Paleoindian archaeology

The initial colonization of the Americas remains a highly debated topic1, and the exact timing of the first arrivals is unknown. The earliest archaeological record of Mexico—which holds a key geographical position in the Americas—is poorly known and understudied. Historically, the region has remained on the periphery of research focused on the first American populations2. However, recent investigations provide reliable evidence of a human presence in the northwest region of Mexico3,4, the Chiapas Highlands5, Central Mexico6 and the Caribbean coast7,8,9 during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene epochs. Here we present results of recent excavations at Chiquihuite Cave—a high-altitude site in central-northern Mexico—that corroborate previous findings in the Americas10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17of cultural evidence that dates to the Last Glacial Maximum (26,500–19,000 years ago)18, and which push back dates for human dispersal to the region possibly as early as 33,000–31,000 years ago. T...

If belief drives behavior, what did first nations peoples believe? Though a material approach attempts to bridge the gap, other disciplines such as philology may be of assistance and compatible with a strict material diagnostic. This paper marries material evidence and current theory with immaterial evidence from other disciplines for a working model to understand the most basic questions as to why there were people in America before Columbus.

An overview of the archaeological data produced over the last decades for Brazil, coupled with a background of recent paleoenvironmentalstudies, suggests that during the mid-Holocene vast areas of Central Brazil ceased to be occupied by human groups. Independent data from dated human skeletons, rock-shelter stratigraphy, and chronology of open-air sites converge to support the inference that these areas were depopulated or altogether abandoned. Paleoenvironmental data suggest that dryness events constitute the major cause behind the observed trends. This
phenomenon expands the already perceived notion that climatic stresses had a major role in the shaping of human settlement patterns in marginal environments, such as deserts and high-altitude settings.

Ryan-Harley (8JE1004) in the Wacissa River of North Florida is one of few sites in the Eastern United States that contains an unfluted lanceolate point component (Suwannee) in a buried context. Extinct and extirpated faunal remains found within the Suwannee artifact layer at Ryan-Harley have been cited as evidence of a Pleistocene faunal refugium in the Southeastern United States. In 2015, geoarch-aeological excavations were undertaken to determine if the Ryan-Harley Suwannee assemblage is culturally discrete and associated with Pleistocene fauna. Geoarch-aeological data demonstrate that the archaeological component was exposed until~8,000 calbp on a relict eolian landscape before burial. No radiocarbon ages were obtained on either extinct or extant faunal material from the site, and the excavated portion of the geologic stratum containing the artifact assemblage is devoid of other datable organics. Therefore, no unequivocal conclusion can be reached about the association of the extinct faunal material with the Suwannee artifacts. However, multiple lines of evidence fail to reject the hypothesis that the Ryan-Harley lithic assemblage represents a single occupation of Suwannee point makers. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the Suwannee occupation of Ryan-Harley most likely occurred during the Younger Dryas (~12,900-11,700 calbp). K E Y W O R D S Florida archaeology, Paleoindian archaeology, submerged landscapes, underwater archaeology, Younger Dryas

The discovery of two deeply alluvially buried Paleoindian sites in Southern New England within the last decade, at the Brian D. Jones Site in central Connecticut, and the Sands of the Blackstone Site in southeastern Massachusetts, necessitates a shift in the way archaeologists model and locate Paleoindian sites within the region. Earlier work at the Templeton Site in northwestern Connecticut, the Shawnee-Minisink Site in eastern Pennsylvania, and the Sharrow Site in central Maine indicated the potential of deeply buried and preserved alluvial landforms to contain stratified archaeological sites with Paleoindian components. Predictive models overlook these depositional settings and restrict ongoing efforts to identify Terminal Pleistocene sites. Here, we present a series of developing geophysical, geomorphological, and geochemical methods for assessing deeply buried Pleistocene sediments and potential Paleoindian-related deposits. While these methods do not offer a panacea technique to identify all deeply buried Paleoindian sites, they do provide a first step in assessing the similarities of known sites in the region, and key geomorphological attributes shared by all sites.

