Origins and spread of fluted-point technology in the Canadian Ice-Free Corridor and eastern Beringia

Smith, Heather L.; Goebel, Ted

doi:10.1073/pnas.1800312115

Cited by 75 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…Distinguishing between demic expansion and cultural diffusion in the archaeological record is particularly difficult in cases where there is evidence of diffusion of a novel trait into a region that has evidence of a population already in place (Smith and Goebel 2018). The radiocarbon resolution for Plainview is not good enough to resolve the issue, but we suspect that demic expansion did not play a significant role in its dispersal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geometric Morphometric Analyses Support Incorporating the Goshen Point Type into Plainview

2019

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Recent work has demonstrated that Goshen points overlap in time with another group of unfluted lanceolate points from the Plains, Plainview points. This has raised the question of whether the two types should be kept separate or consolidated into a single type. We sought to resolve this issue by applying geometric morphometric methods to a sample of points from well-documented Goshen and Plainview assemblages. We found that their shapes were statistically indistinguishable, which indicates that Goshen and Plainview points should be assigned to the same type. Because Plainview points were recognized before Goshen points, it is the latter type name that should be dropped. Sinking Goshen into Plainview allows us to move beyond taxonomic issues and toward understanding both the spatiotemporal variation that exists among Plainview assemblages and what it can tell us about the adaptations and social dynamics of Plainview groups.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geometric Morphometric Analyses Support Incorporating the Goshen Point Type into Plainview

2019

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“…EFA has been increasingly employed in lithic (Cardillo, 2010;Costa, 2010;Fox, 2015;Ioviţă, 2009Ioviţă, , 2010Ioviţă, , 2011Ioviţă & McPherron, 2011;Smith et al, 2014) and ceramic analyses (Wilczek et al, 2014), where analysts continue to develop new approaches that advance archaeological applications (Gingerich et al, 2014;Sholts et al, 2012;Wilczek et al, 2015). Creative research designs are also being developed and adapted to address some of the very real challenges associated with the oft-fractured and incomplete specimens abundant in the archaeological record (Byrne et al, 2016;Rezek et al, 2011;Smith, 2010;Smith & DeWitt, 2016;Smith & Goebel, 2018). These advancements have helped to address challenges with interpretation, while simultaneously aiding in the development of a useful suite of protocols applicable to wide-ranging research questions.…”

Section: Geometric Morphometrics In Archaeologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Ceramic Morphological Organisation in the Southern Caddo Area: The Clarence H. Webb Collections

Selden¹

2018

Preprint

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Analyses of ceramic vessel shape are neither new or novel; however, the relatively recent adoption of geometric morphometric (GM) methods by archaeologists provides a preview of the contribution of GM to the systematic and rigorous study of morphology as applied to material culture. This study is focused upon an analysis of Caddo bottle shapes for Belcher Engraved, Hickory Fine Engraved, Keno Trailed, Smithport Plain, and Taylor Engraved vessels from the Allen Plantation, Belcher Mound, Gahagan Mound, and Smithport Landing sites in the Clarence H. Webb collections from northwest Louisiana. Results indicate some significant relationships between bottle shape and size (allometry), bottle shape and type, and bottle shape and site. A test of morphological integration indicates that the bottles are significantly integrated, meaning that those discrete traits used to characterise their shape (rim, neck, body, and base) vary in a coordinated manner. It also highlights significant integration between the rim and base, and significant integration between the neck and body for this sample. The Smithport Plain and Hickory (Fine) Engraved bottles found at the Belcher Mound, Smithport Landing, and Gahagan Mound sites also provide evidence for two discrete (north-south) base and body shapes.

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“…This discovery, alongside one made a few years earlier near Folsom, New Mexico [52], laid to rest a long-standing debate in archaeology over the presence of glacial-age humans in North America [53,54]. Since those early discoveries, Clovis points have been found throughout the contiguous United States, Alaska, southern Canada, and northern Mexico [16,30,40,[55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64].…”

Section: The Clovis Techno-complexmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fluted points occur in the Alaskan Arctic, alongside a number of nonfluted forms, but it is becoming clear that fluting technology arrived in the Arctic from the south, carried by established populations moving northward through the ice-free corridor [63]. Thus, it appears that any early signs of fluting will come from temperate North America, but to date, it has not been recognized as such (but see below).…”

Section: The Elusive Origins Of Flutingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Central to this reinforcement was the presence of outcrops of highly siliceous stone, such as chert, which were mined for the raw materials that were then shaped into tools. Archaeological evidence from across North America indicates that outcrops were hubs of regional Clovis activity [26,39,63,68,154]. For a thinly scattered, mobile population such as Clovis or its immediate descendants, outcrops would have acted as ideal meeting spots because, once found, they would have served as predictable places on an emerging mental landscape map [155][156][157][158].…”

Section: The Spread Of Clovismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Setting the Stage: The Late Pleistocene Colonization of North America

O’Brien

2018

Quaternary

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The timing of human entrance into North America has been a topic of debate that dates back to the late 19th century. Central to the modern discussion is not whether late Pleistocene-age populations were present on the continent, but the timing of their arrival. Key to the debate is the age of tools-bone rods, large prismatic stone blades, and bifacially chipped and fluted stone weapon tips-often found associated with the remains of late Pleistocene fauna.Quaternary 2019, 2, 1 2 of 22 complex, together with the various modes involved in its transmission. Along the way, I examine how various evolutionary processes and mechanisms helped shape what we see in the Clovis archaeological record. Excellent summaries of Clovis lifeways and numerous related topics not included here can be found in [28][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]. The Clovis Techno-ComplexThe Clovis techno-complex is marked by a number of distinctive tool types, including bone and ivory rods [36], large prismatic stone blades [26], and bifacially chipped and fluted stone weapon tips, referred to as "Clovis points" [26,[37][38][39][40]. Because of significant regional variation in the toolkit, Eren and Buchanan [41], (p. 1) make the excellent point that what archaeologists refer to as "Clovis technology" is better thought of as a shorthand reference to "a fuzzy set of human-tool interactions found across North and Central America during the terminal Pleistocene".Prehistoric projectile-weapon systems were made from a variety of raw materials, including wood, resins, bone, and fibers, but these materials do not preserve well, and as a result, archaeologists focus on the component that does survive, the flaked-stone projectile point [42]. Clovis points were made from several cryptocrystalline stone types, such as chert, quartzite, and obsidian. They were bifacially flaked (flaked on both sides) and are lanceolate in form. They have parallel to slightly convex sides and concave bases and exhibit a series of flake-removal scars-"flutes"-on one or both faces that extend from the base to about a third of the way to the tip (Figure 1). After fluted points were first recognized archaeologically, it was proposed that fluting enhanced bloodletting of a wounded animal [43], although the flute would have been largely covered by the hafting (e.g., sinew) [44]. Similarly, it was proposed that fluting enhanced hafting a point into a split shaft [45]. Experimentation suggests, however, that the thinner base that results from fluting acts as a "shock absorber" that increases point robustness and the ability to withstand physical stress through stress redistribution and damage relocation [46,47].Quaternary 2018, 2, x 2 of 22

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Origins and spread of fluted-point technology in the Canadian Ice-Free Corridor and eastern Beringia

Cited by 75 publications

References 36 publications

Geometric Morphometric Analyses Support Incorporating the Goshen Point Type into Plainview

Geometric Morphometric Analyses Support Incorporating the Goshen Point Type into Plainview

Ceramic Morphological Organisation in the Southern Caddo Area: The Clarence H. Webb Collections

Setting the Stage: The Late Pleistocene Colonization of North America

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