Clovis Paleoecology and Lithic Technology in the Central Rio Grande Rift Region, New Mexico

Abstract

Clovis sites occur throughout the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, but are poorly documented in the central Rio Grande rift region. Here, we present data from two relatively unknown Clovis projectile point assemblages from this region: the first is from the Mockingbird Gap Clovis site and the second is from a survey of the surrounding region. Our goals are to reconstruct general features of the paleoecological adaptation of Clovis populations in the region using raw material sourcing and then to compare the point technology in the region to other Clovis assemblages in the Southwest and across the continent. Our results show that both assemblages were manufactured from similar suites of raw materials that come almost exclusively from the central Rio Grande rift region and the adjacent mountains of New Mexico. Additionally, we show that Clovis projectile points in the study region are significantly smaller than the continental average. Our results suggest that Clovis populations in this region operated within a large, well-known, and relatively high-elevation territory encompassing much of northern and western New Mexico.

Neutron activation analysis of 12,900-year-old stone artifacts confirms 450–510+ km Clovis tool-stone acquisition at Paleo Crossing (33ME274), northeast Ohio, U.S.A.

“…However, in nearly all these instances obsidian has been either minority components of assemblages or isolated finds (e.g., Mockingbird Gap, New Mexico (Hamilton et al, 2009(Hamilton et al, , 2013 and Murray Springs, Arizona (Shackley, 2007)), although one important exception to this pattern is the Dietz site in Oregon, where nearly all the Clovis artifacts are made from obsidian that has been geochemically sourced to outcrops no more than 120 km away (Beck and Jones, 2013;Pinson, 2011).…”

Elemental, isotopic, and geochronological variability in Mogollon‐Datil volcanic province archaeological obsidian, southwestern USA: Solving issues of intersource discrimination

“…Caldera formation in the northern portion of the province started near Socorro, New Mexico, about 32 Ma and migrated toward the southwest, presumably including the Mule Creek complex (17.67–21.98 Ma), one of the most important sources of archaeological obsidian in the Southwest from Paleoindian to the historic periods (≈14 ka to A.D. 1540; Hamilton et al., ; Mills et al., , Mills et al., ; Ratté, ; Shackley, ). The elemental and isotopic similarity among some of these obsidian sources is likely the result of near contemporaneous events over the very large area during the latter stages of volcanism in the province that sampled similar upper crustal magma, in this case granite plutons (Elston, ; Shackley, ; see Supplemental Tables 1 & 2).…”

“…As mentioned above, most of the sources of archaeological obsidian in the Mogollon‐Datil region have been known to archaeologists and geologists for decades (Findlow & Bolognese, ; Hughes, ; Shackley, ; Stevenson & McCurry, ; Church, ; Shackley, ; Shackley, ; Shackley, ; Shackley, ; Ratté, ; Hamilton et al., ; Mills et al., ; Taliafero et al., ). Sources geographically unknown until recently such as Nutt Mountain in Sierra County are considered “minor” sources and were essentially undetectable, in part due to the compositional similarity between the sources.…”

“…The Antelope Creek locality, after Government Mountain, Arizona, and the Jemez Mountains sources in northern New Mexico, was the most significant Southwestern source of obsidian since Paleoindian times, recovered in sites in the region in much greater frequency than any other of the Mogollon‐Datil obsidians. Indeed, Antelope Creek obsidian has been recovered as artifacts from western Arizona into Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and south well into Mexico (Hamilton et al., ; Mills et al., , ; Taliafero et al., b). The Late Classic (A.D. 1300–1400) inhabitants of the Mule Creek area as well as Classic Mimbres (A.D. 1000–1130) appear to have seen this obsidian as a commodity given its distribution over much of the Southwest (Mills et al., , ; Figure ).…”

The Source Provenance of an Obsidian Eden Point from Sierra County, New Mexico

“…More is known about Clovis and Folsom obsidian procurement than Cody obsidian procurement in the American Southwest because of the lack of sites and fewer Eden points (Hamilton et al 2009;Huckell et al 2011;LeTourneau and Shackley 2009). However, source provenance analysis on 27 Cody artifacts reported by LeTourneau and Shackley (2009) and one Eden point by Pinson et al (2009) demonstrate groups used El Rechuelos the most (n = 12), but Cerro del Medio (n = 7), Cerro Toledo (n = 7), and Grants Ridge in Mount Taylor (n = 2) are also present.…”