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47-550: The only well known, extensively investigated site known in northern Kansas for the Middle Ceramic Period is the Glen Elder Locality. This site provides a variety of information on settlement aspects and on ceramics that were present during the Middle Ceramic Period. In the Glen Elder Locality, there are a total of sixteen houses. Observation of these houses showed that there are six distinct styles among them, and for

94-473: A definition similar to "all theropods closer to birds than to Deinonychus ", with Troodon being sometimes added as a second external specifier in case it is closer to birds than to Deinonychus . Avialae is also occasionally defined as an apomorphy-based clade (that is, one based on physical characteristics). Jacques Gauthier , who named Avialae in 1986, re-defined it in 2001 as all dinosaurs that possessed feathered wings used in flapping flight , and

141-442: A group called Paraves . Some basal members of Deinonychosauria, such as Microraptor , have features which may have enabled them to glide or fly. The most basal deinonychosaurs were very small. This evidence raises the possibility that the ancestor of all paravians may have been arboreal , have been able to glide, or both. Unlike Archaeopteryx and the non-avialan feathered dinosaurs, who primarily ate meat, studies suggest that

188-473: A portion of a femur were also present, however little information of how it got there is present, only that it was a recovered from an apparently disturbed context. For subsistence in the Pratt Complex, remains of bison was the most common element found, however deer, avifauna , turtle, fish, and other small mammals were occasionally found. There was evidence of marrow extraction and bone grease reduction from

235-406: A sister group, the order Crocodilia , contain the only living representatives of the reptile clade Archosauria . During the late 1990s, Aves was most commonly defined phylogenetically as all descendants of the most recent common ancestor of modern birds and Archaeopteryx lithographica . However, an earlier definition proposed by Jacques Gauthier gained wide currency in the 21st century, and

282-495: A strong horticulture dependence in the Odessa Phase was present, as there is a large abundance of domestic plant evidence found within the Odessa Phase. These domestic plants include corn, beans, squash, marsh elder, and sunflower. Evidence of wild plant consumption and utilization was also shown, and these included sunflower, purslane, goosefoot, sand plums, knotweed, marsh elder, bulrush, and carpetweed. Presence of bison consumption

329-717: A time, sometimes for years, and rarely for life. Other species have breeding systems that are polygynous (one male with many females) or, rarely, polyandrous (one female with many males). Birds produce offspring by laying eggs which are fertilised through sexual reproduction . They are usually laid in a nest and incubated by the parents. Most birds have an extended period of parental care after hatching. Many species of birds are economically important as food for human consumption and raw material in manufacturing, with domesticated and undomesticated birds being important sources of eggs, meat, and feathers. Songbirds , parrots, and other species are popular as pets. Guano (bird excrement)

376-501: A wide variety of ceramics. The ceramics from this site have clear spatial patterning, but there are differences in the attributes of the ceramics in that for the most part these attributes are not shown in traditional ceramic classifications. There are a variety of differences in the ceramics, the differences being features such as rim height, angle of rim flare, and precise location of decorative elements. Radiocarbon dating showed no discernable differences in age to provide an explanation for

423-479: Is also shown, as well as other faunal species. In the Odessa Phase, there is evidence of bone tools, which are all bison, and are scapula hoes, tibia digging sticks, and bone awls. For stone tools, there was beveled knives, triangular projectile points, endscrapers, drills, and abrading stones. For ceramics, they were typically globular and cord-marked, with vertical to flaring rims that were frequently decorated. The decorations usually covered more than fifty percent of

470-533: Is called ornithology . Birds are feathered theropod dinosaurs and constitute the only known living dinosaurs . Likewise, birds are considered reptiles in the modern cladistic sense of the term, and their closest living relatives are the crocodilians . Birds are descendants of the primitive avialans (whose members include Archaeopteryx ) which first appeared during the Late Jurassic . According to recent estimates, modern birds ( Neornithes ) evolved in

517-429: Is harvested for use as a fertiliser. Birds figure throughout human culture. About 120 to 130 species have become extinct due to human activity since the 17th century, and hundreds more before then. Human activity threatens about 1,200 bird species with extinction, though efforts are underway to protect them. Recreational birdwatching is an important part of the ecotourism industry. The first classification of birds

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564-503: Is not considered a direct ancestor of birds, though it is possibly closely related to the true ancestor. Over 40% of key traits found in modern birds evolved during the 60 million year transition from the earliest bird-line archosaurs to the first maniraptoromorphs , i.e. the first dinosaurs closer to living birds than to Tyrannosaurus rex . The loss of osteoderms otherwise common in archosaurs and acquisition of primitive feathers might have occurred early during this phase. After

