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Caleb Vance Haynes Jr. (born February 29, 1928) is an American archaeologist, geologist and author who specializes in the archaeology of the American Southwest. Haynes "revolutionized the fields of geoarchaeology and archaeological geology."Holland, Eric. (2000) Caleb Vance Haynes, 1928–Present . Retrieved on February 3, 2010. He is known for unearthing and studying artifacts of Paleo-Indians including ones from Sandia Cave in the 1960s, work which helped to establish the timeline of human migration through North America. Haynes coined the term "black mat" for a layer of 10,000-year-old swamp soil seen in many North American archaeological studies. Argonaut (2007) "Paleoindian Studies and Geoarchaeology at the University of Arizona." Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
Haynes was elected in 1990 to the National Academy of Sciences. From 1996 to 2004, Haynes worked to keep the Kennewick Man discovery available for science. Currently an emeritus Regents' professor at the University of Arizona, Haynes is still active in the School of Anthropology.Harwood, Lori (December 9, 2009) "New UA School of Anthropology Offers Enhanced Opportunities for Students." UANews, University of Arizona. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
One of Haynes's grandfathers was Caleb Hill Haynes Jr., a Democrat in the North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Manual, 1933. Page 184. "Caleb Hill Haynes." Retrieved on January 31, 2010. Haynes's most famous great-grandfather was Chang Bunker, a twin of the first pair of conjoined twins to be called "Siamese Twins".Arlington National Cemetery. Caleb Vance Haynes, Major General, United States Air Force. Retrieved on January 31, 2010.
Haynes enrolled in the Colorado School of Mines, studying Geologic Engineering (with the Mining Option) for two years. Like his father, Haynes entered the USAF; he served for almost four years 1951–1954. During this time, he was posted to air bases in Fairbanks, Austin, El Paso and in Albuquerque. At each station he indulged his interest in archaeology, and sought contact with some of the early researchers studying Paleoindian traces. He was interested in rocketry and guided missiles, and was posted to special weapons units, including a stint at Sandia Base adjoining Albuquerque. In the Albuquerque area on his days off, he explored early human settlement sites with an Air Force colleague. After his military stint, Haynes returned to the Colorado School of Mines, earning his Bachelor of Science degree in geology and archaeology in 1956.
Later, Haynes became one of the leading proponents and defenders of 'Clovis first' theory. Haynes has been critical of all proposed pre-Clovis sites for failure to provide unequivocal evidence and to consider alternative hypotheses.
He earned his PhD in 1965, and joined in archaeological digs at Hell Gap and Sister's Hill in Wyoming. Fred Wendorf invited Haynes to join the High Plains Paleoecology Project (HPPP), an association which led to his first work at the Clovis archaeological dig, Blackwater Draw Locality 1. His careful dating of Clovis carbon traces provided Haynes with one of the most significant advances in the understanding of early human activity and migration in North America.
Haynes has primarily been interested in determining how the New World was populated by humans. Other interests of his include studies of the Quaternary extinction event, the Pleistocene–Holocene transition in which megafauna died off in great numbers. Haynes has studied both modern and historic climate change, human occupation of the Sahara, and battlefield archaeology. Dr. C. Vance Haynes Jr., School of Anthropology, University of Arizona.
Haynes has studied the disappearance from Earth of its largest animals approximately 11,000–10,900 years ago. Haynes questions the theorists who say humans killed off the large mammals by predation, as well as the theorists who look to an asteroid impact. He suspects it was a combination of drought and human predation as animals concentrated at watering places as per Jelinek (1967). Haynes notes that the extinction period could have been as short as one century—he concludes that too little is known, and more research must be undertaken to achieve complete understanding.Harrison, Jeff (April 22, 2009) "Did a Significant Cool Spell Mark the Demise of Megafauna?" UANews, University of Arizona. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
In 1997, Haynes co-authored a memorial of his teacher Emil Haury, an article written with Raymond Harris Thompson and James Jefferson Reid which appeared in Biographical Memoirs, Volume 72, of the National Academy of Sciences.
On September 28, 1999, some 90 former students of Haynes converged at the University of Arizona to honor him during a two-day symposium.Stiles, Lori (September 28, 1999) "Former Students to Honor Vance Haynes at Symposium." UANews, University of Arizona.
The Argonaut Archaeological Research Fund (AARF) was the recipient in Fall 2002 of Haynes's extensive collection of 800 mostly epoxy resin, with some acrylic, casts made from Paleoindian projectile points. The collection is housed at the School of Anthropology at the University of Arizona. The C. Vance Haynes Paleoindian Cast Collection. Argonaut Archaeological Research Fund. University of Arizona, 2007. Retrieved on February 3, 2010.
