How Do You Make a Successful Clovis Dig? Al Goodyear, the Man Who Has Done It at the Topper Site in South Carolina Since 2004, Has Found the Answer

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Your next Mammoth Trumpet go to press 1 January 2007 (instead will of 1 December 2006). Thereafter this Volume 21, Number 4 ■ September, 2006 newsmagazine will be published quarterly on January 1, April 1, July 1, Center for the Study of the First Americans and October 1. Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University 4352 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-4352 http://centerfirstamericans.org How do you make a successful Clovis dig? Al Goodyear, the man who has done it at the Topper site in South Carolina since 2004, has found the answer. Start with the richest quarry-related site in the Southeast; be lucky enough to find a property owner (in his case, the Clariant Corporation) who encourages you to dig, protects your site from intruders, and provides you with sumptuous facilities for eating, bathing, and just plain relaxing; and have the gift for firing 100 volunteers with the thrill of discovery. This photo shows just a few who participated in the 2006 season. Our lead story on page 1 is Dr. Goodyear and the ongoing Clovis excavation at the Topper site. DARYL P. MILLER, SCIAA-USC

he Center for the Study of the First Americans fosters research and public T interest in the Peopling of the Americas. The Center, an integral part of the Department of Anthropology at Texas A&M University, promotes interdisciplinary scholarly dialogue among physical, geological, biological and social scientists. The Mammoth Trumpet, news magazine of the Center, seeks to involve you in the peopling of the Americas by reporting on developments in all pertinent areas of knowledge. Volume 21, Number 4 Center for the Study of the First Americans Department of Anthropology September, 2006 Texas A&M University, 4352 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4352 ISSN 8755-6898 World Wide Web site http://centerfirstamericans.org and http://anthropology.tamu.edu

4 Our earliest woman has lots of surprises For years Arlington Springs Woman was misidentified as a man. Now we know she shared Clovis her island off the California coast with pygmy mammoths. Thanks at to another island dweller, Peromyscus nesodytes, we also know she’s older than we thought. 10 A whole range of ecological Topper niches in one country

ALL PHOTOS: DARYL P. MILLER, SCIAA-USC Ruth Gruhn, our tour guide through Paleo South America, OPPER, set hard against the Savan- Level 6 of the hillside unit excavated in introduces us to Peru, whose nah River in Allendale County of 2006 by Ashley Smallwood’s team. They ocean beaches, grassy alpine South Carolina, is the queen of counted 125 artifacts in this one level slopes, desert, and jungle invited T the first human settlers to make Southern quarry-related Clovis sites. alone! (The trench near the rear was made What sets Topper apart from other by a mole that paid a visit the night before the home of their choice. Clovis sites in the South found near major this photo was taken—a thoroughly 7 New Books chert sources—Thunderbird, Wells Creek undisciplined team member.) TAMU palynologist Vaughn Crater, Adams, and Carson-Conn-Short are Bryant takes a close look at a notable examples—is its distinction of be- scientists who today visit Topper. By new edition of a classic text on phytoliths and declares it an ing the southernmost excavated Clovis site tracking finds of Clovis points made of dis- amazing book that’s “well in the Southeast. Its loca- tinctive Allendale chert, Al Goodyear, worth the cost.” tion at latitude 33 influ- director of the Allendale enced the kinds of tools Paleoindian Expedition knappers made. Blessed and principal investiga- inextricably linked with the pre-Clovis with an inexhaustible supply tor of the Topper site, investigations being pursued by Dr. of high-quality toolstone is defining the dimen- Goodyear’s team just a few meters from outcrops and river sions of a Clovis settle- from the Clovis excavations. News of cobbles of Allendale chert, ment complex that extends possible evidence that humans made generations of Clovis toolmakers all across South Carolina and primitive tools at Topper 50,000 years created projectile points and other beyond. ago has been broadcast on CNN and artifacts in quantities that stagger In recent years Topper has been published in major newsmagazines 2 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

Nature put everything in place to make a splendid Clovis site at Topper: A spur (chute channel) of the Savannah River sweeps past a hilltop containing a chert outcrop. The outcrop became exposed sometime around Clovis times or before, providing fine toolstone. Around the same time the Savannah River cut into its present meander pattern, which exposed natural chert deposits in the bottom of the river. Today, Shane Miller says, “If you were to dive around out there, you could pick yourself up a big boulder.” across the country and around the world, including Time, the New York Times, and American Archaeology. The reaction of the scientific community has ranged from enthusiastic support to let’s-wait-and-see, to skepticism, and sometimes to outraged disbelief—understandably, since until just a few years ago the Clovis-first gospel preached that the first Americans appeared no earlier than 13,000 calendar years ago. Happily, no controversy clouds the solid scholarship practiced by Goodyear, his colleagues, and the wildly enthusiastic volunteers who flock to Topper to dig Clovis year after year. Witness the supremely successful Clovis in the Southeast conference last October in Columbia, South Carolina, which drew over- flow crowds of scientists, avocational archaeologists, and the general public (MT 21-2, “Clovis in the Southeast Conference 2005”). Every year discoveries at Topper enlarge our understanding of the Clovis culture in America—and, at least They came for the chert as important, in the South. “If you look on a map,” Goodyear tells us, “the large chert sources go from western Allendale County, of which Topper is a member, right across the Savannah River into Burke County, Georgia, into the Brier Creek Valley.” He calls it all Allendale chert, although he admits some of the Georgia people call it Brier Creek chert. Whatever you call it, it’s all the same high-quality toolstone material, a fact verified by petrologic analysis done by Florida geologist Dr. Sam Upchurch, an authority on coastal plain chert. Because Topper lies next to a chute channel of the Savannah River, the hilltop overlooking the river made a fine campsite. The river, though, didn’t always flow within its present boundaries. Dur- ing the Ice Age it was a broad, slug- ▲ Shane Miller, unit supervisor of the Clovis hilltop gish body of water that deposited a excavation. terrace on the floodplain. We re- A fractured Clovis preform found by Miller’s team in situ. ported (MT 16-4, “The Topper The proximity of the pieces confirms there has been little Site: Beyond Clovis at Allendale”)

activity to disturb deposited artifacts. ▲ how, with the end of the Last Gla- September ■ 2006 3

cial Maximum about 15,000 years ago, The hilltop was the area used as a artifacts in bewildering numbers. Shane rainfall in the South greatly increased, workshop and for camp-related activi- Miller, a graduate student in anthropol- creating powerful currents that scoured ties, and that’s where Goodyear’s team ogy at the University of Tennessee– the river bed and dropped the elevation to are concentrating their efforts. In the Knoxville and unit supervisor of the its present level. Subsequent slopewash 2006 season they explored two areas, firebreak excavation in the 2006 season, eroding off the hill gradually covered the the hillside and the firebreak. The hill- notes that they didn’t start seriously dig- Pleistocene terrace (and the pre-Clovis side is a gently sloping area shaded by ging the hillside and firebreak areas deposits that Goodyear is excavating, trees. The firebreak is so named be- until 2004. “For years Al and company with the world watching over his shoul- cause the Clariant Corporation, owner have noticed Clovis artifacts would oc- der). Clovis people were the first to see of the land on which Topper lies, every casionally erode out of the road above the river as it appears today. If there were year for the past 30 years has plowed a the pre-Clovis excavations, but thought earlier visitors—and Goodyear is confi- swath clear of trees and brush to help the artifacts were just flukes,” he re- dent there were—they saw a river of firefighters contain a forest fire if one calls. “In 2004, they decided to test the vastly different dimensions and flow. occurs. Both areas are yielding lithic areas around the road for intact deposits, and they hit the mother-lode.” Anticipating that guests attending the Clovis in the Southeast conference would be eager to visit Topper, the Topper team excavated a 4-by-4-m unit. Miller remem- bers that “people would come down the

