Dr. Dung’s Discovery
Eastern Oregon find sheds light on early Americans.
It's not uncommon to carry a bit of work home at the end of the day: the editor reads the newspaper with an eye for errors; the chef analyzes the family dinner; the actor criticizes the nightly sitcom. And, what of the archaeologist? Dennis Jenkins, Ph.D. '’91, a University of Oregon senior research associate who has spent years studying coprolites—dried or fossilized dung—laughingly admits his work follows him home too: "I wander around and take a look at my dog’s poop and go, 'Oh, look at that.'"
This spring, Jenkins was part of an international team of scientists who made worldwide headlines after Science published news of their research on coprolites found in the Paisley Caves of southeast Oregon. Within minutes of the article’s publication, Jenkins’ grinning, bearded face appeared on websites from Minneapolis to Munich, proudly displaying the poop that is helping scientists rewrite the timeline of people in the western hemisphere. In late June, the History Channel featured Jenkins’ research in its first showing of All About Dung, an “excremental safari” on the historical, medical, scientific, and evolutionary importance of poop.
Often mistaken for rocks and overlooked by scientists, coprolites have been studied with increasing interest over the past 180 years. Oxford geology professor Reverend William Buckland was the first to identify these artifacts for what they were, and in 1829 coined the term coprolite from the Greek words kopros, meaning "dung," and lithos, meaning "stone."
Jenkins’ coprolites—which earned him the nickname “Dr. Dung” among his colleagues—more closely resemble dirt clods than anything of archaeological significance. Though they may not look like much, the coprolites are anything but average: they have helped push scientists’ estimates for the date of earliest human habitation in the New World back by 1,300 years.
For decades, scientists believed that the Clovis civilization, which existed 13,000 years ago, was the first significant human presence in the Americas. An abundance of artifacts, including the carved points from weapons, found across both continents, proves that the Clovis people were widespread and well established. But recent discoveries in Peru, in South Carolina—and now in Oregon—indicate that the title of first Americans likely belongs to a different, much older, group of people. Jenkins hopes the 14,300-year-old Paisley coprolites may help dispel the “Clovis first” idea altogether. “Can you imagine that anything so little and so insignificant—and [that] kind of grosses everybody out—could be so important?” Jenkins muses.
In 2002, during his thirteenth summer of working with the UO Northern Great Basin Archaeology Field School, Jenkins took a team of students to the Paisley Caves. Along with basket fragments, sagebrush rope, and wooden pegs, students unearthed dozens of coprolites. Suspecting that humans may have left some of the ancient feces, Jenkins began analyzing them in search of clues about diets, finding seeds, bone fragments, and hair. By looking closely at a coprolite, Jenkins says, a careful observer can “reconstruct the environment” in which it was produced and learn a great deal about the animal that produced it.
Jenkins teamed up in 2003 with scientists from around the world to extract DNA from several of the coprolites. Independent laboratories conducted tests that showed six of the samples contained human DNA, most likely from people of Siberian or East Asian descent. As exciting as that discovery was, the team anticipated the relics held the answer to a far more important question: just how long ago did these people live?
But, being scientists, there was no rushing to conclusions. “I proceeded very cautiously,” Jenkins says. “Every step of the way we have multiple strands of evidence.” Their diligence paid off when radiocarbon dating revealed that the coprolites were the oldest yet found in the western world.
While these findings are hard evidence that pre-Clovis people had been in the Paisley Caves, the idea is not brand new; it was originally suggested by Luther Cressman, the first member of the UO’s anthropology department. Cressman was a University faculty member for thirty-five years and is considered the father of Oregon archaeology. Among his notable contributions was the discovery of 9,000-year-old sagebrush sandals, unearthed at Fort Rock Cave, that were, until recently, the oldest shoes ever found. But Cressman (who was briefly married to famed anthropologist Margaret Mead early in his career) is best remembered for discovering, in the early 1930s, that humans began inhabiting the Northwest as early as anywhere else in North America. Then, in 1938, Cressman tried to take that theory a step further.