611-516: Is synonymous to Avifilopluma. † Scansoriopterygidae † Eosinopteryx † Jinfengopteryx † Aurornis † Dromaeosauridae † Troodontidae Avialae Based on fossil and biological evidence, most scientists accept that birds are a specialised subgroup of theropod dinosaurs and, more specifically, members of Maniraptora , a group of theropods which includes dromaeosaurids and oviraptorosaurs , among others. As scientists have discovered more theropods closely related to birds,

658-530: Is used by many scientists including adherents to the PhyloCode . Gauthier defined Aves to include only the crown group of the set of modern birds. This was done by excluding most groups known only from fossils , and assigning them, instead, to the broader group Avialae, on the principle that a clade based on extant species should be limited to those extant species and their closest extinct relatives. Gauthier and de Queiroz identified four different definitions for

705-715: The Late Cretaceous and diversified dramatically around the time of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event 66 million years ago, which killed off the pterosaurs and all non- ornithuran dinosaurs. Many social species preserve knowledge across generations ( culture ). Birds are social, communicating with visual signals, calls, and songs , and participating in such behaviour as cooperative breeding and hunting, flocking , and mobbing of predators. The vast majority of bird species are socially (but not necessarily sexually) monogamous , usually for one breeding season at

752-660: The Tiaojishan Formation of China, which has been dated to the late Jurassic period ( Oxfordian stage), about 160 million years ago. The avialan species from this time period include Anchiornis huxleyi , Xiaotingia zhengi , and Aurornis xui . The well-known probable early avialan, Archaeopteryx , dates from slightly later Jurassic rocks (about 155 million years old) from Germany . Many of these early avialans shared unusual anatomical features that may be ancestral to modern birds but were later lost during bird evolution. These features include enlarged claws on

799-581: The class Aves ( Latin: [ˈaveːs] ), characterised by feathers , toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart , and a strong yet lightweight skeleton . Birds live worldwide and range in size from the 5.5 cm (2.2 in) bee hummingbird to the 2.8 m (9 ft 2 in) common ostrich . There are over 11,000 living species and they are split into 44 orders . More than half are passerine or "perching" birds. Birds have wings whose development varies according to species;

846-512: The Bluff Creek Complex. Each of these sites provides a variety of information on settlement aspects, subsistence, and materials that were present during the Middle Ceramic Period. Although half of the Odessa Phase is located in northwest Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, while the other half is located in southern Kansas, the settlement aspects, subsistence, and materials seem to be the same across

893-422: The Glen Elder Locality that show this style. The third style was present in five houses within the Glen Elder Locality and this style is rectangular with numerous wall posts and internal caches, fireplaces, and no clear pattern of central support posts. The fourth style there is only one of and it did not look like any of the others. The fifth style had a trapezoidal appearance and there was a few of these houses, and

940-399: The Odessa Phase a large number of subterranean storage facilities were also found in habitual sites. For burials, burial practices are not well understood, but there are burials sites that include both single and multiple internments. Sometimes the burials were capped by rock-covered cairns, and burial of the dead within house structures was not a common practice found in the Odessa Phase. There

987-458: The Pratt Complex populations were not heavily involved in the regional exchange of exotic materials. Typical features associated with the Bluff Creek Complex include surface structures of ovoid and subrectangular forms, and when found in prairie settings houses have been identified as low mounds. Pole frameworks with interior supports and possible partitions were also found within the houses, but hearths were not. Other pole structures were found near

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1034-511: The Pratt Complex. There is however, one complete structure and several partial surface structures. The complete house has slightly flattened sides and rounded, braced corners. There was also basin-shaped hearths that were in the center of the structures. There were also similarly shaped hearths present outside of the structures, as well as one shallow ovoid basin containing a post near the center, which indicates that subsurface structures could've also been present. Some trash-filled storage pits outside

1081-428: The appearance of Maniraptoromorpha, the next 40 million years marked a continuous reduction of body size and the accumulation of neotenic (juvenile-like) characteristics. Hypercarnivory became increasingly less common while braincases enlarged and forelimbs became longer. The integument evolved into complex, pennaceous feathers . The oldest known paravian (and probably the earliest avialan) fossils come from

1128-509: The birds that descended from them. Despite being currently one of the most widely used, the crown-group definition of Aves has been criticised by some researchers. Lee and Spencer (1997) argued that, contrary to what Gauthier defended, this definition would not increase the stability of the clade and the exact content of Aves will always be uncertain because any defined clade (either crown or not) will have few synapomorphies distinguishing it from its closest relatives. Their alternative definition