Now is a good time for a volume like Strangers in a New Land—a time in which the specific details of the much-maligned “Clovis-first” model appear to fit less satisfactorily with emerging archaeological information, and yet no specific model has taken hold as an adequately detailed and agreed-upon alternative. This book does not attempt to provide a specific model so much as to present a collection of sites that such a model should incorporate. Although it has its flaws, it mostly succeeds in this regard.

Resumo: O sítio arqueológico Lapa Grande de Taquaraçu é um abrigo sob rocha localizado no município de Taquaraçu de Minas, MG. Sua indústria lítica foi manufaturada majoritariamente a partir de cristais de quartzo com o objetivo de produzir lascas. Os artefatos apresentam a tendência de terem atributos métricos reduzidos. Estas características seguem o padrão encontrado em outros sítios de Lagoa Santa. Palavras-chave: indústria lítica, análise quantitativa, Lapa Grande Taquaraçu, Lagoa Santa. Abstract: The archaeological site Lapa Grande de Taquaraçu is a rock shelter located in the municipality of Taquaraçu de Minas, MG. Its lithic industry was mostly manufactured from quartz crystals in order to produce flakes. Artifacts tend to show reduced metric attributes. These characteristics follow the pattern found in other Lagoa Santa sites.

The papers in this volume provide a variety of perspectives on Rangifer (caribou/reindeer) and its use by prehistoric peoples in the northern latitudes of both Old and New Worlds. Since the early work of Lartet and Christy in the late 1800s and their recognition of "L' Age du Renne, use of Rangifer (reindeer) by prehistoric Europeans has been well known.  Less understood has been the actual economic significance of Rangifer, as compared with other food sources, and its relationship to human ranging and social behavior during the Upper Paleolithic.

Sandy Springs represents a widely cited, yet poorly understood, Paleoindian archaeological site (~11.5k – 10k RCYBP) located along the Ohio River in southeastern Adams County, Ohio. Little attention has been given to reconstructing the geomorphic history of the surrounding landscape or to the potential that late Quaternary deposits may preserve undocumented Paleoindian components. Preliminary analysis of LiDAR data illustrates that the landscape includes a series of step-like geomorphic surfaces that likely reflect a chronosequence of alluvial/outwash terraces dating from the Late Pleistocene through Holocene. Upper landforms are characterized further by relict eolian sand dunes of undetermined age that reportedly contain archaeological material. Several surficial saline springs also are known to occur in proximity to dune features. LiDAR and NRCS soils data show that dune features rim an oval-shaped low area measuring 2.5 by 0.5 km. Dune formation is especially distinctive on the south-southwestern rim region where it is ~2.4 linear km in length. Dunes display a mixed morphology that appears to include a star-like dune, a possible compound barchan dune, and a possible climbing dune that extends roughly 18 m in height above the surrounding landscape. To what degree dune morphologies are the result of depositional or erosional processes remains unknown. It is proposed that dunes reflect source bordering features associated with increased eolian sedimentation during periods of reduced vegetation cover. Possible causes of vegetation reduction include periods of increased aridity, wildfires, salinization of local water table, or water table drawdown. Finally, it is likely that periods of increased eolian sedimentation resulted in burial of downwind portions of the Paleoindian archaeological component.

The purpose of this article is to bring awareness to fluted points of the Gainey form (see Don Simons et al 1984) present in the Rummells & Maske collections from an Early Paleoindian locality in eastern Iowa (see Morrow and Morrow 2002). The Rummells-Maske site was discovered by two men independently: Wayne Rummells and Richard (Dick) Maske in 1964 who never collected the site locality together but knew of each others hafted bifaces.