On his first visit to the Paisley Caves, Cressman was joined by archaeologist Ernst Antevs, who immediately recognized the area’s significance, calling the caves, as Cressman writes in his memoir, “one of the most important sites for Early Man in the whole West.” Cressman spent three summers at the caves digging below the layer of ash marking the eruption of Mount Mazama, the cataclysmic blast that created Crater Lake approximately 7,500 years ago. He unearthed bones of ancient bison and camels, as well as artifacts that indicated humans had been in the area. Those findings led Cressman to believe that people had been in the caves at the same time as these large animals. But there was no way to prove the age of the artifacts (the now-common practice of radiocarbon dating wasn’t developed until 1949), so the theory was widely dismissed. Seventy years after his first visit to Paisley and fourteen years after his death, Cressman’s idea is getting new life through Jenkins and his research.
For Jenkins, who has spent much of his career working with desert archaeology, the Paisley coprolites represent an opportunity to delve further into the mysteries of human history. With each new discovery, he says, the sum of scientific knowledge about the past grows and each bit of the archaeological jigsaw puzzle is fitted into the overall picture more quickly. “I feel like we’re really making some super strides now,” Jenkins says.
— Kate Griesmann
Small investment, big payoff
Oregonians spur a medical advance and an energy-saving technology—while getting a tax break.
Two UO research groups are applying science to improve medical care and save potentially huge amounts of energy—with voluntary financial support from the citizens of Oregon. The projects are receiving funding through private gifts to the University Venture Development Fund, a state income tax credit program designed to help move research discoveries from the laboratory to the marketplace.
Mark Lonergan ’90, associate professor of chemistry and director of the UO Materials Science Institute, together with David Stay, a graduate student in Lonergan’s chemistry lab, are engineering a prototype for a new lighting technology. Their patent-pending work has applications in the semiconductor industry and for consumer products ranging from under-cabinet lighting to streetlights. If successful, their innovation will significantly improve on the stability and efficiency of polymer light-emitting electrochemical cells used for solid-state lighting. One-fifth of the nation’s electricity goes for lighting, and the U.S. Department of Energy’s goal is to increase efficiency by at least 50 percent through advances in solid-state lighting.
Terry Takahashi, professor of biology and director of the UO Institute of Neuroscience, will create the first prototype of a device to evaluate hearing that does not depend on a patient’s ability to answer questions. The concept arises from Takahashi’s work with barn owls, which led to the discovery that the pupils of the eyes dilate in response to sounds. Recently completed trials found that the dilation response is as reliable as conventional ways of testing human hearing. One potential application of this technology would be in diagnosing or treating patients unable to otherwise communicate about their hearing with doctors—for example, a young child not yet able to talk or an unconscious or comatose accident victim.
Gifts to venture development funds at the UO and other participating Oregon campuses provide a source of targeted funding for highly promising projects at critical stages of development, says Rich Linton, vice president for research and graduate studies.
“Our experience at the University of Oregon shows that relatively small strategic investments during these stages can be crucially important over the long term,” Linton says. “The innovations we have selected for the first round of awards from the UO’s University Venture Development Fund have compelling potential to provide great social and economic benefit.”
A total of $58,000 will fund the next stages of development for the Lonergan and Takahashi projects.
Since the tax credits took effect in October 2007, the UO has received gifts totaling $721,062. The UO can award the 60 percent tax credit on the first $3.27 million in gifts designated for its venture development fund.
Under the venture development fund program, donors can receive a 60 percent tax credit by contributing to one or more funds at state-supported universities in Oregon. For an overview of Oregon’s University Venture Development Fund program, including FAQs and links to participating universities, visit www.ous.edu/venturefund. For details about the UO’s venture development fund, visit http://uoventurefund.uoregon.edu.