1175-591: The bison, and charred pits were also found. For horticulture, evidence of corn was present. In the Pratt Complex, there is evidence of a large amount of bone tools, which are all bison, besides some awls formed from deer pronghorns. These bone tools are tibia digging stick tips, scapula hoes, awls formed from rib edges and long bone shaft fragments, and beads as well as finely pointed needles. For stone tools, there were arrowpoints, beveled knives, endscrapers, and flake drills. Groundstone inventory included arrow shaft abraders and hammerstones, and domestic processing equipment

1222-665: The earliest members of Aves, is removed from this group, becoming a non-avian dinosaur instead. These proposals have been adopted by many researchers in the field of palaeontology and bird evolution , though the exact definitions applied have been inconsistent. Avialae, initially proposed to replace the traditional fossil content of Aves, is often used synonymously with the vernacular term "bird" by these researchers. † Coelurus † Ornitholestes † Ornithomimosauria † Alvarezsauridae † Oviraptorosauria   Paraves Most researchers define Avialae as branch-based clade, though definitions vary. Many authors have used

1269-401: The entire Odessa Phase. In the Odessa Phase, the primary house forms present are oval-to-circular subterranean pit structure. One house that is probably typical across the phase contains to large central posts with smaller posts closely spaced around the perimeter, and there was a hearth along a pit wall. Also seen is that the houses would've had a sloped or stepped entry. A second type of house

1316-451: The first avialans were omnivores . The Late Jurassic Archaeopteryx is well known as one of the first transitional fossils to be found, and it provided support for the theory of evolution in the late 19th century. Archaeopteryx was the first fossil to display both clearly traditional reptilian characteristics—teeth, clawed fingers, and a long, lizard-like tail—as well as wings with flight feathers similar to those of modern birds. It

1363-416: The houses may indicate domestic work areas such as drying racks and scaffolds. There were also shallow oval-shaped basins and cylindrical storage pits present. For burials, there is a medium amount of information present for burial practices. There was a largely complete burial of an individual found, a cranium found with three hundred beads, largely complete remains of a third individual while road construction

1410-511: The most part are spatially segregated. The first style is square with four center posts and few wall posts, and two of the houses within the Glen Elder Locality show this style. The second style is also square, but unlike the first style, there is no evidence of a pattern of four center posts. Instead, this style has many small posts that might have supported the roofs of the houses in question. This style also lacks many internal caches but has large numbers of wall posts, and there are two houses within

1457-523: The only known groups without wings are the extinct moa and elephant birds . Wings, which are modified forelimbs , gave birds the ability to fly, although further evolution has led to the loss of flight in some birds , including ratites , penguins , and diverse endemic island species. The digestive and respiratory systems of birds are also uniquely adapted for flight. Some bird species of aquatic environments, particularly seabirds and some waterbirds , have further evolved for swimming. The study of birds

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1504-402: The outermost half) can be seen in the evolution of maniraptoromorphs, and this process culminated in the appearance of the pygostyle , an ossification of fused tail vertebrae. In the late Cretaceous, about 100 million years ago, the ancestors of all modern birds evolved a more open pelvis, allowing them to lay larger eggs compared to body size. Around 95 million years ago, they evolved

1551-528: The previously clear distinction between non-birds and birds has become blurred. By the 2000s, discoveries in the Liaoning Province of northeast China, which demonstrated many small theropod feathered dinosaurs , contributed to this ambiguity. The consensus view in contemporary palaeontology is that the flying theropods, or avialans , are the closest relatives of the deinonychosaurs , which include dromaeosaurids and troodontids . Together, these form

1598-399: The rim necks, punctates, finger-pinching, and oblique-incised lines on the lips. On ceramics without cord-marking, shell-tempered wares with nodes and strips are common and appear to represent something beyond what the locals traditionally did. Strap handles were also present with similar decoration applied. Avifauna Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting

1645-458: The rim, and were decorated with a variety of techniques, but the most common were finger-pinching, impressing, and parallel impressed lines along the neck and rim. Present in a few of the ceramics was lip tabs and handles, smoothed cord marking, and corncob impressions. Tempers in all the ceramics are typically sand, but also consist of bone, crushed stone, grog, and grit. There is currently little information on architecture and other features within