The Mammoth Trumpet (ISSN 8755-6898) is published quarterly by the Center for the Study of the First Americans, Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4352. Phone (979) 845-4046; fax (979) 845-4070; e-mail [email protected]. Periodical postage paid at College Station, TX 77843-4352 and at additional mailing offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: Mammoth Trumpet Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University 4352 TAMU 05 College Station, TX 77843-4352 cm Copyright © 2006 Center for the Study of the First Americans. Permission is hereby Denticulate tool. The comblike teeth of given to any non-profit or educational organization or institution to reproduce without the sharp serrated edge were used to cost any materials from the Mammoth Trumpet so long as they are then distributed at shred bark for making cordage and no more than actual cost. The Center further requests that notification of reproduction hafting material. of materials under these conditions be sent to the Center. Address correspondence to the editor of Mammoth Trumpet, 2122 Scout Road, Lenoir, NC 28645. road and look at it, then go up to the Michael R. Waters Director and General Editor firebreak. They were just stunned at the e-mail: [email protected] volume of it.” James M. Chandler Editor, Mammoth Trumpet e-mail: [email protected] Toolstone from the quarry and Ted Goebel Editor, Current Research in the Pleistocene river cobbles Laurie Lind Office Manager All the chert used to make the artifacts C & C Wordsmiths Layout and Design found in the hilltop excavations was car- World Wide Web site http://centerfirstamericans.org ried up the slope from the river and the The Center for the Study of the First Americans is a non-profit organization. Sub- quarry. Goodyear admits being slow to scription to the Mammoth Trumpet is by membership in the Center. recognize the quarry. It lies on a fairly steep slope (about a 16-percent grade) Mammoth Trumpet, Statement of Our Policy that everyone uses as a footpath to get Many years may pass between the time an important discovery is made and the acceptance of research to the river and the pre-Clovis excava- results by the scientific community. To facilitate communication among all parties interested in staying tions, and at first glance it looks like abreast of breaking news in First Americans studies, the Mammoth Trumpet, a science news magazine, common gravel. A little investigating provides a forum for reporting and discussing new and potentially controversial information important found outcrops and boulders, and it’s to understanding the peopling of the Americas. We encourage submission of articles to the Managing Editor and letters to the Editor. Views published in the Mammoth Trumpet are the views of now apparent that what appears to be contributors, and do not reflect the views of the editor or Center personnel. rubble is all man-made talus, the –Michael R. Waters, Director continued on page 15 4 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

HE ARLINGTON SPRINGS SITE lies on Santa Rosa equipment became mired in the mud. As Dr. Orr worked to Island, one of the Channel Islands off the California extricate the machine from the muck, he noticed bones in the coast. The island, already notable for being home to newly exposed cliff face. Upon closer inspection the bones theT enigmatic pygmy mammoth (Mammuthus exilis), caught appeared to be not animal as he supposed, but rather human. At the attention of the scientific world when a pair of human a depth of more than 10 m from the surface, this was indeed an femora were found in general proximity to pygmy mammoth exciting find—evidence of human occupation on the island at remains. The discovery was evidence of a probable co-pres- what might be a very early time, possibly the earliest for the ence of humans and mammoths at a time of critical transition, Santa Rosa Island area. Exhibiting incredible presence of mind, when Santa Rosa Island mammoths were on the decline and the human population was burgeoning. Imagine having one of the leading bone- dating experts of the day, Dr. Tom Stafford, First Lady of: pay a visit to your office bringing the news that the oldest known human remains in the United States are residing in your base- the New World: ment. Imagine . . . That’s just what happened to John Johnson, Curator of Anthropology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. What must surely have been a humbling experience for both scientists, a conversation that took place in Dr. Johnson’s mu- Arlington seum office one rainy day in January 1995, launched a series of investigations on Santa Rosa Island that continue today and are a perfect example of how archaeologists use parcels of information to assemble a snap- shot in time of ancient life-ways. Springs An old friend revisited We first reported the saga of Arlington Springs Woman in 1999 (MT 14-3, “Chan- nel Island Woman May Be Oldest Yet”), a saga that was initiated by an accidental discovery in 1959. Phil Orr, then curator of Woman anthropology and paleontology of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, was carving a road with Orr decided not to excavate the bones at that time. Instead, on equipment borrowed from a nearby U.S. Naval facility in order to the advice of the Museum’s Chair of the Prehistory Committee, create easier access across Arlington Canyon to locales that he decided to assemble a group of eminent anthropologists and were yielding interesting archaeologists to investigate the dis- archaeological and paleon- covery in situ, an unorthodox meth- tological data. While ma- odology for the time. neuvering a road grader M-1133➝ With the help of Fay Cooper-Cole, down a steep incline, the 7350 ± 350 the Museum’s Chair of the Prehis- tory Committee, a Werner-Glenn Orr’s 1960 excavation. grant was acquired as an umbrella The lower arrow (9950 ± for a conference convened on Santa 200 radiocarbon years) is Rosa Island. Leading U.S. archaeo- the approximate location L-560➝ logical scientists, whose numbers in- of Pleistocene-age human 9950 ± 200 cluded Jesse Jennings, Emil Haury, bones. Johnson and James B. Griffin, Alex Krieger, Stafford’s recent work at Luther Cressman, and other experts the site dates Arlington in the fields of geology, geography, Woman’s presence on the and oceanography, were enlisted to island somewhere investigate Orr’s discovery on site between about 11,000 and to evaluate dark stains in nearby

and 11,500 RCYBP. AFTER ORR (1962A) canyons that he believed were September ■ 2006 5

hearths. (Although the stains were ultimately dismissed by the human bones; but Orr was dissatisfied with the gross margin of group, Orr never wavered in his belief that the incursions of dark error resulting from an insufficient sample size. Subsequently, red earth were indeed hearths.) Articles were ultimately pub- therefore, he extracted an additional charcoal sample from the lished in professional journals. Two of these, in Science and soil matrix about 1/3 m from the bones; its age was determined American Antiquity, briefly described occupational layers above to be 10,000 ± 200 RCYBP (uncalibrated). No mammoth re- the bones in question and addressed the 8000 B.C. radiocarbon mains or cultural materials were found in direct context with age established for the bones—remember that in 1959 radio- the bones that could be used to refine the date of the human carbon dating was still in its infancy. skeletal remains. However, pygmy mammoth skeletal material AFTER AGENBROAD, JOHNSON, MORRIS, AND STAFFORD (2005).

Dating the remains: Resourceful and ingenious work Map of the Channel Islands showing current coastline and Orr, a strong believer in technology, used the emerging sci- Pleistocene coastline at the last glacial maximum (dotted ence of carbon dating to determine the age of the Arlington outline). Springs human remains (described by Walter Libby in his address on accepting the Nobel Prize in 1960; see “Suggested had been located about 47 m from the spring and cultural Readings”). Samples of abalone shell from a stratigraphic layer materials were found eroding from the surface to a depth of above the human bone layer about 3 m from the surface and samples of charcoal from above the springs. Armed with soil immediately surrounding this information and strat- the bones were also sent to igraphic evidence, and bol- different laboratories for car- stered by his extensive knowl- bon dating. The abalone shell, edge of Pleistocene faunal found in cultural strata about 6 remains on Santa Rosa Island, m above the human bones, Orr ascribed Arlington Springs yielded an age of 7350 ± 350 human remains (at the time RCYBP (uncalibrated). The charcoal bits in close proxim- Johnson and Stafford’s 2001 ity to the bones, at 11½ m be- ➙ excavation. The bottom of the low the surface, yielded an age stadia rod (arrow) is the of 10,400 ± 2000 RCYBP (uncal- approximate location of ibrated). Granted, the two present-day samples that date

dates bracketed the age of the J. JOHNSON (2006) to the terminal Pleistocene. 6 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

