-rich film is suggested to aid in the precipitation of calcium carbonate and further the process of biomineralization. Because of the very select processes that cause preservation, not all organisms have the same chance of being preserved. Any factor that affects

4141-768: The accumulation and fragmentation of bones. This study has also come in the form of excavation of animal dens and burrows to study the discarded bones and experimental breakage of bones with and without stone tools. Studies of this kind by C.K. Brain in South Africa have shown that bone fractures previously attributed to " killer man-apes " were in fact caused by the pressure of overlying rocks and earth in limestone caves. His research has also demonstrated that early hominins, for example australopithecines , were more likely preyed upon by carnivores rather than being hunters themselves, from cave sites such as Swartkrans in South Africa. Outside of Africa Lewis Binford observed

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4242-420: The alteration of the land and water drainage from introducing an unnatural mass to the area. This field is extremely important because it helps scientists use the taphonomic profile to help determine what happened to the remains at the time of death ( perimortem ) and after death ( postmortem ). This can make a huge difference when considering what can be used as evidence in a criminal investigation. Taphonomy

4343-594: The astronaut, as leader; Dimitri Rebikoff; and "a number of psychics from the Edgar Cayce Foundation." Others who consider the Bimini undersea formation to be man-made, as opposed to natural beachrock, are Joseph Manson Valentine, zoologist ; Graham Hancock , pseudoscientific writer; Charles Berlitz , linguist ; Greg Little, psychologist ; R. Cedric Leonard, anthropologist; and Dimitri Rebikoff, French marine engineer . All claim to have investigated

4444-433: The beachrock core. These dates are temporally consistent in that the shells composing the beachrock core from the Bimini Road dated older than the cement holding them together as beachrock. These dates can be interpreted as indicating that the shells composing the Bimini Road are, uncorrected for temporal and environmental variations in radiocarbon, about 3,500 years old. Because of time-averaging and other taphonomic factors,

4545-838: The behavioural patterns of extinct species is sometimes hard to justify. Moreover, the differences between faunal assemblages of animals and humans is not always so distinct, hyenas and humans display similar patterning in breakage and form similarly shaped fragments as the ways in which a bone can break are limited. Since large bones survive better than plants this also has created a bias and inclination towards big-game hunting rather than gathering when considering prehistoric economies. While all of archaeology studies taphonomy to some extent, certain subfields deal with it more than others. These include zooarchaeology , geoarchaeology , and paleoethnobotany . Modern experiments have been conducted on post-mortem invertebrates and vertebrates to understand how microbial mats and microbial activity influence

4646-432: The biggest source of bias in the fossil record. First and foremost, organisms that contain hard parts have a far greater chance of being represented in the fossil record than organisms consisting of soft tissue only. As a result, animals with bones or shells are overrepresented in the fossil record, and many plants are only represented by pollen or spores that have hard walls. Soft-bodied organisms may form 30% to 100% of

4747-432: The biological remains of successive, noncontemporaneous populations of organisms may be admixed within a single bed, known as time-averaging . Because of the slow and episodic nature of the geologic record, two apparently contemporaneous fossils may have actually lived centuries, or even millennia, apart. Moreover, the degree of time-averaging in an assemblage may vary. The degree varies on many factors, such as tissue type,

4848-412: The biota, but most fossil assemblages preserve none of this unseen diversity, which may exclude groups such as fungi and entire animal phyla from the fossil record. Many animals that moult , on the other hand, are overrepresented, as one animal may leave multiple fossils due to its discarded body parts. Among plants, wind-pollinated species produce so much more pollen than animal-pollinated species,

4949-581: The blocks composing the Bimini Road, created by orthogonal and other jointing within sedimentary rocks, including beachrock, are quite common and found throughout the world. They include a popular tourist attraction, the Tessellated pavement of Eaglehawk Neck, Tasmania ; jointed bedrock that has been completely misidentified as a man-made "Phoenician Fortress and Furnace" in Oklahoma ; a "tiled pavement" reported from Battlement Mesa in western Colorado ;