In 2003–2004, Haynes submitted arguments to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit with other scientists to question various tribal claims to the remains of the Kennewick Man, estimated to be 8,340 to 9,200 years old, in order to determine which tribe, if any, it could be identified with. The remains in question were ones that Haynes said predated any organized tribes currently known, and as such could not be considered the direct ancestor of any of the tribes who sought to have the bone fragments immediately reburied. United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit. - 367 F.3d 864. Argued and Submitted September 10, 2003. Filed February 4, 2004. Amended April 19, 2004. Retrieved on February 3, 2010. Writing to the Army Corps of Engineers on October 3, 1996, Haynes was one of the first scientists to question the rights of the several Native American tribes wishing to take possession of the skeleton and to rebury it—he argued that the skeleton should be studied by qualified scientists.Haynes, C. Vance Jr. "Claims to the Remains." NOVA Online. Mystery of the First Americans. PBS, 2000. Retrieved on February 3, 2010. In mid-October, he and seven other scientists sued to gain access to the skeleton, and to prevent its "repatriation" with Indian tribes.Slayman, Andrew (January–February 1997) "Special Report: A Battle Over Bones." Retrieved on February 3, 2010. The court concluded that the Kennewick Man could not be considered "Native American" as defined by the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act.
He also documented previously unknown Paleolithic sites and the historic camps of early desert travelers. Some of this work is presented in a special issue of the journal Geoarchaeology (January 2001, volume 16, number 1). Paleoindian Studies and Geoarchaeology at the University of Arizona arizona.edu
Later, Haynes studied this phenomenon, and renamed it as “black mat”. Radiocarbon dates indicate that it formed between 9,800 and 10,800 BP.Haynes, C. Vance Jr. (2007) Radiocarbon dating at Murray Springs and Curry Draw. In Murray Springs: A Clovis Site with Multiple Activity Areas in the San Pedro Valley, Arizona, edited by C. Vance Haynes Jr. and Bruce B. Huckell, pp. 229–239. University of Arizona Press, Tucson
Over 60 geoarchaeological sites bridging the Pleistocene–Holocene transition (last deglaciation) exhibit this "black mat"; it is a black organic-rich layer in the form of mollic paleosols, aquolls, and diatomites. This layer is associated with the Younger Dryas cooling episode ~10,900 B.P. to ~10,000 B.P., and covers the surfaces on which the last remnants of the terminal Pleistocene megafauna are recorded.
According to Haynes, 'black mat' is a general term that also includes the similar other deposits of various shades of grey or even white, because some Younger Dryas marls and diatomites are actually white to grey in color. Firestone and colleagues published an Inner Traditions trade book about cosmic catastrophes in which they claimed that raised levels of radioactivity were associated with the mat at the Murray Springs Clovis Site.Richard Firestone, Allen West, Simon Warwick-Smith, The Cycle of Cosmic Catastrophes: How a Stone-Age Comet Changed the Course of World Culture. Inner Traditions / Bear & Co, 2006 p48 But Haynes found no such radioactive anomaly of the black mat or the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary that it covers at Murray Springs, Lehner Ranch, or Blackwater Draw. Astrophysicist David Morrison later characterized Firestone's book as "catastrophist pseudoscience" "Did a Cosmic Impact Kill the Mammoths?” Skeptical Inquirer 34, 2010
In the late 1990s, it was reported that, in the North American Great Basin area, black mats actually occur between 11,000 and 6300 BP (cal). Also, some had occurred post-2300 BP (cal). However, there's an extensive cluster of them near 10,000 BP.K. Kris Hirst, Clovis, Black Mats, and Extra-Terrestrials archaeology.about.com
This Rancholabrean termination or extinction is now dated at 10,900 ± 50 B.P.
A hobby of Haynes is the collecting and researching the design and development of the elegant Springfield Officers Model Rifle (OMR), 1875-1885, by the National Armory at Springfield, Massachusetts. This was to replace the tedious customizing of sporting rifles by production of a standard model for officers to use on campaigns during the Indian wars in the west. This was for hunting to supplement the bland diet of salt pork and hardtack for the troops in the field.
Haynes also contributed to battlefield archaeology and geology for the National Park Service at the Little Bighorn, Washita, and Yellowstone battlefields, 1868-1877.
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