Geochronologist Tom removed from the bones of now-extinct deer Stafford in the lab. mouse (Peromyscus nesodytes) found embedded in the block of earth around the femora. referred to as Arlington Analysis of the mouse bone collagen returned Springs Man) to the end of an age of 11,490 ± 70 RCYBP. Still eager to the Pleistocene. Based on wring usable information from the human re- other evidence at the site, mains, the team performed AMS osteocalcine he proposed a gap in human analysis on the femora (osteocalcine, the sec- occupation of several thou- ond most abundant protein in bone after col- sand years for unknown rea- lagen, binds to both collagen and the mineral sons prior to the start of the apatite, which gives bone its rigidity; osteo- Holocene era. calcine tends to survive in fossil bone, and In yet another stroke of when present in sufficient quantity, osteo- prescience, Orr ultimately calcine amino acid protein can yield useful moved the bones, deter- information about the individual including spe- mined to be the femora cies identification and radiocarbon age) and from one individual, to the got an age of 6610 ± 60 years; AMS dating of museum for safekeeping. preserved fractions of bone collagen yielded Instead of excavating the an age of 10,960 ± 80 RCYBP. Finally, testing of bones from the soil matrix, a charcoal sample obtained in 1994 at the Ar- however, he removed a lington Springs Site during a geological study

large block of earth with the JOHN JOHNSON, SANTA BARBARA MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY by Dr. Thomas Rockwell, San Diego State Uni- bones embedded in situ. For protection the entire block was versity, yielded a date of ca. 10,000 RCYBP. It was believed at the sheathed in a plaster jacket, like that used to preserve paleon- time that this charcoal came from the same stratum in which tological specimens. Thus encased, the block was transported Orr had discovered the human bones. Since the mouse bone is to the Santa Barbara Museum and catalogued into the far better preserved than the human bone, the scientists have Museum’s collection. For the next 30 years the oldest person greater confidence in its radiocarbon age than in that of the in the New World (still believed to be a man) reposed in human bone. Thanks to P. nesodytes, the human remains can relative obscurity after a brief flirt with celebrity. be dated with a high degree of confidence to at least Johnson, with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural His- 10,960 ± 80 RCYBP. tory, and Don P. Morris, an archaeologist Dr. Larry Agenbroad from the Channel Islands National Park was invited in 1994 to now retired, teamed up in 1987 to review examine a nearly complete the material and evidence for the Arlington pygmy mammoth skeleton Springs site. They decided to determine found by Rockwell and whether the encased fossilizing femora re- Morris on Santa Rosa Is- tained enough original matter that could land. A sample from the yield additional information about the bones yielded an AMS bones and possibly answer questions about radiocarbon age of 12,840 the human individual—its ancestry, for ex- ± 419 RCYBP, which led in- ample, and when and how its forebears vestigators at the Arling- arrived on Santa Rosa Island. Unfortu- ton Springs site to infer nately, initial tests indicated that the pro- that pygmy mammoths and tein within the fossilizing bone was too humans were probably degraded to yield useful information, that present on Santa Rosa Is- AFTER AGENBROAD, JOHNSON, MORRIS, AND STAFFORD (2005) no useful DNA remained, and that enzyme land within a similar time collagenase testing wasn’t possible. range. In 1995, Stafford, the leading U.S. spe- Recognized at last: Ms. Radiocarbon ages of samples from Arlington Springs Arlington Springs site and pygmy For over 40 years the mammoth skeleton. Shaded area femora originally found at indicates probable area of overlap of the site were referred to as pygmy mammoth and human presence. Arlington Springs Man. This was a period when, in cialist in extracting bone collagen for carbon dating, tested the absence of compelling data to the contrary, it was custom- additional samples found within the block of earth in which the ary to assign the male gender to human remains. The error human bones were embedded. His task was to analyze material continued on page 14 September ■ 2006 7

Phytoliths: A Comprehensive Guide for Archaeolo- aground on a shallow reef along the west coast of Turkey and gists and Paleoecologists, by Dolores R. Piperno. then sank. The archaeologists wanted to know details about the Altamira Press (Division of Rowman & Littlefield Pub- cargo, which we were able to reconstruct from seed and pollen lishing Group, Inc.), 248 pp., illus. (B&W), tables, biblio, remains. However, studies of the rope fragments and fibers index, appendix, ISBN: 0-7591-0385-2. ($59.95) (paper- proved inconclusive. Finally, detailed microscopic examinations back) 2006. of some of the rope fragments revealed palm phytoliths trapped in the cells of some of the rope’s fibers. This confirmed historical For more than 40 years I have applied my archaeological skills to reports that certain types of palm fibers were sometimes used the recovery and analysis of various types of plant remains left for making ropes. behind in the middens, hearths, and latrine deposits of archaeo- After my introduction to the study of plant phytoliths during logical sites found both on land and on the seabed. When the mid 1960s, I never found the time to study them in depth. collecting samples from these archaeological deposits, I have One reason was the early absence of good reference books on often seen many different types of plant remains. The larger how to collect and extract phytoliths from various types of fragments are easy to see and collect, such as charcoal, seeds, matrices, the absence of books with detailed taxonomic keys to wood, fibers, fruits, leaves, roots, and bark. Most of these are help identity unknown types, and a total lack of any photo- fairly easy to identify because for many graphic atlases showing pictures of some of the important there are useful taxonomic keys and phytolith types. Finally, in 1988, some good photographic atlases. Even fossil of those problems were resolved pollen, although sometimes harder to when Dr. Piperno published her first identify because of the extensive num- textbook and guide to the discipline ber of possible types, is fairly easily of phytolith studies. In the nearly two identified for many regions because of decades since that book was first pub- well-documented pollen keys and well- lished, there have been many new ad- illustrated pollen atlases. However, vances in phytolith research. Fortu- one type of plant remains, phytoliths, nately, most of them are discussed in is the exception to the rule. detail in her new textbook on phytoliths. The tiny silica and calcium oxalate The first thing that impressed me crystals produced by many species of about Piperno’s new book was its beefy plants have always fascinated me. In size (8½ x 11) and its reasonable cost. some of my studies I have been able Perhaps not everyone is concerned with to identify a few of them as coming the cost of books these days because it from specific host plants. For ex- costs more to fill our cars with gasoline ample, during the mid 1960s, when than it does to buy a good book! Never- I first began examining the con- theless, I am concerned about book tents of ancient human coprolites prices and I want to compliment the au- (preserved feces) from sites in thor and publisher for providing this im- west Texas, I found thousands of portant reference book at a price that tiny plant crystals among the de- most students and professionals can af- bris in those coprolites, some of ford. which were nearly 3,000 years old. After preparing reference So why should an archaeologist want a materials from a number of the local desert plants I found copy of this book, or why should we even be concerned with matches for some of the coprolite phytoliths. Thus, I was able to phytoliths? I provided several examples of why I found say with certainty that those ancient Texans had been eating phytoliths important in my own research. However, from the large quantities of cactus pads (Opuntia sp.) and the leaf bases broader perspective the emerging discipline of phytolith stud- (called quids) of agave (Agave sp) and sotol (Dasylirion sp.). ies is vital to the whole field of archaeology for a number of Although a few of the fibers from these same plants were also reasons. First, phytolith studies focus on the identity of micro- present, the best confirming and most reliable evidence for the scopic silica elements produced by plants that are morphologi- dietary use of these plants came from the thousands of undi- cally unique to the family, genus, or species level in a number gested phytoliths that remained in their feces. Many years later, of plant families. Second, these microscopic traces of the par- one of my doctoral students and I were trying to solve another ent plants often remain preserved in sediments for thousands mystery. Underwater archaeologists had found fragments of of years. Third, phytoliths can be recovered and separated ropes that were once used on a ninth-century Byzantine mer- from ancient sediments for analysis using a variety of extrac- chant ship. The sunken remains suggested that the ship had run tion procedures. Fourth, the potential scientific value of study- 8 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

ing both pollen and phytoliths was first chapters, each covering a new and im- soils in South and Central America has noted during the 1830s by the same Ger- portant topic. For those not familiar with provided archaeologists with the best man scientist, Carl Ehrenberg, and later the development or anatomy of plants, confirmed evidence for the beginning of both disciplines followed a similar devel- chapter 1 will be quite helpful because it plant domestication in the New World. opmental history. Fifth, phytoliths are thoroughly discusses how phytoliths are Previous to these recent phytolith dis- important for their interpretive value in a formed, where they occur in plants, their coveries, most believed that early pollen wide range of disciplines ranging from chemical characteristics, how they are and corn cob records from archaeologi- archaeology to geology and from paleo- dispersed, what factors ensure preserva- cal deposits in central Mexico held the ecology to forensics. tion, and which major plant families have key to finding the origin of farming in the Most of the initial taxonomic studies of phytoliths and which do not. Chapter 2 New World. Likewise, the search for the phytoliths were conducted between the covers the many different morphological origins of when Polynesians first occu- middle 1800s and early 1900s. Then, in types of phytoliths including the charac- pied many of the islands in the Pacific is 1916 Lennart von Post ushered in a new teristics of ones found in monocots and becoming much better documented as a

