A Morphometric Assessment of the Intended Function of Cached Clovis Points

Abstract

A number of functions have been proposed for cached Clovis points. The least complicated hypothesis is that they were intended to arm hunting weapons. It has also been argued that they were produced for use in rituals or in connection with costly signaling displays. Lastly, it has been suggested that some cached Clovis points may have been used as saws. Here we report a study in which we morphometrically compared Clovis points from caches with Clovis points recovered from kill and camp sites to test two predictions of the hypothesis that cached Clovis points were intended to arm hunting weapons: 1) cached points should be the same shape as, but generally larger than, points from kill/camp sites, and 2) cached points and points from kill/camp sites should follow the same allometric trajectory. The results of the analyses are consistent with both predictions and therefore support the hypothesis. A follow-up review of the fit between the results of the analyses and the predictions of the other hypotheses indicates that the analyses support only the hunting equipment hypothesis. We conclude from this that cached Clovis points were likely produced with the intention of using them to arm hunting weapons.

3D Scan Data for Selected Artifacts from Blackwater Draw National Historic Landmark (LA3324), New Mexico, USA

“…The addition of analytical approaches that employ 3D meshes (Figure 2) helps, in this case, to advance discussions of shape variations that occur among these artifacts; many of which are regularly used in studies of shape using 2D data Buchanan and Collard (2010); Buchanan et al (2011Buchanan et al ( , 2007Buchanan et al ( , 2012Buchanan et al ( , 2013. There are many components of shape are difficult-if not impossible-to characterize using traditional orthogonal approaches Shott and Trail (2012); Shott (2011), and are more accurately captured using their native 3D format Shott (2014Shott ( , 2015.…”

Design Space and Cultural Transmission: Case Studies from Paleoindian Eastern North America

“…The presence or absence of clouds corresponds to the transparency of potential costs and payoffs of a decision. Agents are shown in red; potential sources of information from which agents can learn-other agents-are shown in blue Buchanan et al 2012;Smallwood 2012;Graf et al 2014;Sanchez et al 2014;Anderson et al 2015;Smallwood and Jennings 2015).…”

“…Although all four methods are seeing increased usage in cultural studies (e.g., Tehrani and Collard 2002;Gray and Atkinson 2003;Holden and Mace 2003;Jordan and Shennan 2003;Rexová et al 2003;Lipo 2006;Beck and Jones 2007;Slice 2007;Gray et al 2009;Coward et al 2008;Jordan et al 2009;Lycett 2009aLycett , b, 2010Buchanan and Collard 2010;Cochrane and Lipo 2010;Currie et al 2010;Heggarty et al 2010;Tehrani et al 2010;Bowern 2012;Buchanan et al 2012Buchanan et al , 2014Thulman 2012;Cochrane 2013;Knappett 2013;Lycett and von Cramon-Taubadel 2013;Tehrani 2013;Jennings and Waters 2014;Gerding 2014, 2015;Smith et al 2015), the fact that they are derived not from anthropology or archaeology but from other disciplines perhaps has limited a wider acceptance. The methods build on each other in logical fashion and allow creation of testable hypotheses concerning cultural transmission and the evolutionary processes that shape it, including invention (mutation), selection, and drift.…”

Quantifying Ship Shape in Archaeology: Evaluating 3D Geometric Morphometrics

“…The method became increasingly more popular in paleobiology and anthropology in the 1990s as digital imaging technologies became more widely available, computers more powerful and internet resources grew (Bookstein, 1991; Rohlf and Marcus, 1993; Adams et al ., 2004, 2013; Mitteroecker and Gunz, 2009; Zeldtich et al ., 2012). Although some of the earliest applications of GM in archaeology were done on lithic nuclei (Lycett et al ., 2006), applications to human‐made objects, such as stone tools (Lycett and von Cramon‐Taubadel, 2013; Buchanan et al ., 2012; Thulman, 2012) and ceramics (Selden et al ., 2014; Wilczek et al ., 2014) have become increasingly popular in recent years. With this established track‐record of the application of GM to other areas of archaeological analysis, it therefore seems timely to investigate its application to maritime archaeological material as a potentially useful tool for expanding our conceptual ability to understand hull form.…”