TABLE 6.3 Significant Archaeological Sites in North America Older Than 5,000 Years

Home , Cactus Hill, Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Paisley Caves

TABLE 6.3 Significant Archaeological Sites in North America Older than 5,000 Years

Site Name Description Bluefish Located in present-day Yukon Territory, Bluefish Caves is significant because it provides Caves evidence of people in Beringia during the last ice age. The site contains artifacts made of stone and bone as well as butchered animal remains. Most archaeologists accept dates between 15,000 and 12,000 years ago, although some suggest dates in the range of 25,000 years ago. Cactus Hill This site is located in Virginia. It is widely accepted as being older than 12,000 years, but the precise antiquity is uncertain. Some suggest that the site may be as old as 19,000 to 17,000 years, but these dates are contested. Gault This site, located in Texas, was a Clovis camp and was likely first occupied more than 12,000 years ago. The assemblage includes more than one million artifacts, including several hundred thousand that are more than 9,000 years old. The site is particularly significant for showing the diversity of diet, which, contrary to popular belief, indicates that mammoths and other large game were only a small part of the Clovis diet. The site is also significant in providing what may be the oldest art in North America, in the form of more than 100 incised stones. Meadowcroft Meadowcroft Rockshelter, located in Pennsylvania, is widely considered to contain deposits that are at least 12,000 years old. Some suggest the deposits may be as old as 19,000 years, but these dates are contested. Paisley Caves Located in Oregon, the oldest deposits in this site contain human coprolites dating to between 14,000 and 13,000 years ago. Topper This site, located in South Carolina, is widely considered to be at least 12,000 years old. Based on what appear to some to be artifacts below the 12,000-year-old layer, some believe the site to be older. Whether the so-called artifacts are really artifacts or naturally broken rocks remains debatable. Charlie Lake This site, located in northern British Columbia, dates to almost 11,000 years ago and Cave would have been in the ice-free corridor. The oldest levels contain a fluted point, a stone bead, and bones of several kinds of animals, including bison. DNA analysis of the bison and general similarities between artifacts here and in earlier sites in Montana suggest movement through the corridor at this time went from south to north. Daisy Cave Located on San Miguel Island, about 40 km off the coast of California, this site dates to almost 11,000 years ago. It is particularly significant insofar as it provides evidence of basketry and cordage, as well as circumstantial evidence of watercraft. Kennewick Located in Washington State, this is where, in 1996, the infamous Kennewick Man was discovered. Initially described as a Caucasian and subsequently dated to about 9,000 years ago, the remains created considerable debate, both about the initial classification as Caucasian and the following controversy about whether the remains should be turned over to local Native Americans or kept for study by scientists. DNA studies in 2015 confirmed the remains as Native American.

130 THROUGH THE LENS OF ANTHROPOLOGY: AN INTRODUCTION TO HUMAN EVOLUTION AND CULTURE

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