2.15 Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America David G
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2.15 PALEOINDIAN AND ARCHAIC PERIODS IN NORTH AMERICA DAVID G. ANDERSON Unequivocal evidence for widespread human settlement in and to the south in Latin America. Evidence for earlier human North America dates to c. 13,000 cal BP (all dates herein are in occupation in the Americas prior to c. 13,000 cal BP is reviewed calendar years before present unless explicitly noted), and sites by Michael Collins in this volume (Chapter 2.14), while Archaic are recognised by the presence of bifacial fl uted Clovis - style and subsequent occupations in other parts of the continent up projectile points, named after a town in eastern New Mexico to and after c. 3000 cal BP are summarised by several authors in where they were found in stratigraphic complex in the 1930s later chapters. and after at the nearby site of Blackwater Draw (Boldurian & Clovis points, the diagnostic artifacts used to identify Cotter 1999 ) ( Map 2.15.1 ). The ensuing 10,000 years of human these early occupations, have blades that are typically lanceo- occupation in North America, during the temporal interval late or slightly expanding in shape, and range in size from a from c. 13,000 to 3200 cal BP or c. 11,200–3000 14C yr BP , cor- few to 20 cm or so in length, with most under c. 10 to 12 cm responds to what were traditionally known as the Paleoindian ( Fig. 2.15.2 ). They were prepared using a distinctive manu- and Archaic stages of cultural development across much of facturing procedure employing overshot fl aking to produce a the continent, prior to the appearance of agriculture, monu- bifacial shape from a parent core or fl ake, followed by a thin- mental architecture and pottery in many areas ( e.g. , Willey & ning procedure involving direct percussion or pressure fl aking Phillips 1958 ; Griffi n 1967 ). All of these cultural developments known as fl uting, which involves the removal of one or more are now known to have begun much earlier, well back into the fl akes from the base upwards along the blade, typically to no Archaic; the date of their appearance varies from area to area more than a third to halfway up the original blade length. if they occurred at all, and the cultures that were present at any Fluting occurs for approximately a millennium on Clovis and given time were highly varied, rendering the use of stage termi- a number of presumably descendant projectile point types nology as a marker of cultural development untenable in most such as Barnes, Cumberland, Folsom, Gainey and Vail- Debert areas. For the purposes of the present discussion, and employ- in portions of North America, and then disappears, never to ing usage common in many areas, particularly in the eastern be adopted again (Bradley et al. 2008 ; Meltzer 2009 ). Artifacts part of the continent, the Paleoindian Period here refers to the exhibiting this distinctive form of basal or end thinning are interval from c. 13,200 to 11,450 cal BP , or 11,200 to 10,000 14C thus unambiguous indicators of Late Pleistocene occupations yr BP , the Terminal Pleistocene geochronological epoch, during in North America; large true blades appear to be another tool the warmer Aller ø d and the colder and more variable Younger form that dates to this period, although blades, albeit typi- Dryas Period, which occurred from c. 12,850 to 11,650 cal BP cally much smaller, also occur a number of times and places (Fiedel 1999 ; Hughen et al. 2000 ) ( Fig. 2.15.1 ). The succeeding later in prehistory as well, so care must be taken before using Archaic Period spans the interval from 10,000 to 3000 14C yr BP , their presence to infer early occupation. While rare compared or 11,450 to 3200 cal BP , during the Early and Middle parts of with many subsequent forms, fl uted points have been avidly the Holocene epoch, and the Boreal, Atlantic or Hypsithermal sought after and recorded by archaeologists and collectors and Subborreal climatic periods, which occur from c. 11,650 alike for almost a century, since they were fi rst found in direct to 8900, 8900 to 5700, and 5700 to 2500 cal BP , roughly coe- association with Pleistocene fauna in the 1920s and 1930, with val with the Early, Middle and Late Archaic periods in many an extinct form of bison at Folsom , New Mexico, in 1926 and regional cultural sequences (e.g. , Anderson & Sassaman with mammoth at Dent , Colorado, in 1932. Clovis, the earliest- 2004 , 2012; Frison 1991 ; McElrath, Fortier & Emerson 2009 ; known fl uted point type, has been tightly dated at a number Sassaman & Anderson 2004 ). In what follows, Paleoindian of locations to between c. 13,150 and 12,850 cal BP (Waters & and Archaic occupations are examined across North America, Stafford 2007 ), although given the absence of dates from many with an emphasis