5050-451: The concept of taphonomy include: There are five main stages of taphonomy: disarticulation, dispersal, accumulation, fossilization, and mechanical alteration. The first stage, disarticulation, occurs as the organism decays and the bones are no longer held together by the flesh and tendons of the organism. Dispersal is the separation of pieces of an organism caused by natural events (i.e. floods, scavengers etc.). Accumulation occurs when there

5151-529: The cuticles of plants ( cutan ) and animals, the cell walls of algae ( algaenan ), and potentially the polysaccharide layer of some lichens . This interconnectedness makes the chemicals less prone to chemical decay, and also means they are a poorer source of energy so less likely to be digested by scavenging organisms. After being subjected to heat and pressure, these cross-linked organic molecules typically "cook" and become kerogen or short (<17 C atoms) aliphatic/aromatic carbon molecules. Other factors affect

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5252-407: The dates from the shells and the cement, it appears that the whole-rock dates reflect samples containing varying proportions of shell and cement without any significant contamination by younger radiocarbon. Both these dates and interpretation are consistent with the detailed research by Davaud and Strasser that concluded that the layer of beachrock composing the Bimini Road formed beneath the surface of

5353-462: The dates from the shells and the clearly younger cement holding them together as beachrock are temporally consistent argues against any significant alteration of their radiocarbon content. In addition, other studies using radiocarbon dating to study sea level and the age of sediment and beachrock within the Bahamas have not reported any significant problems with contamination by younger radiocarbon. In their detailed research, Davaud and Strasser accepted

5454-648: The deposition of the preserved remains of an organism (usually animal bones) has occurred to better understand a deposit. Whether the deposition was a result of human, animals and/or the environment is often the goal of taphonomic study. Archaeologists typically separate natural from cultural processes when identifying evidence of human interaction with faunal remains. This is done by looking at human processes preceding artifact discard in addition to processes after artifact discard. Changes preceding discard include butchering, skinning, and cooking. Understanding these processes can inform archaeologists on tool use or how an animal

5555-531: The effects of wolves and dogs on bones in Alaska and the American Southwest, differentiating the interference of humans and carnivores on bone remains by the number of bone splinters and the number of intact articular ends. He observed that animals gnaw and attack the articular ends first leaving mostly bone cylinders behind, therefore it can be assumed a deposit with a high number of bone cylinders and

5656-434: The flesh, but also that of the bones. Taphonomy has undergone an explosion of interest since the 1980s, with research focusing on certain areas. One motivation behind taphonomy is to understand biases present in the fossil record better. Fossils are ubiquitous in sedimentary rocks, yet paleontologists cannot draw the most accurate conclusions about the lives and ecology of the fossilized organisms without knowing about

5757-499: The formation of fossils and the preservation of soft tissues. In these studies, microbial mats entomb animal carcasses in a sarcophagus of microbes—the sarcophagus entombing the animal's carcass delays decay. Entombed carcasses were observed to be more intact than non-entombed counter-parts by years at a time. Microbial mats maintained and stabilized the articulation of the joints and the skeleton of post-mortem organisms, as seen in frog carcasses for up to 1080 days after coverage by

5858-760: The formations in person, and claim to have observed more than one horizontal layer of blocks, at least in places. However, multiple layers of block can result naturally from systematic fracturing of sedimentary rock where multiple layers of sedimentary rock lie on top of each, as can be observed in the case of the tessellated pavement of Tasmania exposed at Eaglehawk Neck on the Tasman Peninsula. In his controversial book 1421: The Year China Discovered America and its accompanying documentary, 1421: The Year China Discovered America? amateur historian Gavin Menzies claimed that when Chinese admiral Zheng He 's fleet

5959-544: The former being overrepresented relative to the latter. Most fossils form in conditions where material is deposited on the bottom of water bodies. Coastal areas are often prone to high rates of erosion, and rivers flowing into the sea may carry a high particulate load from inland. These sediments will eventually settle out, so organisms living in such environments have a much higher chance of being preserved as fossils after death than do those organisms living in non-depositing conditions. In continental environments, fossilization