1692-452: The same biological name "Aves", which is a problem. The authors proposed to reserve the term Aves only for the crown group consisting of the last common ancestor of all living birds and all of its descendants, which corresponds to meaning number 4 below. They assigned other names to the other groups.   Lizards & snakes   Turtles   Crocodiles   Birds Under the fourth definition Archaeopteryx , traditionally considered one of

1739-545: The second toe which may have been held clear of the ground in life, and long feathers or "hind wings" covering the hind limbs and feet, which may have been used in aerial maneuvering. Avialans diversified into a wide variety of forms during the Cretaceous period. Many groups retained primitive characteristics , such as clawed wings and teeth, though the latter were lost independently in a number of avialan groups, including modern birds (Aves). Increasingly stiff tails (especially

1786-437: The sites within the Pratt Complex, however there was also evidence of bone-tempered use and calcium-carbonated tempered use, as well as evidence of untempered ceramics and plain wares. Evidence of exotic materials were also present, these materials consisting of obsidian, turquoise beads and fragments, Olivella shell beads, and other marine shell ornaments. The evidence suggests that the materials only arrived occasionally, and that

1833-417: The six style was one large square house. Other styles of houses may be present, but not observed yet. Radiocarbon dating showed that none of the styles of houses significantly differed in age despite the variety of differences between them, and there was also no proof of regularity between the houses as there are almost no structural patterns present. Within the settlements in the Glen Elder Locality, there are

1880-426: The structures were also found and excavated. For burials, there is very little information, as there is only one instance of a burial practice being shown. This one instance is of a child that was discovered in a flexed position on the floor of a pit that was exposed in the trench of a silo wall. There were ceramics collected near the child, as well as a Kansas pipestone pipe fragment and some faunal material. A skull and

1927-406: The variety of differences in the ceramics, so another conclusion was made that the varietal differences in the ceramics were the result of separate dispersed communities. There is a significantly larger database for southern Kansas than there is for northern Kansas. In southern Kansas there is currently three extensively investigated sites, and these sites are the Odessa Phase, the Pratt Complex, and

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1974-429: Was also found that would've made up a large number of the houses across the phase. These houses are circular, have a hearth within them that is off center, a center post, and in some cases, posts along the perimeter. Following abandonment, the houses within the Odessa Phase were typically backfilled with trash. Large square surface structures outlined in stone were also found at a site within the Odessa Phase, and throughout

2021-404: Was also present which consisted of manos, metates, and mauls. For the ceramics, they were typically cord-marked and partially smoothed on the impressions. The typical ceramic consisted of globular jars of a moderate size, with slightly out-flaring rims, had no handles or lugs except for rare instances, and decorations were generally confined to the lip of the ceramic. Sand-tempered ceramics dominated

2068-623: Was being done from a storage pit, and partial sets of remains found in storage pits also while road construction was being done. Also found was a child with twenty five marine shell beads, an individual with a piece of red ochre and ceramic sherds, and cranial fragments of at least two individuals in a trash-filled basin. For subsistence in the Bluff Creek Complex, bison remains was the main element found, however deer, pronghorn, canid, raccoon, skunk, squirrel, cotton-tail, jackrabbit, prairie dog, and box and pond turtle were also found. Found as well were avifauna and fish, and for horticulture, charred maize

2115-461: Was developed by Francis Willughby and John Ray in their 1676 volume Ornithologiae . Carl Linnaeus modified that work in 1758 to devise the taxonomic classification system currently in use. Birds are categorised as the biological class Aves in Linnaean taxonomy . Phylogenetic taxonomy places Aves in the clade Theropoda as an infraclass or a subclass, more recently a subclass. Aves and

2162-699: Was evidence of it in a couple houses, but this appears to be the reuse of Middle Ceramic houses by later occupants. Overall, compared to the size of the entire Odessa Phase, burials are rare, leading to a theory that possibly excarnation was done. Several burials contained evidence of warfare, but this was poorly documented. Also found was a variety of grave goods throughout the burials, and these include mussel shells, elbow pipes of Kansas pipestone, caches of Alibates flakes, large bifaces, Olivella shell beads, celts produced from nonlocal materials, cord-marked ceramics, bone awls, tibia digging sticks, conch and abalone shell ornaments, and turquoise beads and pendants. Evidence on

2209-404: Was present. In the Bluff Creek Complex, there is evidence of bone tools, which are bison scapula hoes and tibia digging stick tips. For stone tools, there was arrowpoints, small endscrapers, beveled knives, and flake drills. For ceramics, there is a variety of attributes and types, most likely representing the evidence of trade. The typical ceramic type was cord-marked ceramics with zigzag lines on

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