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Bone From a Dry Sea Pages 116-125

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Summary

Vinny's dad is annoyed because Dr. Azikwe keeps talking to him while he is trying to work. Vinny begins to talk to him to try to divert his attention from her dad. She asks his about some shell fragment fossils and ends up also asking about Elaine Morgan's sea-ape theory. Dr. Azikwe laughs at her so she begins to argue with him about it. Afterwards, Vinny's dad gets mad at her for bringing up the sea-ape theory. Dr. Hamiska then arrives at the sight and begins inspecting the shell fragment fossils. He discovers strike marks on the pieces and believes that someone hit and smashed them. That night, in their tent, Vinny brings up the sea-ape theory with her dad again. His attitude towards the theory does not change and he still thinks it's untrue.

Stratigraphy

Stratigraphy is the study of layers or strata and is specifically used with the Law of Superposition.

[1] Strata are basically layers stacked on top of each other made of sediments. Examples of stratigraphy in A Bone from a Dry Sea are:

"Keep them with the H-layer material--that bag there." - pg. 117

"Most of the pieces were from something like a mussel, about the size of her thumb joint, but there were three from a creature which must have been about as big as her palm. The H-layer was important--it was the one which had had the hominid fossilsw in it, immediatly above the tuff." - pg. 118

Each layer of strata is believed to represent a different time period. Within each strata layer many things are found such as sediments, rocks, fossils, and artifacts. These help us to determine the age of the Earth and to discover what life was like in each time period. [2]

[[Image:http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1280&bih=568&tbm=isch&tbnid=CJEZPmbwFalj9M:&imgrefurl=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter54/text-MonteAlegre/text-MtAlegre.htm&imgurl=http://www.andaman.org/BOOK/chapter54/text-MonteAlegre/PedraPintada-stratigraphy.jpg&w=723&h=612&ei=u5NGUJK7NaXRyQHmwYHACA&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=108&vpy=190&dur=639&hovh=207&hovw=244&tx=98&ty=85&sig=104302200666708554376&page=1&tbnh=156&tbnw=184&start=0&ndsp=11&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:103]]

Lena Musallam

References

1. http://archserve.id.ucsb.edu/courses/anth/fagan/anth3/Courseware/Chronology/04_Stratigraphy.html

2. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-stratigraphy.htm

3. Dickinson, Peter. A Bone From a Dry Sea. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Books, 1992. Print.