The UO Office of Technology Transfer focuses on helping university inventions successfully make the transition from academia to the commercial marketplace. Since 1992, the University of Oregon has received more than eighty United States patents and numerous non–U.S. patents. UO research has given birth to scores of commercially marketed products, including monoclonal antibodies and other biomedical research tools; computer software for scientific research, for teaching, and just for fun; early-childhood support systems for use by schools and social workers; and even innovative furniture designs.
UO researchers and staff members have helped create a number of successful companies over the years, including Electrical Geodesics, a world leader in dense-array EEG acquisition and analysis; On Time Systems, a developer of innovative algorithms for scheduling complex tasks; Just Write, a company that markets intelligent bridge-playing software; and sportswear giant Nike.
IN BRIEF
New provost named
Senior Vice President and Provost Linda Brady was recently elected chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. On July 1, Charles H. Lundquist College of Business dean James Bean replaced Brady on a two-year basis. Bean has served as the Harry B. Miller Professor of Business and dean of the Lundquist College since 2004.
Three Deans appointed
An internationally recognized expert on sports finance and former head of the marketing department, Dennis Howard ’66, will replace James Bean as business school dean.
Michael Bullis, Ph.D. ’83, has been appointed dean of the UO College of Education. Bullis, the Sommerville-Knight Professor of Education, is a nationally recognized expert on at-risk youth and vocational preparation of youth with disabilities. He served as interim dean in 2005 and accepted a two-year appointment as dean in 2006.
David Frank, professor of rhetoric, has become the first dean of the UO’s Robert D. Clark Honors College, the nation’s oldest four-year, public honors college.
Ducks in Portland
Wendy Larson ’74, a professor of East Asian languages and literatures and former dean of the UO’s College of Arts and Sciences, has been named vice provost of Portland programs. Larson will be based in the University’s 103,000-square-foot White Stag Block in downtown Portland. The newly refurbished facility consolidates many University of Oregon offerings in subjects such as journalism, architecture, digital arts, product design, and law in a downtown location.
Kate Wagle, head of the Department of Art since 1999, is now the administrative director
of the School of Architecture and Allied Arts’ recently expanded Portland programs.
Oregon Bach Festival sets records
With a second straight year of sales growth, besting its previous high-revenue mark by 12 percent, the Oregon Bach Festival enjoyed one of the most successful seasons in its history. Night after night of sold-out concerts grossed more than $500,000 in ticket sales to audiences totaling more than 32,000.
Homecoming
Tailgating, a parade, the 13th Avenue Street Faire, and battling the UCLA Bruins in Autzen Stadium are just a few of the activities on tap for the 2008 Homecoming and Family Weekend, October 6 through 12. For the latest details, visit uoalumni.com/homecoming.
Oregon online
New encyclopedia created, beginning to grow.
With any luck, and a whole lot of help from its friends, Oregon will soon have a comprehensive online encyclopedia of all things Oregonian. In fact, you can easily check on it, or, if you get the notion, contribute suggestions or articles to its completion.
Following three years of discussion and planning the compendium’s website, www.oregonencyclopedia.org, has been up and running since February 14, the 149th anniversary of statehood. It is, of course, next year’s Big One, Oregon’s 150th birthday celebration, that inspired this effort to create a useful one-stop reference work for learning about Oregon’s culture and history.
The project came about as the result of sesquicentennial celebration planning conversations among staff members of Portland State University, the Oregon Historical Society, and the Oregon Council for the Humanities. Portland State and the Oregon Historical Society eventually took the lead role while OCH opted for sponsorship. Other key organizations involved are the University of Oregon and Oregon Cultural Trust. An extensive statewide encyclopedia working group—including a number of UO alumni and members of its faculty and staff—is working to make the Oregon Encyclopedia a reality.
“I can’t remember any group of people being so enthusiastic about a project over such a long period. It’s really quite remarkable,” says William L. Lang, one of the project’s three editors in chief and a PSU professor of history. “We’re very strongly driven by the desire to preserve Oregon’s diverse history and culture.”