describes the excavations and the strati- New publications on the early site graphy encountered; and Alan Bryan examines the artifacts from undisturbed deposits. There are special studies of the of Wilson Butte Cave, Idaho projectile points recovered from disturbed South-Central Idaho’s Wilson Butte Cave deposits, by Mark Druss; obsidian has been known as an important early sources by Jeff Bailey; and Wilson archaeological site since the first report of Butte Cave artifact collections in research was published in 1961. Carbon private hands, by Diane Cockle. Ap- dating on some of the materials found there pendices are provided by Susanne suggests that it had pre-Clovis inhabitants. Miller, Steven Bozarth, Christopher A wide range of dates indicates that the site Stevenson, and James Adovasio. In was home to hunter/gatherers for more the introductory and concluding than 14,000 years, from the late Pleistocene sections, Gruhn addresses two ma- into the late prehistoric period. jor historical problems arising from The first scientific excavations at the site, the earlier excavations: the dating by Ruth Gruhn in 1959/60, were published of the earliest human occupations in 1961; and a reprint of that report (Occa- at the site, and the cultural identi- sional Paper no. 6) is now available from the fication of the latest prehistoric Idaho Museum of Natural History. As well as phase. a description of the artifacts recovered, it The reprint of the 1961 report provides a detailed record of the nature of (Occasional Paper #6) and the 2006 the undisturbed sediments and a sequence report (Occasional Paper #38) may of paleoenvironmental changes as inferred be purchased as a set for $75 plus from the record of changes in frequency in S&H; the volumes sold separately small mammal and bird species; providing are priced at $40 each plus S&H. information supplemental to the report on Order from the Idaho Museum of new excavations carried out in 1988/89. seum of Natural History, Gruhn and her asso- Natural History, Campus Box 8096, In a new occasional paper (Occasional ciates report the results of excavations that Pocatello, ID 83209; or telephone 208- Paper #38), published by the Idaho Mu- took place in the cave in 1988/89. Gruhn 282-3317. era for the discipline of palynology when how those differ from ones found in di- result of the discoveries of cultigen he reported that the statistical study of cots or gymnosperms. Chapter 3 is one phytoliths and starch grains in early ar- fossil pollen could be used to identify and of the more important ones because it chaeological sites. Archaeologists have determine cycles of past vegetational provides detailed information about long realized that the Polynesians car- change, and hopefully might even date many phytolith types that are found in ried cultigens with them as they ex- sediments to specific time periods. Re- cultigens, then discusses how those plored the Pacific Islands. Unfortu- grettably, it would be four decades later types differ from the phytoliths pro- nately, earlier searches for fossil pollen before this same type of application would duced by related taxa, which are wild or other types of plant evidence from be recognized for phytolith data. forms rather than cultigens. This chap- those early island-grown cultigens re- The body of Phytoliths: A Compre- ter is important because during the past vealed no usable data owing to the high hensive Guide for Archaeologists and several decades the discovery of key levels of microbial activity and organic Paleoecologists is divided into eight phytolith taxa in ancient archaeological oxidation in the soils. September ■ 2006 9

Chapters 4 and 5 are important because they explore tech- still stuck to their cutting surfaces. Careful studies of those niques for sampling and recovering phytolith records from remains have revealed trapped phytoliths from the plant mate- field locations such as archaeological soils, geologic deposits, rials being cut. Phytoliths recovered from archaeological sites lakes, swamps, and bogs, and then discuss how to extract have also played a key role in identifying the source materials essential phytolith data in the lab. Chapter 4 covers field sam- used for making adobe bricks, the types of plant material used pling and the importance of collecting modern control samples to temper pottery, the plant sources used for caulking the from surface soils. It also stresses the importance of under- seams of ancient ships, and the types of fibers used for making standing the complexity of the local vegetation cover and the prehistoric twine and ropes. Phytoliths found in ancient human types of phytoliths they produce. The second of these two coprolites have revealed important information about food chapters covers various methods used in extracting phytoliths sources in early human diets. from a variety of matrixes, including the calculus on teeth. The final chapter examines the importance of phytolith Chapter 5 also examines techniques for recovering starch research as a tool in the search for paleoenvironmental infor- granules from fresh sources as well as from a variety of sedi- mation. Although fossil pollen has played a significant histori- ment types. The chapter also suggests ways to collect suffi- cal role in reconstructing ancient environments and vegeta- cient numbers of phytoliths (containing trapped carbon tional patterns, pollen is destroyed in some types of sediments particles) needed for precise AMS radiocarbon dates and for by oxidation or microbial activity. Fortunately, phytoliths are use in isotope studies. The chapter ends with tips on staining often preserved in sediments that are hostile to fossil pollen phytoliths, the best types of mounting media to use, micro- preservation. Thus, in those regions the preserved phytolith scope photography, and the proper ways to ensure the long- chronology has often provided our only glimpse of the term preservation of samples. paleoenvironmental conditions and vegetational changes. Bet- Chapter 6 is another critical chapter because it first focuses ter still, in some regions the same sediment cores are now on the importance of making proper identifications, then dis- being used to search for both fossil pollen and phytoliths. cusses how to interpret phytolith data. In the past some Those types of studies are now providing more detailed infor- phytolith studies have presented their data in terms of ubiquity. mation about past vegetations. For example, all grass pollen Others have tried different ways to quantify the numbers and looks the same; grass phytoliths, on the other hand, can be types of phytoliths found in samples. Some have tried to find assigned to a number of key groups, each ecologically sensi- ways to determine phytolith concentration values, similar to the tive. Chapter 8 concludes with a look to the future and specu- techniques used in pollen analyses. Still others have focused on lates about the potential uses of phytolith research in the trace element and isotope variations in phytoliths. Chapter 6 of decades to come. One potential area is revealed by the discov- Piperno’s book concludes by examining some of the best ways ery that phytoliths occur throughout the Tertiary in many to report phytolith results statistically in ways that best reflect types of sediments; in the past, however, geologists have been past vegetational and environmental conditions. slow to seize upon the potential of using phytoliths in their Grasses are prolific producers of phytoliths. Consequently, analyses. The use of pollen and phytoliths as forensic tools is early phytolith studies of prairie soils and Holocene deposits relatively new, but has great potential for the future. The recent were used mainly by botanists, soil scientists, agriculturalists, discovery that aluminum ions in phytoliths can be used to and ecologists to determine the types and expanses of early distinguish between forested and herbaceous vegetations has grasslands. Slowly other types of phytolith morphological great potential for future use as does the study of oxygen and studies emerged to complement those already known for many hydrogen isotope signatures in phytoliths. Finally, many types of grasses. It was this emphasis on learning more about phytoliths trap tiny particles of carbon inside of them as they grass phytoliths that led to its first application in archaeology. form. Perhaps DNA studies of these trapped carbon particles Chapter 7 is devoted to the importance of phytolith research in will help us unravel clues about plant evolution and about the the field of archaeology and chronicles a history of its use. As paleoenvironments of the past. early as 1900, European researchers applied their knowledge So why should an archaeologist want to own a copy of this of phytoliths to the search for the beginnings of wheat, barley, book? The bottom line is that this amazing book is well worth and millet agriculture and to trace the spread of early farming the cost. The original and shorter version of this book, first at archaeological sites in Northern Europe and Turkey. Later, published in 1988, was as least as expensive as this longer, these same techniques were applied to the excavations of early revised edition. That was 18 years ago, so in today’s dollars the farming settlements discovered in the Middle East. More im- current edition is a real bargain. For any member of the archae- portantly, detailed studies of ancient and modern maize (Zea ology discipline who plans to interact and work with specialists mays) phytoliths show that the two groups are distinctive and doing phytolith studies or who may need to read and compre- can be used as key indicators to trace the early domestication hend data presented by paleoethnobotanists, this book is an and spread of maize farming throughout the New World. Chap- essential purchase. ter 7 also focuses on the many other cultural clues that can be If I haven’t convinced you to buy the book yet, then buy it for revealed from phytolith evidence at archaeological sites. Re- the beautiful photographs and the key to major phytolith types cent discoveries of phytolith scratches on human teeth and on listed in the appendix. This is one of the very few available flint artifacts provide clues to the types of plants being har- sources that illustrate many different phytolith types. vested and the diets eaten. Some ancient stone, bone, and –Vaughn M. Bryant, Jr. metal cutting tools contain the dried remains of plant materials Texas A&M University 10 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

