of the site. Their micromorphological observations, along with previous analyses, confirmed a series of conclusions on the integrity of Cactus Hill. They found that the formation of dunes may have been interspersed with the brief formation of a fine, phytolith-rich topsoil. As humans lived on these brief topsoil layers, they deposited artifacts and charcoal. Similarly, animals were present, which added to the dispersal and mixing of fine soil into sand dunes through their burrowing practices. The stratified sequence that can be seen today is the result of sedimentation that was interrupted by erosional processes like deflation. That sequence, based on the small-scale animal disturbance in a thin section of the strata, was most likely stable for millions of years. According to Macphail and McAvoy's analysis, it appears that the site is intact with only a few minor disturbances that could affect the long-term integrity of the site's stratigraphy. Controversy Many hypotheses began to arise as a result of this pre-Clovis evidence. One such hypothesis is advocated by Dennis Stanford. In what is known as the Solutrean hypothesis, he suggests that European Solutreans migrated to the Americas across the Atlantic Ocean. The supporting evidence for this hypothesis includes the discovery of artifacts at Cactus Hill dated to the time period between the Clovis and Solutrean and, perhaps just as strongly, evidence of the same technology used between the two cultures. According to Dr. Bruce Bradley, "the Cactus Hill flint was a technological midpoint between the French Solutrean style and the Clovis points dating five millennia later." The major criticism to this hypothesis is that there is simply not enough evidence to support it. In their journal article, Lawrence Guy Straus, David J. Meltzer, and Ted Goebel claim, "We believe that the many differences between Solutrean and Clovis are far more significant than the few similarities, the latter being readily explained by the well-known phenomenon of technological convergence or parallelism." The Solutrean hypothesis is generally disregarded by mainstream archeologists. References External links THE CACTUS HILL SITE www.lithiccastinglab.com Clovis sites Native American history of Virginia Archaic period in North America Archaeological sites in Virginia Pre-Columbian archaeological sites Geography of Sussex County, Virginia Pre-Clovis archaeological sites in the Americas