The encyclopedia features short but detailed biographies of prominent Oregonians, accounts of our state’s well-known historical events, and photographs taken from the archives of the Oregon Historical Society. But it also contains articles on some of our more recent or otherwise obscure times, places, and people. A piece on the Vortex rock concert of 1970, written by William G. Robbins, M.A. ’65, Ph.D. ’69, an Oregon State University professor emeritus of history, is a great example of writing about recent history that helps explain not just the event itself but the turbulent times and the tangled context of it as well. An article titled “The Great Waterfront Strike of 1934” by Michael Munk, M.A. ’59, brings to light a largely forgotten event in labor history, the single largest work stoppage in our state’s history, involving some 50,000 workers and lasting eighty-two violence-laced days.
Other entries include Glen Love, University of Oregon emeritus professor of English, writing on the life and work of native Oregonian H. L. Davis, whose first novel Honey in the Horn won the 1936 Pulitzer Prize and is recognized as one of the great works of Northwest literature; Richard Etulain, Ph.D. ’66, on Basques in Oregon; and Henry Zink, Ph.D. ’84, exploring the origin, use, and decline of Chinook Trade Jargon in Oregon.
The encyclopedia’s editors are holding a series of thirty public meetings around the state. While the meetings are designed to promote awareness of the project in the hope of soliciting entries and funding, the prospect of discovering little-known stories through the meetings has the project’s planners particularly excited. The stories of groups of immigrants who have arrived in the state during the past fifty years or so, for example, have been largely untold. There are also probably some tales from the tawdry side of life that can now be told—long past the time when public exposure would bring anyone still living any harm.
“We really want to find things that have been missed or neglected and bring them to light,” says James Fox, a member of the encyclopedia’s editorial board and head of Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Oregon Libraries—and the writer of encyclopedia entries on photographer Thomas Leander Moorhouse and rock and roll pioneer Johnnie Ray.
The Oregon Encyclopedia Project is both similar to and different from other online, contributor-generated information sources known as wikis. Oregon Encyclopedia articles can be created by anyone, but unlike the well-known Wikipedia, all entries are rigorously fact-checked and edited.
The submission process begins with a query to the editorial board outlining the proposed topic and its significance to Oregon history and culture. This step helps to avoid duplication in topics for articles, but it also helps the editors to identify and weed out self-serving submissions aimed at promoting personal or commercial interests. Having received a go-ahead, the author then writes a piece that must be footnoted with citations for the sources of its facts and include a list of works that an encyclopedia reader might want to consult for further information about the topic.
When the website debuted in February of this year, it contained a mere half-dozen articles. It is hoped—perhaps a bit optimistically—that some 3,000 entries will be completed and posted in time for the kickoff of the sesquicentennial celebration.
It takes a great deal of work to handle the flow of queries and electronic manuscripts. The Oregon Encyclopedia group has enlisted a small paid staff and numerous volunteers to get the job done. “I feel very honored to be able to do this,” says Fox, “and the University has been very supportive.”
It also takes a surprisingly large amount of money for this project, considering the volunteer nature of most of the work—the project is expected to cost some $1 million. The project’s editors in chief believe that attracting funding from corporate and private donations will be crucial to the encyclopedia’s success. The money, according to PSU’s Lang, is being well-spent: “People don’t need an encyclopedia to sustain their bodies, but we do need one to sustain our culture.”
— Robert Leo Heilman
Vortex I
During the war-hot summer of 1970, thousands of young people began streaming toward Clackamas County’s Milo McIver State Park to attend Vortex I, a state-sponsored rock-music festival . . . . The festival was strategically planned to attract young anti–Vietnam War protesters who otherwise might descend on Portland to disrupt the American Legion’s annual convention, which would begin on Sunday, August 30. (See photo above.)