6060-455: The fossilization of organic and inorganic materials through both cultural and environmental influences. Taphonomy is now most widely defined as the study of what happens to objects after they leave the biosphere (living contexts), enter the lithosphere (buried contexts), and are subsequently recovered and studied. This is a multidisciplinary concept and is used in slightly different contexts throughout different fields of study. Fields that employ

6161-477: The frog skin, including structures such as warts, was preserved for more than 1.5 years. The microbial mats also aided in the formation of the mineral gypsum embedded within the frog skin. The microbes that constitute the microbial mats in addition to forming a sarcophagus, secrete an exopolymeric substances (EPS) that drive biomineralization. The EPS provides a nucleated center for biomineralization. During later stages of decomposition heterotrophic microbes degrade

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6262-524: The global environment, can cause secular or long-term cyclic changes in preservation ( megabias ). Much of the incompleteness of the fossil record is due to the fact that only a small amount of rock is ever exposed at the surface of the Earth, and not even most of that has been explored. Our fossil record relies on the small amount of exploration that has been done on this. Unfortunately, paleontologists as humans can be very biased in their methods of collection;

6363-442: The habitat, the frequency of burial events and exhumation events, and the depth of bioturbation within the sedimentary column relative to net sediment accumulation rates. Like biases in spatial fidelity, there is a bias towards organisms that can survive reworking events, such as shells . An example of a more ideal deposit with respect to time-averaging bias would be a volcanic ash deposit, which captures an entire biota caught in

6464-492: The idea (held by some Atlantologists) that the blocks now visible were only the top of a more complex structure was likely incorrect. In addition, early studies of the Bimini Road, i.e. Gifford and Ball and David Zink, report taking numerous samples and cores for examination. It is also safe to presume that a certain number of the innumerable visitors to the Bimini Road have chipped off pieces of it. Scientific sampling and souvenir hunting would have left behind modern "tool marks" on

6565-486: The island and was exposed by coastal erosion only about 1,900 to 2,000 years ago. Proponents of the Bimini Road being a manmade feature argue that these radiocarbon dates are invalid because they were obtained entirely from whole-rock samples and subject to contamination from younger carbon. The background data reported by Calvert and others concerning the radiocarbon dates from the Bimini Road demonstrate that not all of these dates come entirely from whole-rock samples. That

6666-507: The later stages of the prolonged decomposition of the carcasses, the environment within the sarcophagus alters to more oxic and basic conditions promoting biomineralization and the precipitation of calcium carbonate . Microbial mats additionally play a role in the formation of molds and impressions of carcasses. These molds and impressions replicate and preserve the integument of animal carcasses. The degree to which has been demonstrated in frog skin preservation. The original morphology of

6767-403: The least amount of recrystallisation is now regarded as incapable of yielding a scientifically valid date and not even worth an attempt at dating. Finally, it is well documented that about 15,000 calendar years ago, sea level in this region was between 95 and 100 metres (312 and 328 feet) below present sea level. As a result, the location from where Gifford and Ball collected the sample of limestone

6868-441: The likelihood of preservation; for instance sclerotization renders the jaws of polychaetes more readily preserved than the chemically equivalent but non-sclerotized body cuticle. A peer-reviewed study in 2023 was the first to present an in-depth chemical description of how biological tissues and cells potentially preserve into the fossil record. This study generalized the chemistry underlying cell and tissue preservation to explain

6969-401: The likelihood that an organism is preserved as a fossil is a potential source of bias. It is thus arguably the most important goal of taphonomy to identify the scope of such biases such that they can be quantified to allow correct interpretations of the relative abundances of organisms that make up a fossil biota. Some of the most common sources of bias are listed below. This perhaps represents

7070-511: The mainstream. His diving philosophy was to reach a state of mind based on relaxation and yoga breathing , with which he could accomplish apnea . He also contributed to technological advances in the field of free-diving, particularly improving assemblies used by no-limits divers. He was also instrumental in the development of scuba diving 's octopus regulator , which was invented by Dave Woodward at UNEXSO in 1965 or 1966. Woodward believed that having safety divers carry two second stages would be