ERU can be viewed as a microcosm of the environmental Western South America”). It is located on the south coast of diversity of South America. Within its borders are desert, Peru, a strategic area for archaeologists to search for Paleo- Pgrassland, or scrub forest in the broad coastal zone and american sites, as, unlike the situation in most other coastal adjacent western foothills of the Andes; in the interior, high areas of the Western Hemisphere, the present coastline there is mountain ranges extending the length of the country, separated not far inland from the coastline as it existed in Pleistocene by mid-altitude intermountain valleys and basins; high-altitude times, when the sea level was lower. While in most other re- grassy plateaus among the highest peaks; and to the east, a gions, Pleistocene archaeological sites that were located on the rugged forest-covered escarpment dropping down into the ex- coast are now under water, Paleoamerican coastal sites would be tensive lowland jungles of the Amazon basin. By the end of the preserved in this area. Paleoamericans in Peru

An awesome sight greeted the first Paleoamericans to cross the high pass leading down into the Callejón de Huaylas. The average elevation of the Cordillera Blanca to the east is ca. 6000 m (ca. 20,000 ft). ALAN BRYAN

Pleistocene, Peruvian Paleoamericans had adapted to these The earliest occupation zone at QJ 280 dates back to challenging environments and developed a remarkable cultural 11,105 ± 260 RCYBP. There is evidence for the construction of diversity. rectangular huts made of reed mats. The people who lived there were fully focused on the resources of the sea. They gathered Early cultural variation in the coastal zone shellfish, with a fondness for one species of clam; and netted To modern visitors to Peru, the coastal zone at first sight appears near-shore fish, particularly the drum fish. The stone tools they to be totally unproductive desert. The arid conditions result from left at the campsite were simple. There is no evidence for any the atmospheric effects of a cold ocean current offshore, which hunting of land mammals, but the people did obtain prickly pear creates extensive fog banks over the coast in the winter but fruit from inland localities. Sandweiss believes that the site was inhibits rainfall directly on the coastal plain. However, the cold occupied in the summer season, when there was fresh water upwelling offshore current supports abundant marine life—fish, available in the quebrada; in winter, when the stream ran dry, the shellfish, sea mammals, sea people may have shifted location birds—and Paleoamericans to a nearby river valley. knew how to exploit these rich On the far north coast of Peru marine resources. there is another area in which Dan Sandweiss described the modern shore is also close to the early coastal site of QJ 280 the Pleistocene coastline, and near the bank of the Quebrada Paleoamerican archaeological Jaguay for Mammoth Trumpet sites that indicate a littoral-based readers last year (MT 21-1, economy have been discovered. “Early Maritime Adaptations in Just south of the small isolated Amotape mountain range are Paleoamericans in the arid the Talara tar-seeps, which, like coastal zone exploited the the La Brea tar pits in Los Ange- rich resources of the sea, and les, entrapped Pleistocene ani-

foraged on the coastal plain. ALAN BRYAN mals, including mastodon, September ■ 2006 11

ground sloth, horse, deer, and dire wolf, a faunal suite indicating that a productive savanna-woodland then existed in what is now desert. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, James Richardson located 10 small thin Paleoamerican sites exposed on low ridges, all in sight of the tar-seeps, although no remains of the now- extinct fauna have been found on the campsites. It appears that the people who camped on the ridges maintained a foraging economy, focusing upon the collection of mollusks gathered from mangrove swamps that existed along the coastline of far northwest Peru until about 5000 RCYBP, when seasonal precipi- tation patterns shifted northward. A date of 11,200 ± 115 RCYBP was obtained on mangrove mollusk shell from one of the Talara campsites. Localities The assemblage of lithic artifacts from the early campsites near the discussed Talara tar-seeps make up the in this article Amotape complex. It is a unifacial industry, featuring large and small denticulated flakes; and wear patterns indicate that these tools were used to work wood or bone, or to ✪ shred fibrous plant material. It is un- Talara fortunate that none of these organic materials were preserved on these ✪ Paiján Guitarrero open sites. No stone projectile points ✪ Cave Pachamachay were found on the early campsites, ✪ ✪ but points may have been made of Telarmachay wood or bone. Pikimachay In contrast, a distinctive type of ✪ stone projectile point is the hallmark of the Paiján complex, which is re- skilled knappers indeed. Paiján lithic workshops Quebrada stricted in distribution to the pied- ✪ Jaguay in the area of the Cupisnique valley north of the

0 500 mont and adjacent coastal plain of km present city of Trujillo have been well analysed and the north-central coast of Peru. described by Claude Chauchat in the recent CSFA Beautifully crafted, a Paiján point publication Projectile Point Technology and cannot escape notice: it is large, with marked shoulders and an Economy: A Case Study from Paiján, North Coastal Peru (2004). elongate stem, and features a narrow blade tapering to a fine tip In intensive surveys in the Jequetepeque and Zaña valleys, often described as needle-nosed. Some archaeologists have sug- Tom Dillehay and his associates have found evidence for a gested that these points served as fish spears; but as any ar- significant shift in settlement pattern as the Paiján complex chaeological sites directly on the coastline at the time are now evolved over time. Early Paiján campsites, dating before 10,000 under water far to the west of the present Pacific shore in this RCYBP, were apparently occupied only briefly, suggesting a part of Peru, that hypothesis is difficult to verify. Some fish pattern of high mobility in the exploitation of resources of the bones and marine shells are found on the inland Paiján camp- piedmont and coastal plain. Later, after 10,000 RCYBP, Paiján sites; but there are also remains of land snails, small mammals, groups appear to have become localized within the more favor- birds, and reptiles; and occasional grinding stones left on the able areas, and at some sites circular dwellings were con- campsites suggest plant foods structed with foundations of were utilized as well. 0 3 rings of stone and likely a hide Known Paiján sites are con- cm or brush cover. In later millen- centrated on the piedmont, in the zone where the coastal plain Small uniface lithic tools meets the western foothills of characterize the Amotape the Andes. Dated archaeologi- complex of the far north cal sites indicate a range of ca. coast of Peru.

10,800–9000 RCYBP for the JIM RICHARDSON Paiján complex; and paleoenvironmental data suggest a more nia, settlements would become more permanent and more com- humid climate in the area at this time, with extensive grasslands plex societies would evolve on the north-central coast of Peru, and low scrub forest. A major attraction in the piedmont zone giving rise to early civilization featuring the development of was outcrops of excellent toolstone, and the Paiján people were impressive monumental public architecture by ca. 4500 RCYBP. 12 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

