The adoption of bow-and-arrow technology by Recent Indian peoples on the island of Newfoundland h... more The adoption of bow-and-arrow technology by Recent Indian peoples on the island of Newfoundland has been accepted on the basis of untested observations of the archaeological record. This study investigates the period circa 1000 BP, when the replacement of the Beaches complex by the Little Passage complex is purported to be marked by the introduction of bow-and-arrow technology. Metric analysis of 840 projectile points confirms this technological transformation, but disputes the notion that projectile point function can be linked to current complex signatures—notably, the presence of side-notching or corner-notching on projectile points. This analysis suggests that bows-and-arrows did not immediately replace spear throwers-and-darts, but rather, were complementary to the Recent Indian tool kit. Finally, we suggest that the adoption of bow-and-arrow technology may be linked to the departure or demise of (Middle) Dorset Palaeoeskimo populations on the island.
The adoption of bow-and-arrow technology by Recent Indian peoples on the island of Newfoundland h... more The adoption of bow-and-arrow technology by Recent Indian peoples on the island of Newfoundland has been accepted on the basis of untested observations of the archaeological record. This study investigates the period circa 1000 BP, when the replacement of the Beaches complex by the Little Passage complex is purported to be marked by the introduction of bow-and-arrow technology. Metric analysis of 840 projectile points confirms this technological transformation, but disputes the notion that projectile point function can be linked to current complex signatures—notably, the presence of side-notching or corner-notching on projectile points. This analysis suggests that bows-and-arrows did not immediately replace spear throwers-and-darts, but rather, were complementary to the Recent Indian tool kit. Finally, we suggest that the adoption of bow-and-arrow technology may be linked to the departure or demise of (Middle) Dorset Palaeoeskimo populations on the island.
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Papers by Steve Hull