— William G. Robbins,
M.A. ’65, Ph.D. ’69
Basques
The first Basques to Oregon arrived in the late 1880s. These Euskaldunak, or newcomers, usually migrated north and east from Nevada and California, often as sheepherders, and settled in the southeast corner of the state. The number of Basques continued to expand in eastern Oregon into the 1920s and 1930s, especially in the Jordan Valley, Steens Mountain, and Ontario areas, but from 1940 on, the influx of immigrant Basques rapidly declined. By the end of the twentieth century, the Basque presence in Oregon had notably shifted, with the largest concentrations now living outside the eastern parts of the state and in or near western urban areas such as Portland.
— Richard Etulain, Ph.D. ’66
Johnnie Ray
Johnnie Ray was completely
different from anything
that went before him. . .
I consider Johnnie Ray to be
the father of rock and roll.
— Tony Bennett
In the early 1950s, Johnnie Ray was the biggest musical star in the world. His emotional singing and sexually suggestive performances earned him the titles “The Prince of Wails,” “The Cry Guy,” and “The Million Dollar Teardrop”; they also put him at the top of the music charts. From Sydney to Chicago and London, teenage riots erupted wherever Johnnie went. Many who were a part of the music scene in the 1950s find it unbelievable that Johnnie Ray, whose singing turned the pop music world upside down and opened the way for Elvis, has been largely forgotten today. They remember Johnnie as the first rock and roll star.
— James Fox, Head of UO Special Collections and University Archives
PROFile
Peter Mills
Gerald B. Bashaw Professor of Busines
“If you leave my class satisfied, something is amiss,” says business professor Peter Mills. “You’re supposed to leave my course saying, ‘Let me think abou t what he said.’ Then I know I would have succeeded.
”Mills’ students can often be seen in the halls of the Lillis Business Complex poring over their reading assignments, scribbling frantic notes to prepare for class discussions, and holding heated debates with their peers. As a teacher, Mills admits, “I am quite demanding.” But in the brave new world of business, where the sale of things has been usurped by the sale of ideas, mental strength and flexibility are vital, so Mills uses his classroom as an intellectual gymnasium.
Mills’ business strategy course is one of the final requirements for students completing their undergraduate business degrees: a capstone course that unites the skills gained through other course work. In his classroom, teams of six to eight students select a publicly traded company such as Bank of America, IBM, or General Motors (invariably someone chooses Nike, Mills says with a smile) to follow throughout the quarter. The students work with up-to-the-minute information on their chosen corporation, using raw data from stock quotes and quarterly reports to see how the ideas Mills presents in his lectures play out on Wall Street. “It takes it out of the blue sky,” Mills says of this practical approach. “If the concept isn’t applicable, what’s the point?”
But some students don’t see the use of all this intellectual heavy lifting—right away. One former student in particular, Mills recalls, “couldn’t see why we were doing this nonsense.” The seemingly preposterous market analysis techniques she had so begrudgingly mastered became invaluable after graduation, she admitted later. Those skills were precisely what were required at her first job by her Harvard-trained M.B.A. boss.
Mills explains that his task as a teacher is not merely to cultivate competent business professionals, but finely tuned minds, capable of taking on the intellectual challenges of a complex global marketplace and their own burgeoning careers. “We exist in a culture of critical discourse,” he says. “You should develop healthy skepticisms . . . even about the things I say.”
Name: Peter Mills
Education: B.S. ’70 in business management and M.B.A. ’71, California State University, Long Beach; Ph.D. ’78 in business administration, Stockholm University; Ph.D. ’80 in organization theory and behavior, University of California, Irvine.
Teaching experience: Charles H. Lundquist College of Business professor since 1995. Visiting professor at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, in 2005. Associate professor at Indiana University’s graduate school of business from 1989 through 1995.
Awards: Dozens of teaching awards, including most recently the UO’s 2008 Thomas F. Herman Faculty Achievement Award for Distinguished Teaching.
Off campus: Mills loves jazz, reading (and rereading) classic works of existential philosophy, and tending to the ferns and phlox in his English cottage garden.