The south chamber of Pikimachay, about 9500 RCYBP; and where a Paleoamerican occupation to confuse the issue fur- zone has been dated between 15,000 ther, three dates from and 13,000 radiocarbon years ago. the overlying coarse grey sandy silt stratum The middle ground: Intermontane were between 10,240 ± valleys and basins 110 RCYBP and 10,535 ± Between the high mountain ranges of inte- 290 RCYBP. More cul- rior Peru are several major valleys and tural material was ob- basins of intermediate altitude. Because of tained from this second the marked verticality of diverse ecologi- stratigraphic zone; and cal zones in the Andes, Paleoamerican in the front of the cave, hunter-gatherers of the intermontane val- an intact dry midden de- leys were able to exploit a great variety of posit that could be cor- plants and animals within close range of ALAN BRYAN related with it produced their campsites. Two major Paleoamerican cave sites have been perishable artifacts and food remains. known since the 1970s, Pikimachay in the Ayacucho basin of Guitarrero Cave is one of the very few early archaeological south-central Peru, and Guitarrero Cave in the Callejón de sites in the Peruvian highlands in which perishable materials Huaylas in the north. have been preserved. From the early levels there are examples Pikimachay, situated in a volcanic outcrop on a hillside at an of cordage with simple knots; and fragments of twined baskets, elevation of 2850 m (ca. 8500 ft), was excavated by Richard and twined bags or nets. Various local plant fibers were used; (“Scotty”) MacNeish and associates in the early 1970s. In the and unmodified fiber plant remains, possibly gathered and south chamber of the cave, under a massive rock fall, remains of stored for later use, were abundant in the early midden. ground sloth, horse, and other extinct species were found with Of special interest are the remains of food plants preserved in flaked lithics in a series of cemented strata. Radiocarbon dates the early midden at Guitarrero Cave. Represented are common on bone extended back to ca. 23,000 RCYBP for the earliest bean, chili pepper, possibly squash, and a variety of Andean stratum. Archaeologists have raised serious questions about the tubers and fruits. C. Earle Smith and Lawrence Kaplan, the evidence for human occupation in the lower four strata, from project botanists, note that the bean and chili pepper are full which MacNeish defined a Pacaicasa complex; but his subse- domesticates; and with dates of 10,600–8000 RCYBP assigned to quent Ayacucho complex, from two strata dated between ca. the stratum in which they first appeared at the site, they repre- 15,000 and 13,000 RCYBP, in- sent the earliest cultivars known in South America. Significantly, cludes pebble tools and many these plants are foreign to the valley in which Guitarrero Cave is flakes of lithic materials that are located: the wild forms are known only from the eastern slopes exotic to the cave, and several of the Andes, where they must have been first brought under shaped bone points. It appears domestication before ca. 10,000 RCYBP. From this observation it that Paleoamerican hunter-gath- can be inferred that, although no early archaeological sites have erers were in the Ayacucho ba- yet been identified east of the Peruvian Andes, there must have sin very early, before the been Paleoamericans on the eastern escarpment and likely in extinction of Pleistocene fauna. the Peruvian Amazonian lowlands by 10,000 radiocarbon years Guitarrero Cave, excavated ago, early hunter-gatherers who had manipulated their by Tom Lynch in the late 1960s, rainforest environment to bring plants under domestication. is a deep rockshelter in a quartz- ite outcrop overlooking High life on the puna the Santa river valley, It appears that Paleoamericans entered the high-altitude grass- at the same elevation land plateaus of the central Andes, the distinctive environmental as Pikimachay, 2850 zone known as the puna, just as soon as glacial ice retreated to the high peaks and vegetation cover with animal populations A typical Paiján point. was reestablished—at some archaeological sites, the earliest occupation debris rests directly upon glacially derived sedi- m. Unfortunately much of the P. LAURENT ments. At 4000–4500 m elevation (ca. 13,000–15,000 ft), the site had been disturbed by loot- 03extensive rolling grasslands of the puna are perennially cold and ers of later prehistoric tombs. cm windy; and human physiology must also adjust to the oxygen- The preceramic stratigraphic zones were best preserved in the deficient atmosphere at such high altitude. The productive puna rear of the cave. A date of 12,560 ± 360 RCYBP was obtained on grasslands, however, supported abundant herds of camelids wood charcoal from the lowest occupation level, in association year-round. The Paleoamericans soon adapted their hunting with a number of flakes, a biface knife or preform, and a rhom- practices to the particular habits of the resident camelid species boid projectile point; but four other radiocarbon dates on char- like vicuña, which congregate in small territorial groups. coal from the same fine orange sandy silt stratum averaged The early hunters camped in caves and rockshelters, and September ■ 2006 13

skillfully exploited the Pachamachay, on the camelid herds within local high puna, was home to territories. One of the best- camelid hunters over known sites is the cave called 11,000 radiocarbon Pachamachay, excavated by years ago. John Rick in the mid-1970s. The cave, at ca. 4300 m eleva- that early peoples of the tion, is situated in a rock out- puna were specialized hunt- crop at the head of a steep ers who resided in the high slope, overlooking a large country year-round, and ex- swale of grassland. ploited camelid herds within The lowest occupation particular territories. In later zone at Pachamachay pro- millennia, beginning as early duced a radiocarbon date of as 6000 RCYBP, camelid 11,800 ± 900 RCYBP. Another herds were brought under REPRINTED FROM PREHISTORIC HUNTERS OF THE HIGH ANDES, BY JOHN W. RICK, high puna cave site to the FIG. 3.2, COPYRIGHT 1980, WITH PERMISSION FROM ELSEVIER human control; and by 3500 south, called Telarmachay, excavated by Danièle Lavallée, pro- radiocarbon years ago some species had become fully domesti- duced a comparable date of 12,040 ± 120 RCYBP from the lowest cated, the familiar llama and alpaca. occupation level. At both sites the occupation floors that suc- ceeded the earliest occupations were dated around 9000 RCYBP. What lies behind it all? John Rick believes that the earliest dated levels at both sites By the end of the Pleistocene, Paleoamericans had recorded represent brief occupations by small hunting parties from lower their presence in all major environmental zones of Peru, and a elevations that ventured onto the puna only seasonally. A colder marked cultural diversity is already evident by 11,000 RCYBP. climatic episode after 12,000 From this observation alone, RCYBP may have also delayed one can deduce that the very permanent human settlement 05first Paleoamericans must of the puna. By ca. 9000 cm have entered Peru substan- RCYBP the caves on the high tially earlier. Indeed that de- puna were being intensively duction holds for the entire occupied as residential base continent, for, as I have illus- camps over extended periods trated in this series of articles, of time, for much cultural ma- every major environmental terial—bone and stone arti- zone of South America was facts, flaking detritus, abun- already occupied by well- dant bone refuse, charcoal adapted populations, main- and ash—accumulated on the taining diverse subsistence cave floors. At Pachamachay there is evidence that a low Projectile points from the stone wall was constructed earliest occupation levels at across the mouth of the cave; Pachamachay. and hides were likely stretched across the cave economies and distinctive mouth as well, in order to ob- technologies, by at least struct the cold winds of the 11,000 RCYBP. In my conclud- puna zone. ing article, I shall review cur- The artifact assemblages rent evidence for a first arrival recovered from the early oc- in the southern continent be- cupation levels in Pacha- fore 15,000 radiocarbon years machay and Telarmachay ago. indicate the tool kit of the REPRINTED FROM PREHISTORIC HUNTERS OF THE HIGH ANDES, BY JOHN W. RICK, FIG. 7.1, COPYRIGHT 1980, WITH PERMISSION FROM ELSEVIER –Ruth Gruhn camelid hunters. Projectile points make up a high proportion of the stone artifact assem- How to contact the author of this article: blages. The early projectile point styles of the Peruvian puna are distinctive: small, and triangular or rhomboidal with slight Ruth Gruhn shoulders. Large bifacial knives were used in butchering game, Department of Anthropology and a variety of flake scrapers were employed in processing University of Alberta skins for warm clothing so essential in this harsh environment. Edmonton AB T6G 2H4, Canada The evidence from Pachamachay and Telarmachay indicates e-mail: [email protected] 14 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

