With Man, from Africa to the New World

Volume 21, Number 3 ■ June, 2006 Center for the Study of the First Americans Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University 4352 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-4352 http://centerfirstamericans.org With man, from Africa to the New World Remarkably well preserved after 3,500 years, these bottle gourds were found with a stone sinker and fishnet at Huaca Prieta in Peru. Peruvian fishermen today, using gourds as floats with nets up to 30 m long, wade into the surf and drag their catch to shore. The bottle gourd, which is used to make all manner of implements and musical instruments, appears in other New World archaeological sites as much as 9,100 years old, even earlier in Asia. Because of its widespread distribution dating to early prehis- tory, scientists conclude that people appear to have experimented with agriculture much earlier than we suspected. They do not agree, however, on exactly how the bottle gourd, which originated in Africa, made the trip across the Pacific. Our story on this enduring partner- ship of man and plant starts on page 4. NEG./TRANSPARENCY NO. 126955, COURTESY THE LIBRARY, AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY 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 3 Center for the Study of the First Americans Department of Anthropology June, 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 A New Fluted 4 A simple fruit that we make Fishtail Point Find into myriad gadgets The bottle gourd may have been domesticated as long ago as the dog. Scientists are tracing the from Costa Rica history of man’s inseparable union with this valuable plant. silicified slate and a nearly complete ex- by Magdalena León 9 A new look at Folsom? ample of a fluted fishtail Paleoamerican Maybe we shouldn’t think of The zone of La Virgin de Sarapiquí in the spear point. The site, located on an allu- them chiefly as a Plains culture. northern part of Heredia Province, Costa vial terrace in the lower drainage of the Mark Stiger has discovered a Rica, has previously yielded clear ar- Sarapiquí River, lies in the corner of an stone house at 8,600 ft—and chaeological sites from at least 4,000 extensive pineapple plantation. In addi- cites many other Folsom sites in the Colorado Rockies. years before the present, including sev- tion to the fishtail point described here eral early-Ceramic sites. Now with the for the first time, the general area of the 13 Tracking early Americans to discovery of the Birlen fishtail point, the site has also produced a beautiful Archaic the end of the world alluvial terraces of the lower Sarapiquí point and ceramics from all the recorded Clovis-era hunters found game, River, like those near Turrialba and the periods to date in this part of Costa Rica. shelter—everything they needed in the grasslands of Patagonia. area around the Arenal Volcano, have a demonstrated Paleoamer- 16 Horses, too ican presence, as shown by skill- Clovis hunters probably hastened the extinction of mammoths and fully flaked bifacial fluted other megafauna. They may points, knives, and other diag- have done the same for another nostic Paleoamerican tools food source: horses in Alberta. such as keeled scrapers. 3 TAMU anthropology professor honored by SAA The archaeological wealth of Sarapiquí The Birlen site (H-12Bl) in The lower reaches of the Sarapiquí 2005 yielded chipping debris of River were as attractive to the earliest pre-Columbian people as they are to Photograph of both sides of the today’s inhabitants. The region enjoys Birlen fishtail point showing an agreeable subtropical climate, rea- (a) primary thinning flake scars, sonably fertile soils on its alluvial ter- (b) channel flake scars, and races, and the navigable river itself, an (c) pressure flake scars. FERNANDO LEITÓN important route for communication 2 Volume 21 ■ Number 3 Distribution of archaeological sites in the lower watershed of the Sarapiquí River. and trade. Known archaeological sites span the period from 10,000 B.C. to around A.D. 1200. Extensive cemeteries of stone box tombs beautifully made from river cobbles complement the many small village habitation sites from all ceramic periods. The Birlen fluted fishtail point This point from La Virgen de Sarapiquí is made of cream-colored silicified slate, ★ Birlen site H-125B1 (fishtail point) with an oxidized stain produced by its ● archaeological sites known from the conditions of deposition 120 cm deep in Sarapiquí River watershed 02 the subsoil. The point measures 67.56 km mm by 41.51 mm, with a maximum thickness of 5.52 mm. The makers of MAGDALENA LEÓN the point employed classic skillful shaped scrapers; burins; drills; and more points found to date outnumber the two Paleoamerican chipping techniques, than