on the eastern two- thirds of the continent areas, including where the type occurs in large numbers in the north of Mexico and south of the Arctic circle, complementing midcontinent and the southeast, its temporal range may be discussions presented elsewhere in this volume on human set- greater and its beginnings possibly somewhat earlier, as sug- tlement to the north, east and west on the continental margins gested by dates of c. 13,500 cal BP at the Aubrey Site in Texas 913 99781107023789c15_p913-932.indd781107023789c15_p913-932.indd 991313 66/5/2013/5/2013 33:43:39:43:39 PPMM 2.15 DAVID G . ANDERSON MAP 2.15.1. North American Paleoindian and Archaic sites mentioned in the text: 1. Adkins, Maine; 2. Anzik Site, Montana; 3. Aubrey, Texas; 4. Blackwater Draw, New Mexico; 5. Bonneville Estates Rock Shelter, Nevada; 6. Buhl, Idaho; 7. Bull Brook, Massachusetts; 8. Burning Tree, Ohio; 9. Cactus Hill, Virginia; 10. Cahokia, Illinois; 11. Caney, Louisiana; 12. Carlston Annis, Kentucky; 13. Cathedral Cave, Nevada; 14. Coates- Hines, Tennessee; 15. Connley Cave No. 4B, Oregon; 16. Coopers Ferry, Idaho; 17. Cow Point, New Brunswick; 18. Crowfi eld, Ontario; 19. Danger Cave, Utah; 20. Debert, Nova Scotia; 21. Dent, Colorado; 22. Doershuck, North Carolina; 23. Dust Cave, Alabama; 24. East Wenatchee, Washington; 25. Fifty/Thunderbird, Virginia; 26. Folsom, New Mexico; 27. Frenchman’s Bend, Louisiana; 28. Gault, Texas; 29. Hardaway, North Carolina; 30. Harris Creek Mound, Tick Island, Florida; 31. Hebior, Wisconsin; 32. Hidden Cave, Nevada; 33. Homestead Cave, Utah; 34. Indian Knoll, Kentucky; 35. Isle Royale, Michigan; 36. Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan; 37. Koster, Illinois; 38. L’Anse Amour, Newfoundland; 39. Lamoka Lake, New York; 40. Lindenmeier, Colorado; 41. Link Farm, Tennessee; 42. Lovelock Cave, Nevada; 43. Marmes, Washington; 44. Meadowcroft Rock Shelter, Pennsylvania; 45. Modoc Rock Shelter, Illinois; 46. Mountaineer, Colorado; 47. Neville, New Hampshire; 48. Oconto, Wisconsin; 49. Osceola Wisconsin; 50. Page- Ladson, Florida; 51. Port au Choix/Gould, Labrador; 52. Poverty Point, Louisiana; 53. Read, Kentucky; 54. Reigh, Wisconsin; 55. Rodgers Shelter, Missouri; 56. Schaefer, Wisconsin; 57. Sentinel Gap, Washington; 58. Sloan, Arkansas; 59. Smith Creek Cave, Nevada; 60. St. Albans, West Virginia; 61. Stallings Island, Georgia; 62. Stanfi eld Worley Bluff Shelter, Alabama; 63. Sunshine Locality, Nevada; 64. Thom’s Creek, South Carolina; 65. Topper, South Carolina; 66. Turner Farm, Maine; 67. Vail, Maine; 68. Ventana Cave, Arizona; 69. Wacissa River, Florida; 70. Watson Brake, Louisiana; 71. Wildcat Canyon, Oregon; 72. Windover, Florida. (Ferring 2001 ). Several thousand Clovis points have been southwestern Europe, and the Nenana and nearby river valleys found in North America and, while the form is more preva- in central Alaska have all been proposed, with some source lent in some areas than in others, particularly along the major areas drawing greater attention and controversy than others drainages of the eastern part of the continent, it occurs as far ( e.g., Goebel, Waters & O’Rourke 2008; Stanford & Bradley south as northern Mexico, although the incidence drops mark- 2002 ; Straus, Meltzer & Goebel 2005 ). While the preponder- edly into Central America (Anderson et al. 2010 ) ( Map 2.15.2 ). ance of linguistic, genetic and other physical anthropological/ Possibly related and roughly contemporaneous or perhaps morphological evidence indicates that the Paleoindian inhab- slightly later basally thinned forms found in South America itants in the New World ultimately derived from northeastern are characterised, in many cases, by long stems and distinctive and East Asia, Clovis technology itself may well have developed expanding blades, and are considered morphologically suffi - in North America, perhaps in the eastern and southeastern ciently distinct from Clovis to be characterised as a separate part of the continent or in the southern plains. Fluted points “Fish- tail” horizon (see Chapter 2.14 ). are found in large numbers in these areas, and possible pre- The origins of Clovis people and technology are unknown, cursor sites yielding biface and blade technologies up to sev- although locations as far afi eld as extreme Northeast Asia, eral thousand years older have been found, such as at Gault in 914 99781107023789c15_p913-932.indd781107023789c15_p913-932.indd 991414 66/5/2013/5/2013 33:43:39:43:39 PPMM 99781107023789c15_p913-932.indd 915 7 8 1 1 0 7 0 2 3 7 8 9 c 1 5 _ p 9 1 3 - 9 3 2 . i n d d 9 1 5 Calendrical Radiocarbon Period Culture General Diagnostics Climatic (cal yr BP) (uncalibrated) Complex Trends Event Burial mounds become widespread in east Sub Atlantic Early Woodland Dorset Culture Agriculture significant in east and southwest Tchefuncte culture Ceramics