Arlington Springs Woman neath the stratum in which her bones had for Arlington Springs Woman and give been found, and a date of 11,250 ± 40 us insight into her lifestyle. What was RCYBP from just above the soil layer that the nature of her social group? Did she continued from page 6 had contained her remains. Thus the date meet an untimely death? If she died of was corrected in 1999 when the femora, previously obtained on the well-preserved natural causes, did she die alone or with still encased in the block of earth from collagen in the P. nesodytes bone appears the assistance of her clan? Was she pur- Orr’s excavation, were CAT scanned to be more accurate than that obtained on posefully buried? Could the presence of (computerized axial tomography). the badly degraded collagen in the hu- a habitation site provide further evi- Overall measurements of the bones man femur. Arlington Woman’s true age dence for a coastal adaptation or migra- placed the individual’s height at be- thus appears to lie between about 11,200 tion of humans into the New World? tween 4-ft-2 and 5-ft-2. Compared with and 11,580 RCYBP (13,200 to 13,500 These are just a few of the questions statistical data assembled by Dr. Phillip Walker, U. C. Santa Barbara, for skeletons from the Channel Islands that dis- Where the South Winds Blow: tinguished sex based on pelvic differ- ences, the femoral diameter places it Ancient Evidence of Paleo within the range for female skeletons. South Americans Moreover, the diameter of the femora also falls within the female range. Laura Miotti, Mónica Salemme, Therefore Arlington Springs Man is and Nora Flegenheimer, editors, now more appropriately referred to as HERE THE SOUTH WINDS BLOW is a Arlington Springs Woman. collection of new papers about Where we are today Wthe earliest archaeological dis- What is the current state of our knowl- coveries in South America. The editors are edge about Arlington Springs Woman leaders of a new generation of competent and Santa Rosa Island? young scholars who are conducting careful research in seeking to understand the ■ Based on relative and absolute data, peopling of southern South America. The researchers are currently confident early prehistory of South America is poorly that human and extinct mammal spe- known by the English-speaking world. cies coexisted on Santa Rosa Island at This edited volume, translated from Span- the end of the Pleistocene; ish, contains 21 short and “pithy” papers ■ the Pleistocene human remains are documenting some of the most important female; recently investigated early archaeological tant for understanding the peopling of ■ since the human bones were found in sites in South America. These papers, South America, including new dates sug- quite close proximity to a spring and which report poorly known Paleoamerican gesting that South America was occupied since the bones were found at the bot- complexes and excavation of sites older by Clovis times. Future attempts to ex- tom of an ancient slope, they were than 11,000 radiocarbon years before plain the peopling of the Americas will probably redeposited from the origi- present, cover issues in geoarchaeology, have to take this new evidence into ac- nal location of demise. geochronology, Pleistocene extinction, count. –Copy from the rear cover Redeposition from the primary place and paleoecology. Collectively, these stud- ISBN 1-58544-363-8 $25.00 of death introduces a measure of uncer- ies report new empirical evidence impor- CSFA members $22.50 tainty about the stratigraphic position of Arlington Springs Woman. However, up- CALYBP). In the 2006 field season, the begging answers about the oldest coming field investigations will utilize re- research team will follow through with known woman in the New World. mote sensing techniques in an effort to ground-penetrating radar investigations Advances in technology give archae- locate likely locales for the original depo- initiated last year. ologists new ways of looking at old data sition of Arlington Springs Woman’s skel- There are many questions yet to be and thereby contribute to the arsenal of etal remains. Johnson and an inter- answered. Did humans rely on pygmy knowledge they use to fit together disciplinary team, including Stafford and mammoths for subsistence? If so, were pieces of the puzzle. We can look for- Rockwell, returned to Arlington Springs humans responsible for the extinction of ward to yet more knowledge as addi- in 2001 to study the site’s chrono- the species? tional evidence is recovered from this stratigraphy. They obtained a series of Finding the locale where the bones most intriguing Early Person site, which dates on charcoal and sedimentary car- were originally deposited might answer Gary Haynes counts among the 20 bon in different soil layers to clarify the some of these questions. If the primary known sites exhibiting evidence of the geological history of the site. Two dates locale is discovered, tools or cultural earliest human remains in the New bracket in particular Arlington Woman’s evidence that might also be present can World. age: a date of 11,580 ± 45 RCYBP from be- help to determine a more precise age –Debra E. Dandridge September ■ 2006 15

How to contact the principal of this article: Haynes, G. 2002 The Early Settlement of North America: The Clovis Era. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge, UK. John R. Johnson Curator of Anthropology Johnson, J. R. 2006 Personal Communication. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Johnson, J. R., T. W. Stafford, Jr., H. O. Ajie, and D. P. Morris 2002 2559 Puesta del Sol Arlington Springs Revisited. Proceedings of the Fifth California Santa Barbara, CA 93105 Islands Symposium, ed. D. R. Borwn, K. C. Mitchell, and H. W. Chaney, pp. 541–45. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, e-mail: [email protected] Calif. Web site: http://www.sbnature.org Libby, W. F. 1960 Radiocarbon Dating. Nobel Lecture, December 12, 1960 (personal collection, D.Dandridge). Orr, P. C. 1964 Pleistocene Chipped Stone Tool on Santa Rosa Suggested Readings Island, California. Science, 143:243–44. Agenbroad, L. D., J. R. Johnson, D. Morris, and T. W. Stafford, Jr. 2005 Mammoths and Humans as Late Pleistocene Contemporar- ——— 1962a The Arlington Spring Site, Santa Rosa Island, Cali- ies on Santa Rosa Island. Proceedings of the Sixth California Islands fornia. American Antiquity vol. 27, No. 3:417–19. Symposium, ed. D. K. Garcelon & C. A. Schuwemm, pp. 3–7. Insti- ——— 1962b Arlington Springs Man. Science, vol. 135, January 19, tute for Wildlife Studies, Arcata, CA. 1962, p. 219.

Clovis at Topper posed just in time for Clovis toolmakers to make use of it. And use it they did, with the exuberance of children let loose in a continued from page 3 candy store. Shane Miller concludes that “they weren’t really debitage from many generations of toolmakers collecting concerned with conserving the chert for future use.” material. “Whenever it rains,” says Ashley Smallwood, a doctoral candidate from Texas A&M University and unit supervi- A site with a special quality sor of the hillside unit in 2006, “you can walk and just pick up Probably the most important factor that sets Topper apart from large pieces of Clovis flakes. I found a midsection that was other Southern Clovis sites is its rich quarry of Allendale chert. really nice.” This is a very, Goodyear doesn’t know of any major very prolific site. chert sources on the South Carolina Cobbles from the river, coastal plain east or north of the polished by water action Allendale sites. This means that Clovis that scours off the limey people came here from quite a distance cortex, have a distinctive (an artifact of green rhyolitic tuff proves butterscotch appearance. they came from as far away as North Shane Miller notes that Carolina) just to work at quarry-related river-cobble chert isn’t activities. Consequently, most of the ar- found in the pre-Clovis ex- tifacts found at Topper are production cavations. A clue to its ab- failures, typically broken preforms. A sence may be the age of the completed projectile point went into colluvial deposits that someone’s pouch or was hafted onto a cover the Pleistocene ter- foreshaft and was carried off, possibly race, dated by geochro- eventually becoming a Clovis point nologist Steve Forman of turned up by a farmer’s plow in some University of Illinois–Chi- distant field many millennia later. cago using OSL (optically stimulated luminescence) This magnificent preform, nearly techniques at 14,000– 6 inches long, is called “Alaina’s 15,000 CALYBP. (See MT Sword” in honor of unit supervisor 18-3, “Luminescence Dat- Alaina Williams, who found it. The ing of Quaternary Sedi- broken preform was well on its ments,” for more on Dr. way to being a finished spear Forman’s dating Topper point. The pieces refit beautifully— 0 5 sediments.) It appears the cm but probably not the heart of the chert outcrop became ex- knapper who broke it. 16 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

Although there is no evidence of long-term occupation at use for fur clothing, consequently no need of hafted endscrapers Topper (they have yet to find a hearth), people stayed there long to prepare hides. Instead, diggers at Topper are finding denticu- enough to organize themselves, to set aside areas for different late tools probably used to work bark and fiber. “The advantage activities and to engage in camp activities. The camp tools we are of working in a Clovis quarry,” according to Goodyear, “is that finding—utilized flakes, for example, and scrapers and expedi- you can reconstruct how all the bifaces were designed and ent tools—tell us they stayed there longer than just to complete made, including projectile points. There may be other biface

quarrying activities. “We want to find out how these tools are types in there that don’t lead to projectile points we don’t know distributed across the hilltop and down on the terrace,” says about. Hopefully, Ashley is going to find this out.” Goodyear, because from this information it’s possible to infer how they spatially organized themselves. In order to gather A unique classroom those data, you need to excavate large areas. “The 64-square- We last ran into Ashley Smallwood at the Gault site in central meter block Shane now has is our first step,” Goodyear declares, Texas, where she was analyzing use wear on Clovis bifaces in and he has plans for even more ambitious excavations in the preparation for her master’s thesis (MT 20-1, “Assault on future. Gault”). At Topper, a quarry-related site, she is working under a Its geographical location flavored the kinds of camp tools different charter: to define Clovis bifacial technology. we’re finding at Topper. In Clovis times Topper was perched on Goodyear describes her task well: “When you see a Clovis an ecotone. To the north was a now-extinct cool, mesic, late- point, what you don’t see because it’s finished, whether in a glacial hardwood forest extending from latitude 37 to 33, encom- plowed field or in a mammoth skeleton, is what it looked like passing the classic mid-South. South of Topper, at latitude 33, before it got to that point. You’ve just got to go to a quarry, where down through northern Florida the environment was oak- you have examples of every stage, failure at different stages. hickory-pine forest, similar to what we see today. Warm sum- They’re all going to be rejects or failures or you aren’t going to mers and mild winters meant the occupants may have had little get them.” September ■ 2006 17