7171-422: The mats. The environment within the entombed carcasses is typically described as anoxic and acidic during the initial stage of decomposition. These conditions are perpetuated by the exhaustion of oxygen by aerobic bacteria within the carcass creating an environment ideal for the preservation of soft tissues, such as muscle tissue and brain tissue. The anoxic and acidic conditions created by that mats also inhibit

7272-413: The most important elements in this methodology is replication, to confirm the validity of results. There are limitations to this kind of taphonomic study in archaeological deposits as any analysis has to presume that processes in the past were the same as today, e.g that living carnivores behaved in a similar way to those in prehistoric times. There are wide variations among existing species so determining

7373-415: The most preservable compounds, which are listed according to their preservation potential by Tegellaar (see reference). How complete fossils are was once thought to be a proxy for the energy of the environment, with stormier waters leaving less articulated carcasses. However, the dominant force actually seems to be predation, with scavengers more likely than rough waters to break up a fresh carcass before it

7474-417: The organism itself (i.e. body size, age, etc.), and cultural factors; factors specific to any cultural behaviors that would affect the decomposition (burial practices). Geotaphonomy studies how the burial practices and the burial itself affects the surrounding environment. This includes soil disturbances and tool marks from digging the grave, disruption of plant growth and soil pH from the decomposing body, and

7575-401: The other linear features, Gifford and Ball made the following observations: As noted below, these observations are disputed by other investigators. For example, some investigators claim that where sand had washed away between the seams, another course of blocks can be seen along with small blocks underlying these blocks. However, detailed evidence that clearly documents the alleged presence of

7676-409: The past of natural and cultural objects. From the time of death or burial until excavation, taphonomy can aid in the understanding of past environments. When studying the past it is important to gain contextual information in order to have a solid understanding of the data. Often these findings can be used to better understand cultural or environmental shifts within the present day. The term taphomorph

7777-408: The phenomenon for potentially any cellular organism. It was thought that only tough, cuticle type soft tissue could be preserved by Burgess Shale type preservation , but an increasing number of organisms are being discovered that lack such cuticle, such as the probable chordate Pikaia and the shellless Odontogriphus . It is a common misconception that anaerobic conditions are necessary for

7878-431: The physiological mechanisms from the depths of his psyche and genetic make-up to develop the potential of his aquatic origins, to become a Homo delphinus . Jacques Mayol predicted that within a couple of generations, some people would be able to dive to 300 metres (980 ft) and hold their breath for up to ten minutes. Today the no-limits record stands at 253 m ( Herbert Nitsch , June 2012). Serbian Branko Petrović holds

7979-401: The post-mortem, pre-, and post-burial histories of faunal assemblages is critical in determining their association with hominid activity and behaviour. For instance, to distinguish the bone assemblages that are produced by humans from those of non humans, much ethnoarchaeological observation has been done on different human groups and carnivores, to ascertain if there is anything different in

8080-518: The presence of photoautotrophic plankton in a benthic deposit that must have sunk to be deposited. A fossil deposit may thus become biased towards exotic species (i.e. species not endemic to that area) when the sedimentology is dominated by gravity-driven surges, such as mudslides, or may become biased if there are very few endemic organisms to be preserved. This is a particular problem in palynology . Because population turnover rates of individual taxa are much less than net rates of sediment accumulation,

8181-459: The preservation of soft tissue is not as rare as sometimes thought. Both DNA and proteins are unstable, and rarely survive more than hundreds of thousands of years before degrading. Polysaccharides also have low preservation potential, unless they are highly cross-linked; this interconnection is most common in structural tissues, and renders them resistant to chemical decay. Such tissues include wood ( lignin ), spores and pollen ( sporopollenin ),

