The age of Clovis—13,050 to 12,750 cal yr B.P.

Waters, Michael R.; Stafford, Thomas W.; Carlson, David Lee

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aaz0455

Cited by 68 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…A similar phenomenon of declining prey size followed by the cultural change was also identified in the Southern Levant continuously throughout the Paleolithic (Ben-Dor et al, 2011;Speth & Clark, 2006;M. C. Stiner et al, 2000) and in North America (Waters et al, 2020). A carnivorous trophic level can also support explanations of reliance on prey acquisition rather than adaptation to dietary variability as the enabling factor in H. erectus expansion to Eurasia 1.8…”

Section: Ethnographymentioning

confidence: 68%

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

Ben-Dor

Sirtoli

Barkai

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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The human trophic level (HTL) during the Pleistocene and its degree of variability serve, explicitly or tacitly, as the basis of many explanations for human evolution, behavior, and culture. Previous attempts to reconstruct the HTL have relied heavily on an analogy with recent hunter-gatherer groups' diets. In addition to technological differences, recent findings of substantial ecological differences between the Pleistocene and the Anthropocene cast doubt regarding that analogy's validity. Surprisingly little systematic evolution-guided evidence served to reconstruct HTL. Here, we reconstruct the HTL during the Pleistocene by reviewing evidence for the impact of the HTL on the biological, ecological, and behavioral systems derived from various existing studies. We adapt a paleobiological and paleoecological approach, including evidence from human physiology and genetics, archaeology, paleontology, and zoology, and identified 25 sources of evidence in total. The evidence shows that the trophic level of the Homo lineage that most probably led to modern humans evolved from a low base to a high, carnivorous position during the Pleistocene, beginning with Homo habilis and peaking in Homo erectus. A reversal of that trend appears in the Upper Paleolithic, strengthening in the Mesolithic/Epipaleolithic and Neolithic, and culminating with the advent of agriculture. We conclude that it is possible to reach a credible reconstruction of the HTL without relying on a simple analogy with recent hunter-gatherers' diets. The memory of an adaptation to a trophic level that is embedded in modern humans' biology in the form of genetics, metabolism, and morphology is a fruitful line of investigation of past HTLs, whose potential we have only started to explore.

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Section: Ethnographymentioning

confidence: 68%

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

Ben-Dor

Sirtoli

Barkai

2021

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…Haskett points are lanceolate-shaped spear tips 26,27 that date as early as ~13,000 cal BP 28 . This 84 date is contemporaneous with the Clovis style, of the fluted point tradition, which is widely 85 recognized across the continent 29 . Haskett artifacts in dry shelter sites near the GSLD 86 demonstrate use in the area beginning sometime between 12,900 and 12,500 cal BP 30,31 .…”

Section: Stemmed Technological Tradition Within What Is Now Native Smentioning

confidence: 91%

First Evidence for Nicotiana (Tobacco) and its Human Use in Pleistocene North America

Duke

Wohlgemuth

Adams

et al. 2021

Preprint

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Current studies on cultigens emphasize the protracted and intimate human interactions with wild species that defined paths to domestication and, for certain plants, profoundly impacted humanity1,2. Tobacco (Nicotiana) is one such plant. Tobacco arguably has had more impact on global patterns in history than any other psychoactive substance, but how deep its cultural ties trace back is widely debated. Adding to the puzzle is whether the distribution of tobacco in North America occurred naturally or if humans themselves were responsible for its expansion across the continent3. Archaeological excavations at the Wishbone site, directed at the hearth-side activities of the early inhabitants of North America’s desert west, have uncovered evidence for tobacco approximately 12,300 years ago, 9,000 years earlier than previously documented4. Here we detail the preservation context of the site, discuss its cultural affiliation, and consider the ways that the tobacco may have been used. Researchers have long suspected that human use extends earlier in time than can been readily demonstrated by such fragile remains3–7, so the finding reinvigorates research on the driving cultural forces behind tobacco’s use, cultivation, and subsequent domestication. This has implications for our understanding of deep-time human use of plant intoxicants, the intersection of non-food plant domestication with that of food crops, and the trajectory of selective, potentially independent, interactions with tobacco from a broad cultural milieu in ancient North America to a place of worldwide cross-cultural significance.

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“…The Paleoindian period in Mesoamerica was mainly defined by the presence of stone tools, specifically fluted lanceolate (or Clovis-style) and fishtail (or Fell's Cave-style) bifaces, that are similar to dated examples from North and South America (Acosta Ochoa et al 2019;Miller et al 2013;Morrow and Morrow 1999;Nami 2021;Waters et al 2015Waters et al , 2020. There are a few fluted points from highland Chiapas and Guatemala that have been dated to the Paleoindian period (see Acosta Ochoa 2012:133;Acosta Ochoa et al 2019:99;Santamaría and García-Bárcena 1989), but most are undated or of questionable date (Brown 1980;Bullen and Plowden 1963;Coe 1960;Gruhn et al 1977;Hayden 1980;Méndez Salinas and Lohse 2010).…”

Section: Lithic Technologymentioning

confidence: 96%

“…11,000 b.c.) (Acosta Ochoa 2010;Acosta Ochoa et al 2019;Chatters et al 2014;Cooke 1998;González et al 2015;González González et al 2008a, 2008b, 2013Stinnesbeck et al 2017;Waters et al 2020;Zeitlin and Zeitlin 2000; see Flannery 2009;Flannery and Hole 2019). Until recently, there were few radiocarbon dates for the preceramic in the central Maya lowlands overall (Iceland 1997;Kelly 1993;Pohl et al 1996;Zeitlin 1984).…”

Section: The Preceramic and Early Ceramic Chronologymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Preceramic and Early Ceramic Periods in Belize and the Central Maya Lowlands

et al. 2021

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This introduction to the Special Section provides a summary of our current understanding of the first humans and the first Maya in these regions and presents seven articles that examine these critical periods from varied, intersecting perspectives. The Introduction begins with a brief history of early preceramic research (primarily in northern Belize) and provides a current chronology for the Paleoindian, Archaic, and Early Preclassic periods. The Paleoindian and Archaic (ca. 11,500–900 b.c.) periods are discussed in terms of the origins of the first peoples in these regions, lithic technology, subsistence, and early ritual. Next, a summary of archaeological evidence for the transition to the first villages (ca. 1200–800 b.c.) is provided, with examinations of a horticultural lifestyle, the earliest ceramics, increased socio-economic complexity, new ideology and ritual practices, and developing social inequality. Proto-Mayan and Mayan languages—their dating, origin, and early lexicon—are discussed in relation to the first Maya. Material culture and language are explored with regard to conceptions of Maya culture.

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The age of Clovis—13,050 to 12,750 cal yr B.P.

Cited by 68 publications

References 31 publications

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

The evolution of the human trophic level during the Pleistocene

First Evidence for Nicotiana (Tobacco) and its Human Use in Pleistocene North America

The Preceramic and Early Ceramic Periods in Belize and the Central Maya Lowlands

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