Experimental Re-creation of the Depositional Context in Which Late Pleistocene Tracks Were Found on the Pacific Coast of Canada
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Abstract To better understand the depositional context of Late Pleistocene human tracks found at archaeology site EjTa-4 on Calvert Island, on the Pacific Coast of Canada, we present here the results of an experiment designed to recreate the conditions by which these tracks were formed, preserved and then revealed through excavation. Based on radiocarbon ages on small twigs and the analysis of sediments and microfossils, the interpretation of the site formation processes relate that the tracks were impressed into a clayey soil substrate just above the high tide line between 13,317 and 12,633 calBP. The features were subsequently encapsulated by black sand, which washed over the tracks from the nearby intertidal zone during a storm event. To test this interpretation, we enlisted the aid of high school student volunteers to recreate the conditions by which the tracks were formed. A clayey substrate was prepared in a laboratory setting at the University of Victoria and a few plant macrofossils were placed on top it. This was followed by having the students create tracks in the clay, which were then covered with a layer of sand. Upon excavation of these experimental tracks, we found that they had a very similar character to those found in the field, including the pressing of macrofossils into the clay by the weight of the track maker. These results support the interpretation and chronological assessment of the depositional events that occurred during late Pleistocene times at archaeology site EjTa-4.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.002 | 0.002 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".