Sophisticated diagnostics have allowed archaeologists to make great inroads in understanding America's First people. At the same time, modern archaeology has assumptions about reality that have limited its scope and ability to integrate other disciplines into its theories, disciplines that would clarify and cement a harmony of the disparate and isolated work sites into a model of global proportions. If beliefs determine behavior, it runs near impossible to paint a holistic picture as to what drove the complex peopling of America from the material record alone.  This paper marries material evidence and current theory with immaterial evidence from other disciplines for a working model to understand the most basic questions as to why there were people in America before Columbus. This paper was originally submitted for scholastic review in 2014.

Sourcing artifacts is a key method for addressing anthropological issues of mobility and interaction. Although chert was one the most common toolstones used in prehistory, sourcing chert artifacts remains problematic. In this study an approach for sourcing chert is introduced that links a specific sampling protocol, Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS), and multivariate statistical analysis. The effectiveness of this approach is demonstrated through a controlled experiment examining intersource and intrasource variability at four different scales of analysis. The statistical analysis at four spatial scales allows determination of the spatial resolution of the chemical matching procedure outlined here. In this experiment geologic chert samples from the Edwards Plateau of Texas of known provenience are chemically evaluated allowing comparison of their expected origin against their known origin. This experiment used Edwards Plateau chert as it is a high quality material and was a major lithic source across the Southern High Plains and was often transported great distances. Macroscopic identification of Edwards Plateau chert can be problematic and at its best is unable to effectively discern from where within the 120,000 km2 of the region cherts originated. An understanding of the geological formation processes of chert provides a useful framework for addressing this issue. This study shows that through an effective methodology Edwards Plateau chert can be sourced to a finer spatial scale than previous studies.

Bassett, Hayden F. (2021). Book Review: The Archaeology of Virginia’s First Peoples. edited by Elizabeth A. Moore and Bernard K. Means, Richmond, The Archaeological Society of Virginia, 2020, v, 301 pp., ill., maps. $40.00 (paper), ISBN: 979-8696091860

Basket-weaving classes, programs, and instruction books for ages 3 to 18 may provide insights into the cognitive demands of basket-weaving and the development of those skills. An understanding of the cognitive skills as related to basketry may apply to the possible early use of basket technology by Lower, Middle or Upper Paleolithic hominins such as Homo habilis 2 million years ago.

An unusual Paleoindian platter core was recovered from the lower strata of an excavation unit at a site along the Buffalo River.  Similar artifacts are mainly reported from sites in the western United States.  Although Clovis point fragments were also found, none of the radiocarbon dates fell within the Paleoindian time frame.

Fishbone and Crypt caves, located in the eastern Winnemucca Lake basin, may be the oldest sites in the Lahontan basin, and the only occupations dating to at least the Clovis Period. In the 1950’s Phil Orr excavated portions of the caves, discovering a rich inventory of articles. Extinct Pleistocene fauna was recovered; two horse mandibles from Fishbone Cave date to ca. 13,230 and 13,110 cal BP, while a possible cache of grasshoppers found in lakebed sediments within Crypt Cave date to 14,150 cal BP. The Center for the Study of the First Americans surveyed the eastern Winnemucca caves in 2016 to assess their condition and attempt to determine if intact Pleistocene deposits remain. Preliminary examination of the caves indicates that despite large scale looting, artifacts as well as intact deposits are present in all of the caves. Future testing of these intact sediments could verify the antiquity of the sites.

Indian Camp Run No. 1 (36FO65) is a shallow stratified multicomponent archaeological site located along the Allegheny River in Forest County, Pennsylvania.  Ongoing excavations at the site have produced a number of suspected Terminal Pleistocene age tools found within buried stratigraphic contexts.  One whole fluted point is included in the sample and has tentatively been identified as a Barnes point, a type which dates to approximately 10600 rcy B.P.  Some of the other tools recovered may relate to later Paleoindian complexes.  This paper examines the proposed Paleoindian assemblage and reviews environmental conditions in the area during the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene transition.

