Fluted points

Our understanding of the northern fluted point tradition, a critical early New World lithic assemblage, is constrained by limited data from stratified, datable contexts. Here, we report on the Raven Bluff site in northwest Alaska, where fluted projectile points, microblades, and a well-preserved faunal assemblage have been recovered from datable sediments. Results show that prehistoric inhabitants occupied a stone-sorted polygon where retooling, game processing, and raw material procurement occurred mostly between 12,720 and at least 11,340 cal. yr B.P. We argue that once polygon formation ended, the stratigraphic context remained relatively intact. Further studies focused on the site's lithic and bone assemblages will help shape our understanding of the relationship between fluted point technology, microblades, and caribou hunting in northern Alaska. 1 | INTRODUCTION Key to understanding late-glacial human adaptations to arctic and subarctic environments is discovery of unequivocal archaeological sites in buried, stratified, and ideally, datable contexts. With regard to northern stemmed and lanceolate projectile points, these are rare with fewer than five sites excavated and reported (Bever, 2006; Goebel et al., 2013; Kunz, Bever, & Adkins, 2003). Furthermore, processes, especially those related to permafrost, have altered original spatial associations between the site matrix and archaeological material hampering interpretations about human behavior. To add, common depositional settings on ridgetops, often with very little or slow sedimentation, obscure vertical separation of cultural layers. Research at these sites nonetheless generates important data concerning several key questions in early northern prehistory: How old are fluted projectile points in Alaska? What is their relationship to microblades? Furthermore, having produced such rich fauna, what can we learn about subsistence, seasonality, and other as yet inexplicable topics in northern prehistoric archeology? Although there is still a great deal to be learned from more detailed lithic and zooarchaeological studies, we begin here with the geoarchaeology. Preliminary reporting on Raven Bluff focused on initial dating (Hedman, 2010) and the presence of key artifacts such as the fluted projectile points (Smith, Rasic, & Goebel, 2013, p. 107). In this paper we focus on three issues: (a) the numerical age of the oldest cultural material, (b) depositional environments, and (c) natural formation processes. We also provide basic descriptions of the lithic and faunal assemblages. Ecofacts and artifacts can inform the geoarchaeology for a number of reasons when it comes to understanding post-depositional modification of original spatial associations. Lithic refits, for example, can show vertical and horizontal movement through the profile. Taphonomy, likewise, has important implications regarding matrix integrity and provides insight into post-depositional geological history of the site. Both are factors at Raven Bluff.

Clovis was once considered to be the first universal lithic technology to evolve in North America, occurring between 11,050 to 10,800 radiocarbon years before present (14C yr BP). These early hunter-gatherers left behind a sparse material record of their occupation that consists primarily of stone tools and the manufacturing debris associated with their production. The trademark tool of this earliest lithic technology to evolve in North America is a fluted point named after its type site discovery in a quarry at Blackwater Draw Locality No. 1, near Clovis, a town in New Mexico. These artefacts were made by widely separated groups throughout North America. The fluted points from Nova Scotia are much the same as those from New Mexico, not identical, but the similarities outweigh the differences. Not only are the fluted points similar across North America, but other technological aspects of the Clovis culture, i.e. blades, unifacial tools, and osseous tools, appear to be equally similar and widespread. In this study, the author identifies a number of Clovis and Clovis variants from seven environmentally different regions across North America. This monograph analyses the variability of Clovis fluted points and the lithic raw materials that they were produced on from a continental perspective. Complementing the research is a digital photographic dataset of the Clovis fluted points discussed, available online.

New World archaeologists have amply demonstrated that fluted point technology is specific to Terminal Pleistocene American cultures. Base-fluted, and rarer tip-fluted, projectile points from the Americas have been well-documented by archaeologists for nearly a century. Flut-ing is an iconic stone tool manufacturing method and a specific action that involves the extraction of a channel flake along the longitudinal axis of a bifacial piece. Here we report and synthesize information from Neolithic sites in southern Arabia, demonstrating the presence of fluting on a variety of stone tool types including projectile points. Fluted projectile points are known from both surface sites and stratified contexts in southern Arabia. Fluting technology has been clearly identified at the Manayzah site (Yemen) dating to 8000-7700 cal. BP. Examination of fluted points and channel flakes from southern Arabia enable a reconstruction of stone tool manufacturing techniques and reduction sequences (chaines opé ratoires). To illustrate the technological similarities and contrasts of fluting methods in Arabia and the Americas, comparative studies and experiments were conducted. Similarities in manufacturing approaches were observed on the fluting scars of bifacial pieces, whereas technological differences are apparent in the nature and localization of the flute and, most probably, the functional objective of fluting in economic, social and cultural contexts. Arabian and American fluted point technologies provide an excellent example of convergence of highly specialized stone tool production methods. Our description of Arabian and American fluting technology demonstrates that similar innovations and inventions were developed under different circumstances, and that highly-skilled and convergent production methods can have different anthropological implications. PLOS ONE PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.

An isolated fluted projectile point found in Nipomo (San Luis Obispo County, California) about 30 years ago was recently brought to the attention of the local archaeological community. Made from Monterey chert, the specimen exhibits single flute scars that extend about three quarters of the way up both faces, although it also shows clear evidence of  blade and basal reworking. Attributes typical of fluted point technology—including heavy edge grinding/polishing on the lateral edge margins of the base, and a bi-concave basal cross-section—support a Paleoindian origin for the artifact.

A reinterpretation of the previously excavated Phil Stratton Site (Kentucky) at which has been found the enigmatic Cumberland fluted point. Site integrity was evaluated while also conducting spatial analyses from the available lithic material.