a dozen whole and fragmented fluted (now three) fishtails, even if we exclude combining carefully controlled percus- points and performs. the several finished Clovis basal frag- sion and pressure flaking. Several thin- Clovis-type fluted points have been ments and numerous Clovis preforms ning flakes extend almost from side to found in Belize (Ladyville), Guatemala from Turrialba. With fluted fishtail side, and the center section of the point (Los Tapiales), Costa Rica (two from points the proportions change; Turrialba is very thin. Careful pressure retouch- Turrialba, another from the Arenal zone, has produced two, and now the Birlen ing along the edges and point produced and a fourth from an unknown part of point is the third found in Costa Rica. In strong, sharp edges. The point has two Guanacaste province), and Panama (La Panama, on the other hand, only two ancient fractures apparently caused by Mula, Lake Alajuela). Clovis-type fluted points are known, use, one at the tip and another on one Fishtail fluted points, more characteris- compared with six fishtails, all from the side of the peduncle. tic of South America, have only rarely Lake Madden–Alajuela region. been found north of Costa Rica. The Costa Rica and Panama, then, form the Taking stock of Central American Birlen fishtail point may in fact be the “zone of transition” or area of overlap be- lithics northernmost fishtail yet found, pending tween two clearly different and firmly es- No Paleoamerican site in Central Amer- secure identification of other candidates tablished Paleoamerican fluted-point ica has been radiocarbon-dated, nor have from Belize and southern Mexico. At vari- traditions. The fishtail points known from any Paleoamerican chipped-stone arti- ous sites in South America, fishtail points Costa Rica and Panama closely resemble facts been found directly associated with have been found directly associated with those from as far south as Fell´s Cave in Pleistocene megafauna, although sepa- extinct Pleistocene megafauna including Patagonia, while the Costa Rica–Panama rate finds of mastodons (Cuvieronius mastodon, giant ground sloth, and Ameri- Clovis points more closely resemble the hyodon), giant sloths and armadillos, na- can horse. so-called “Eastern Clovis” points of North tive American horses, and even mam- More Clovis fluted points than fish- America. It remains to be seen whether moths have been reported. The most ex- tails have been found in Central these different fluted-point traditions rep- tensive lithic assemblage confidently America. In Costa Rica the four Clovis resent different ethnic groups of hunter- assigned to Paleoamerican gatherer bands or whether there is a times, recovered from the chronological difference (which isn’t ap- Guardiria site near Turri- parent in the radiocarbon dates available alba, consists of hundreds today). of simple backed knives; The Birlen fishtail point opens a new bifacial knives; keeled, avenue of research into Paleoamerican side (hide), and spoon- lifeways in Costa Rica, which are usu- ally considered to have been small The Birlen site, where the bands engaged almost constantly in new fishtail point was hunting and gathering. The Guardiria- found (center right, Turrialba site in Costa Rica has been where the pineapple field regarded until now as the only known meets underbrush at the Paleoamerican quarry and workshop edge of the river). MAGDALENA LEÓN continued on page 20 June ■ 2006 3 for Administration presented by TAMU. In 1999 the American Association of Stratigraphic Palynologists honored him Vaughn Bryant with their Distinguished Service Award— only 12 such awards had ever been presented during the 30-year history of that society. In 2005 he became the eleventh Honored by SAA AASP member to be honored with a life- time Honorary Membership. He has also Vaughn M. Bryant, professor of anthro- since he joined the TAMU faculty in 1971. earned worldwide recognition for his ar- pology and director of the Texas A&M In 1974 he received one of only six Distin- ticles, or articles about his research, in Palynology Laboratory and the Paleo- guished Achievement Awards for Teach- many popular U.S. and international ethnobotany Laboratory, will receive the ing presented, and in 1990 he received the magazines including Scientific American, 2007 Fryxell Award for Interdisciplinary only Distinguished Achievement Award continued on page 8 Research from the Society for American Archaeology. Nominees are evaluated on the breadth and depth of their research and its impact on American archaeology, the nominee’s role in increasing aware- ness of interdisciplinary studies in archaeology, and the nominee’s public and 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.

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