This artwork, seen on many a T-shirt on the University of South Carolina campus, is more than an eye-catching graphic. Each dot is a Clovis point made of Allendale chert from the network of quarries shaded in gray that straddle the South Carolina– his colleagues over the past 40 years. Their database, the South Georgia border. Most of the points are isolated finds owned by Carolina Paleo Point Survey, shown graphically in this artwork, private collectors, painstakingly catalogued by Goodyear and now comprises 495 specimens. 18 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

The School of Hard Knocks Ashley Smallwood, Texas While reducing a preform similar to A below, the knapper A&M University graduate attempted to thin the end with a hit from a hard hammer (B). student, shows us here the But the thinning flake, instead of break- hinge base of a finished Clovis break➙ ing away cleanly, plunged, or reversed point (inset) recovered inward (C), creating a hinge break that from the hillside excava- severed the distal end, leaving only the tion at Topper. base section (D). A principal goal of her “This is a continual pattern I’m see- dissertation is to describe 0 5 ing,” Smallwood explains, “and what is cm general patterns of pro- even more interesting to me is that, on duction failure, and the the hillside at least, I’m not seeing those distal ends.” She broken preform shown at suspects that the frustrated knapper, hating to waste the time far right is an excellent already spent on the piece, decided to rework the distal end example of a common into a usable tool. knapper’s mistake. “I’ve pulled out six or seven of these just on the hillside,” she says. Clovis knappers re- duced a large bifacial core to a late-stage preform by bifacial reduction. “In bifacial reduction,” she explains, 0 3 “they thin on the sides— cm lateral thinning—then on the ends, reducing the piece with that mechanism. They may alternate the actions; they’re trying to maintain a sturdy width while narrowing and reducing the piece.”

Ashley Smallwood (front) and the volunteers who helped to dig the hillside excavation, May 2006: (sitting) Jonathan Pearson; (standing, left–right) April Gordon, Jim Way, Connie White, Ernie Plummer, Don Gordon, Joan Plummer, and Martha Christy. In all, nearly 100 volunteers helped out over a 5-week period in the 2006 dig on the Clovis and pre-Clovis excavations. September ■ 2006 19

What Smallwood hopes to accomplish is to define the se- in Allendale County—which includes most of the Allendale quence of processes Clovis toolmakers used to reduce chunks chert quarries in South Carolina. For years they have been of chert to bifacial tools and projectile points—what Claude generous benefactors of Goodyear’s Allendale Paleoindian Chauchat, principal investigator of the Paiján culture of coastal Expedition. Not only do they protect Topper against vandals Peru, calls the chaîne opératoire approach to defining lithic and pot hunters, they provide wonderful facilities on site for technology. “I’m going to know their mistakes,” she declares use by Goodyear, staff, and volunteers that include a kitchen assuredly, “I’m going to know how upset they were, and I’m and barbecue, showers, even a lab. going to have a handle on all the problems and mistakes, and Apparently the satisfaction of knowing good science is prac- also all the clever maneuvers they used to remove and thin and ticed on their land is sufficient payment for Clariant. It matters end-thin and trim. I hope to get a good understanding of every little that the company is wholly Swiss-owned. Shane Miller aspect of it.” observes that “when foreign owners of Clariant get over here for After learning the ins and outs of Topper bifacial technology, meetings, they want to run down and see what’s happening.” For she wants to examine isolated point finds (those dots on the his part, Goodyear reflects gratefully, “We have a major footprint T-shirt map pictured on the previous page) to see how they on Clariant land. I’m becoming more aware of just how much we became the end product of what she’s finding at Topper. After owe them.” Bona Fides of a Clovis Site Here is a representative sample of lithic artifacts taken from Southeast conference. Says Shane Miller of the hilltop excava- the Topper site over the years. Goodyear had tray after tray of tions, “They are so rich, they’re self-defining.” artifacts on display to dazzle visitors to the Clovis in the Bladelets

Macroblades

0 3 cm Preforms

05 05 cm cm all, if it weren’t for private collections, she notes, all we would The future shape of Clovis have is a quarry without end products. In September 2003 we published an interview with Michael Finally, she wants to look at the lifeways of Clovis people at Faught, then an assistant professor at Florida State University latitude 33. What is their bifacial technology? Why is it impor- (MT 18-4, “Rethinking Clovis Origins: A Conversation with tant? How does it differ from that of Clovis people at higher Michael Faught). His study of the distribution of fluted points latitudes? convinced Dr. Faught that although the first Americans may If these plans weren’t ambitious enough, Smallwood also have come from Northeast Asia, Clovis has its origins in the New intends to return to Topper next year. In 2006 her team dug four World. “Given the abundance of Clovis materials found in the 2-by-2-m units in the hillside area. Next year she plans to exca- Southeast,” interviewer Ariane Pinson writes, “Faught thinks vate a 32-square-meter unit. the continental shelf off the western coast of Florida is a good place to start looking for early Clovis.” God bless enlightened patrons! Goodyear considers Faught’s theory that Clovis originated in “It’s an archaeologist’s heaven,” says Goodyear of the Topper the Southeast “a very viable idea, simply based on the great site. He gives credit for his good fortune to the Clariant concentration of [fluted points] in the mid-South. From Ken- Corporation, a chemical manufacturer that owns 2,000 acres tucky to Alabama we see an extraordinary number of Clovis 20 Volume 21 ■ Number 4

Base camp at Topper for staff and volunteers includes kitchen and bathing facilities, all courtesy of the Clariant Corporation.

How to contact the principals of this article: Albert C. Goodyear, Director Southeastern Paleoamerican Survey Director of Allendale Paleoindian Expedition University of South Carolina S.C. Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology 1321 Pendleton St. Columbia, SC 29208-0071 e-mail: [email protected] Ashley Smallwood points.” He is keeping an open mind to the possibility that Clovis people, Graduate Student equipped with their distinctive lithic technology, suddenly intruded Texas A&M University upon the continent nearly 14,000 years ago; the theory is supported, he Center for the Study of the First Americans allows, by radiocarbon dates, all grouped within 400 or 500 years. Department of Anthropology 210 “On the other hand,” he counterargues, “I don’t think we can now rule College Station, TX 77843-4352 out the existence of even low density levels of human beings in North e-mail: [email protected] America prior to Clovis.” The question to be resolved, as he sees it, is, Was this a continental cultural intrusion (the traditional Clovis-first Shane Miller model), “or are you simply looking at a demographic threshold that was Graduate Teaching Associate reached in North America—and as far as I’m concerned, maybe in the University of Tennessee mid-South area—where humans that were here in small far-flung groups Department of Anthropology somehow coalesced into something we call Clovis?” 250 South Stadium Hall With the talent Al Goodyear has for infecting volunteers and young Knoxville, TN 37996-0720 scientists with his energy and enthusiasm, it appears that Clovis secrets e-mail: [email protected] don’t stand much chance of remaining secret. –JMC The Paleoindian Database of the Americas Web site: http://pidba.tennessee.edu/ southcarolina.htm Clovis in the Southeast Conference Web site: www.clovisinthesoutheast.net For information on how to become a volunteer at Topper Web site: www.allendale-expedition.net

▲ The pre-Clovis excavation at Topper. The roofed structure was built with money from individuals, volunteers, and banks, together with a sizable contribution from Clariant Corporation. Thanks to the generosity of Clariant, the facility will soon boast a viewing platform spacious enough to accommodate 30 visitors and elegant signs that will identify significant features to viewers. On 21 October 2006 Goodyear will host a tour and dedication of the Topper Pavilion for donors, volunteers, and Clariant officials. ▲ Al Goodyear in the pre-Clovis excavation.