Presentation for local history and archaeology groups about the formation of the Alabama Archaeological Society, their early work and may of their prominent members.  This paper/presentation may not be copied, referenced or used in any form without the explicit permission of the author.  All photographs are protected by copyright.

The archaeologically sudden appearance of Clovis artifacts (13,500–12,500 calibrated years ago) across Pleistocene North America documents one of the broadest and most rapid expansions of any culture known from prehistory. One long-asserted hallmark of the Clovis culture and its rapid expansion is the long-distance acquisition of “exotic” stone used for tool manufacture, given that this behavior would be consistent with geographically widespread social contact and territorial permeability among mobile hunter–gatherer populations. Here we present geochemical evidence acquired from neutron activation analysis (NAA) of stone flaking debris from the Paleo Crossing site, a 12,900-year-old Clovis camp in northeastern Ohio. These data indicate that the majority stone raw material at Paleo Crossing originates from the Wyandotte chert source area in Harrison County, Indiana, a straight-line distance of 450–510 km. Our analyses thus geochemically confirm an extreme stone-source-to-camp-site distance of a Clovis site in eastern North America and thus provide strong inferential material evidence that the fast expansion of the Clovis culture across the continent occurred as a result of a geographically widespread hunter–gatherer social network.

The Nelson stone tool cache was discovered in 2008 in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The cache does not include any diagnostic materials, and independent age control is unavailable. Although aspects of its 164 bifaces are suggestive of a Clovis affiliationincluding the occasional occurrence of unmistakable flute scarsnearly all are in the early-to mid-stages of production, there are no definitive finished Clovis fluted points that would make it possible to assign the cache to that time period. To ascertain its cultural affiliation, we undertook a detailed qualitative and quantitative comparison of the Nelson cache bifaces with ones known to be both Clovis and post-Clovis in age. We also conducted geochemical sourcing, ochre analyses, and microwear analysis to understand the context of the cache, regardless of its age and cultural affinity. By some key measures it is consistent with Clovis caches in this region and elsewhere, but the case remains unproven. Nonetheless, if the Nelson cache is from the Clovis period, it is significant that most of its bifaces appear to be made on large flakes, in keeping with Clovis technology in the Lower Great Lakes, and an economically conservative, risk-mitigating strategy that conforms to predictions of human foragers colonizing the area in late Pleistocene times.

The Wells Creek Site (40SW63) in north central Tennessee has been recently cited as a major Paleoindian site. During the spring and summer of 2012, TRC had the opportunity to conduct an archaeological survey site on land recently acquired by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). This presentation will discuss and review the methods and results of the TRC survey. Our conclusion, in agreement with another recent evaluation, is that Wells Creek includes major and important Late Archaic and Early Woodland components with only a minimal presence of Paleoindian material.

Mockhorn Island is located at the southern tip of the Delmarva Peninsula near the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.  During Clovis times, the site occupied an upland interfluve adjacent to a navigable stream that drained into the Susquehanna River, within sight of the developing Chesapeake Bay. This locality is the closest remnant upland landscape to the Paleoindian age Atlantic coastline extant on the eastern shore of the bay.  As such, it presents a rare opportunity to investigate Clovis activities in a setting where the rich, combined resources of marine, estuarine, and upland habitats provided a diverse suite of subsistence and mobility alternatives.  A small lithic assemblage consists primarily of surface artifacts displaced within the swash-and-berm zone.  These items originated in nearshore sediments that are now largely submerged beneath the bay. Lithic analysis identified extensive use of bipolar reduction to produce a pebble/cobble tool assemblage dominated by wedges, drills, and adzes.  Use-wear traces and residues identified on cobble tools suggest the use of bow drills and the use of heated stones to apply birch tar.  Together, these implements may imply that significant wood-working was undertaken on-site, perhaps including birch bark canoe manufacture and/or maintenance.  Biface technology is represented by fluted preforms made of locally available quartzite, chalcedony, and chert.  Clovis points are made of local and nonlocal materials.