Page/4/The Battalion /Tuesday, October 16, 1984
Pollen helps identify ancient man’s diet
By KIM GRIFFITHS
Reporter
Pollen, the world’s oldest pollut
ant and enemy to 1.8 million noses in
America suffering from hay fever,
has proved to be an important scien
tific tool in recreating human life
and climate thousands of years ago,
a Texas A&M researcher says in this
month’s National Geographic mag
azine.
Under a blazing sun in Seminole
Canyon near Del Rio, Dr. Vaughn
Bryant, who heads the University’s
Anthropology Department, was able
to piece together ancient man’s diet
9,000 years ago using fossilized hu
man feces and extracting the pollen
from these remains.
Dr. Vaughn Bryant, prepares a pollen slide.
Photo by MIKE SANCHEZ
“They definitely were not picky
eaters,” Bryant said, citing a main
course of packrat, mice or lizard.
Cactus, beans, agave or flowers from
a mesquite tree served as their “main
potat,” he said.
The technique calls for the pollen
experts, called palynologists, to me
ticulously count and identify thou
sands of grains under a microscope.
If that sounds tedious, it is.
“It’s like looking through the end
of a Coke bottle for hours,” Bryant
said. “And if you don’t wear glasses
by the time you’re 40, maybe you
haven’t been working hard enough.”
But to define flora is also to define
climate and so a thin slice of pollen-
filled earth may represent a land
scape scenario millions of years old,
according to the article.
Anthropologists studied the cliff
site near Del Rio — once used as a buf
falo jump — and were puzzled as to
why 7,500 years had passed between
major kills by Indian hunters.
Pollen extracted from within deep
earth core samplings suggested to
Bryant a change of climate between
10,000 and 15,000 years ago had re
sulted in the bison migrating into
Southwest Texas for better grazing.
“With an ice cap sitting on top of
Chicago, Texas was cooler and more
moist then; that’s clear from the pol
len record,” Bryant said. “But as the
ice melted, forests of maple, spruce
and birch gave way to the grasslands
and Post Oak Savannah vegetation
of Texas today.”
Not only were these animals being
hunted by humans, Bryant said, but
they were unable to change their
habits as fast as the vegetation and
climate changed.
Sierra Club
draws bead
on Reagan
United Press International
AUSTIN — The Lone StarCha^
ter of the Sierra Club Monday oil.
icized the Reagan administration
failure to support a bill thatwoii
have accelerated the cleanup ofhaj.
at clous waste sites.
“The disturbing thing is that tin
Reagan administration failed to
behind this bill despite the strong
partisan support it had in the 1
House,” said Byron Brewer, Siem
Club legislative chairman.
Brewer said the measure,
the House on a 323-33 vote.
The bill died in the Senate 4a
Congress adjourned last week
But despite overwhelming si|t
port in the House, the Reaganjt
ministration declared the reauthon
zation bill should not be considerd
until next year, Brewer said
Ken Kramer, state Capitol rtf
resentative for the Sierra Club,saj
the failure of the bill leaves tlr
Texas Legislature with no guidarn
in its consideration of hazardw
waste issues in the 1984 regularst-
School buses collide
38 students injured
History professor ‘provokes* students
United Press International
LEWISVILLE — A bus driver
claims faulty brakes on the vehicle
caused it to crash into the rear of an
other school bus Monday, injuring at
least 38 students, the Department of
Public Safety said.
The injured students were treated
at Lewisville Memorial Hospital for
minor injuries, and all but one were
released by late Monday, said Lewis
ville Independent School District
spokeswoman Margaret Gurecky.
The remaining student was being
held for observation and was listed
in good condition.
The accident occurred just before
8:30 a.m. when two LISD buses,
which were transporting students
from The Colony, a nearby commu
nity, to Marcus High School in Le
wisville, collided on Highway 121,
Gurecky said.
One bus, which had stopped in a
traffic pileup, was struck in the rear
by the second bus, causing the first
bus to strike a car in front of it, au
thorities said. No one in the car was
injured, officials said.
By GLENDA MARROU
Reporter
The driver of the second bus told
authorities the brakes failed on the
vehicle, causing it to rear-end the
first bus, said DPS officer Don Stew
art. He said the DPS was investigat
ing that claim.
Gurecky said each bus was carry
ing 55 ninth and 10th graders.
“We don’t see any serious injuries
at all,” Gurecky said. “The other stu
dents were transported to Marcus
and were checkea by school nurses
just to be sure. The ones taken to the
hospital were suffering from neck
injuries or whiplash, but nothing se-
“We are investigating why and
how accident occurred,” Gurecky
said. “At this point we don’t antic
ipate any discliplinary action.”
Dr. Terry Anderson’s main goal
as a history professor is “to provoke,
stimulate and challenge students’
ideas.”
“If a student comes into my class
as a freshman, and leaves four years
later with the same attitudes and be
liefs that he came in with, then I
have failed,” he said.
Anderson is not the typical tea
cher, who lectures straight from the
book for 50 minutes. Instead, he
tries to provoke students to open
their minds and question their views
of America and the past.
“I want students to exercise their
academic freedom,” Anderson said.
“Many students might reject my
ideas, but at least I offer opposition.”
And Anderson’s ideas are far
from conventional.
“I do not believe in the institute of
marriage, I am atheist, and I do not
claim any political party,” he said. “I
am not patriotic toward Texas A&M,
Texas, the flag or America. But I am
not any different than other Ameri
cans as far as emotions and a con
cern for humanity.”
When Anderson was 17, he en
listed in the Navy. This, he said,
made a tremendous impact on his
life. It was then that he learned the
complexities that existed in America.
He also learned how to stick up for
his rights and beliefs, he said.
“If you don’t learn to be aggres
sive and stand up to people, you will
get stepped on,” Anderson said.
This desire for confrontation, ex
pression and question is a direct re
flection of Anderson’s personality.
“Now people can say they know
someone who is different,” he said.
The history professor also con
tributes a sense of humor to his suc
cess.
“You have to laugh at all the is
sues,” he said. “If you took it se
riously, you would shoot yourself.”
This year, Anderson was awarded
a Distinguished Teaching Award by
the Association of Former Students.
He attributes the recognition to his
challenging ideas and his interest in
getting students to think.
“Most professors are afraid to be
different,” he said. “They lecture
directly from the book, they do not
offer any differing views and they
do not allow students to openly ex
press themselves.
“I do not operate that way. 1 en
courage different ideas, and noth
ing is considered sacred.”
Anderson considers himself a
demanding teacher and a tough
grader.
“That’s the beauty of the sys
tem,” he said. “My students might
complain about my tests, hut when
it comes down to it, they’ll go to
work. They learn a lot about histo
ry”
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for the state of Texas. He collects
manuscripts from legislators, poli
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on the development of topics such as
engineering, veterinary me
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NOW
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The 1985 Aggjeland is now taking
FRESHMAN AND SOPHOMORE
"g:
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class pictures at the
PAVILION
from 8:30 to 12 and 1 to 4:30 through 10/26/84