8282-459: The preservation of soft tissue; indeed much decay is mediated by sulfate reducing bacteria which can only survive in anaerobic conditions. Anoxia does, however, reduce the probability that scavengers will disturb the dead organism, and the activity of other organisms is undoubtedly one of the leading causes of soft-tissue destruction. Plant cuticle is more prone to preservation if it contains cutan , rather than cutin . Plants and algae produce

8383-502: The primary bed that was broken up and dropped downward to create the Bimini Road would be trapped beneath the blocks as they also were broken up and dropped by erosion. The trapping of these fragments of beachrock beneath the blocks composing the Bimini Road, as erosion removed loose sediments and dropped them onto the surface of the Pleistocene limestone, would have created the so-called "prop" and "wedge" rocks and blocks alleged to be

8484-457: The process of autolysis within the carcasses delaying decay even further.   Endogenous gut bacteria have also been described to aid the preservation of invertebrate soft tissue by delaying decay and stabilizing soft tissue structures. Gut bacteria form pseudomorphs replicating the form of soft tissues within the animal. These pseudomorphs are possible explanation for the increased occurrence of preserved guts impression among invertebrates. In

8585-416: The process, because of bacteria. Changes begin as soon as the death of the organism: enzymes are released that destroy the organic contents of the tissues, and mineralised tissues such as bone, enamel and dentin are a mixture of organic and mineral components. Moreover, most often the organisms (vegetal or animal) are dead because they have been killed by a predator. The digestion modifies the composition of

8686-503: The processes involved in their fossilization. For example, if a fossil assemblage contains more of one type of fossil than another, one can infer either that the organism was present in greater numbers, or that its remains were more resistant to decomposition. During the late twentieth century, taphonomic data began to be applied to other paleontological subfields such as paleobiology , paleoceanography , ichnology (the study of trace fossils ) and biostratigraphy . By coming to understand

8787-620: The radiocarbon dates obtained from the beachrock composing the Bimini Road from the radiocarbon laboratory at the University of Miami as valid indicators of its age. Gifford and Ball attempted to establish a minimum age using uranium-thorium dating for the Bimini Road by dating a whole-rock sample of the marine limestone (biopelsparite) that underlies the beachrock that composes the Bimini Road. They described this sample as being "Whole rock marine limestone under beachrock off Paradise Point, North Bimini; some recrystallisation." This sample yielded

8888-456: The record for Static Apnea at 11 minutes and 54 seconds (October 2014). Croatian Goran Čolak holds the record for static apnea on pure oxygen at 23 minutes 1 second (June 2014). The film The Big Blue , directed by Luc Besson in 1988, was inspired by his life story and the life story of the Italian diver Enzo Maiorca and their friendship. Mayol was one of the screenwriters . Mayol

8989-426: The scientific research phase of his career, Mayol tried to answer the question of whether man had a hidden aquatic potential that could be evoked by rigorous physiological and psychological training. Mayol's lifelong passion for diving was based on his love for the ocean, his personal philosophy, and his desire to explore his own limits. During his lifetime, he helped introduce the then-elitist sport of free-diving into

9090-500: The sea bottom by several metres without significant lateral movement as the result of scour and settling processes if an erosion-resistant layer of sediment were not encountered. In case of the beachrock blocks composing the Bimini Road and other pieces underlying it, the erosion-resistant layer that limited how far they were dropped downward by scour and settling processes is the Pleistocene limestone on which they now rest. Finally, pieces of thinner layers or lenses of beachrock underlying

9191-404: The sediments underlying the eroding shoreline were eroded down to Pleistocene limestone, the beachrock broke into flat-lying, tabular, and roughly rectangular, polygonal, and irregular blocks as observed for modern beaches within the Bahamas by E. Davaud and A. Strasser. Thinner layers of beachrock underlying the primary bed of beachrock were also broken up as the loose sediments enclosing them and

9292-563: The sequence of events likely responsible for creating beachrock pavements like the Bimini Road. First, a complete beach sequence of shallow subtidal, intertidal, and supratidal carbonate sediments accumulated as the shoreline of North Bimini built seaward during part of the Holocene. Once the deposition of these sediments built the North Bimini's shoreline seaward, freshwater cementation of the carbonate occurred at some depth, possibly even

9393-531: The tessellated pavement of the Bouddi Peninsula near Sydney , Australia ; and Arches National Park in Utah . Natural beachrock pavements that are identical to the Bimini Road have been found eroding out of the east shore of Loggerhead Key of Dry Tortugas and submerged beneath 90 metres (300 feet) of water at Pulley Ridge off the southwest coast of Florida . Although it is generally considered to be

9494-634: The thicker primary bed were eroded. As the loose sediment was scoured out from under the blocks and other pieces of beachrock by so-called "scour and settling processes", they dropped downward for several metres until they rested directly on the erosion-resistant Pleistocene limestone as an erosional lag. Eugene Shinn discusses a similar, but not identical, process by which the Bimini Road could have been created. The downward movement of large, solid objects by scour and settling processes has been documented by Jesse E. McNinch, John T. Wells, and other researchers. They concluded that large, heavy objects could sink into

9595-413: The various blocks composing the Bimini Road for later investigators to find. Attempts have been made to determine the age of this feature using different techniques. These include direct radiocarbon dating of the stones composing the Bimini Road and uranium-thorium dating of the marine limestone on which the Bimini Road lies. In 1978, the radiocarbon laboratory operated by the Department of Geology at

9696-498: The wrong place at the wrong time (e.g. the Silurian Herefordshire lagerstätte ). The geological record is very discontinuous, and deposition is episodic at all scales. At the largest scale, a sedimentological high-stand period may mean that no deposition may occur for millions of years and, in fact, erosion of the deposit may occur. Such a hiatus is called an unconformity . Conversely, a catastrophic event such as

9797-670: Was a French diver and the holder of many world records in free diving . The 1988 film The Big Blue , directed by Luc Besson , was inspired by his life story and that of his friend, Enzo Maiorca . Mayol was one of the screenwriters and authored the book Homo Delphinus: the Dolphin Within Man of his philosophy about the aquatic origins of humans . Jacques Mayol was a French national born in Shanghai , China . Mayol spent his summer holidays in Karatsu (Japan) every year as

9898-496: Was between 90 and 95 metres (295 and 312 feet) above sea level at the time indicated by the uranium-thorium date of 14,992±258 BP (7132-19/2). Therefore, it is physically impossible for the marine limestone underlying the Bimini Road to have accumulated around 15,000 BP. Thus, this uranium-thorium date is a meaningless, invalid date lacking any scientific significance. Because this date lacks any scientific meaning, geologists and archaeologists rarely mention it in their discussions of

9999-564: Was in the process of circumnavigating the globe in 1421–3, it stopped at Bimini. According to Menzies, half of the fleet, under the command of admiral Zhou Wen, was caught in a hurricane near Bimini and built the Bimini Road from beach rock and the ships' ballast as a slipway to haul damaged junks ashore for refitting and repairs of damage caused by the hurricane. 25°46′01″N 79°16′44″W  /  25.766967°N 79.278826°W  / 25.766967; -79.278826 Jacques Mayol Jacques Mayol (1 April 1927 – 22 December 2001)

10100-432: Was processed. When the artifact is deposited, abiotic and biotic modifications occur. These can include thermal alteration, rodent disturbances, gnaw marks, and the effects of soil pH to name a few. While taphonomic methodology can be applied and used to study a variety of materials such as buried ceramics and lithics, its primary application in archaeology involves the examination of organic residues. Interpretation of

10201-582: Was the subject of the 2017 documentary film Dolphin Man (L'Homme dauphin, sur les traces de Jacques Mayol) , directed by Lefteris Charitos . On 22 December 2001 Mayol committed suicide by hanging himself at his villa in Elba , Italy after struggling with depression. He was 74 years old. His ashes were spread over the Tuscany coast. Friends have erected a monument to him in the southeast of Elba at 16 metres (52 ft) depth. Taphonomy Taphonomy

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