UNDERSTANDING CULTURE HISTORY USING TOPOGRAPHIC MORPHOMETRICS OF LITHIC PROJECTILE POINTS: PALEOINDIAN CASE STUDIES FROM THE GREAT PLAINS AND NORTHERN ALASKA By PHILIP ROBERT FISHER A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY Department of Anthropology MAY 2018 © Copyright by PHILIP ROBERT FISHER, 2018 All Rights Reserved © Copyright by PHILIP ROBERT FISHER, 2018 All Rights Reserved To the Faculty of Washington State University: The members of the Committee appointed to examine the dissertation of PHILIP ROBERT FISHER find it satisfactory and recommend that it be accepted. William Andrefsky, Jr., Ph.D., Chair Colin Grier, Ph.D. Luke Premo, Ph.D. Jade D'Alpoim Guedes, Ph.D. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There are so many people that helped make this dissertation possible, more so then can be mentioned here. Financial support during my dissertation was provided by the Department of Anthropology at Washington State University, Ruth Minard, Bill and Patricia Scoales, and is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1514455. I need to begin by thanking all of the museums, organizations, repositories, and individuals who allowed me access to the materials scanned in this study. Specifically, this includes David Wade at the BLM Billings Curation Center, Marybeth Tomka at the Texas Archaeological Research Laboratory, Scott Shirar at the University of Alaska Museum of the North, and Jane Lakeman at the NPS Alaska Region Curatorial Center. Robert Ackerman at WSU for allowing me access to the Spein Mountain material, as well as Robin Mills and Michael Kunz at the BLM office in Fairbanks for access to, and discussion of, the Mesa site assemblage. Many thanks are also due to David Meltzer at Southern Methodist University. For allowing me access to the Gerald Shelton Collection and for the insight and time you took to discuss my research. Thank you for providing me with an office to both continue 3D scanning, and to write this dissertation (it can be productive to get out of your pajamas and home office). No dissertation is possible without those around you who are forced to interact and listen to you, either in the field or the classroom. I want to thank everyone I have worked with in CRM that made the work fun and enjoyable. To Scott Carpenter for giving me my first CRM job all those years ago, thank you. To Steve Aaberg who kept bringing me back on projects in Montana, and to Alan Skinner for giving me the flexibility to split my time at work while allowing me to take the time needed to finish this dissertation. Matt Boulanger at SMU for talking rocks and points with me, your help with Momocs in R was invaluable. I made a number of friends at WSU iii and benefited from the ability to easily find and discuss coursework and research. To the best officemate a lithicist could have, Justin Williams. Jake Adams with whom I share a mutual interest in Alaskan Archaeology, Alaska, and a car for three days driving the Alcan Highway from our homes in Montana. To Kelly Derr and Chris Kiahtipes for regularly meeting with me to discuss this project which helped enormously. In particular Kelly, for your help in thinking up a number of “fantastic” dissertation topics before this one and for keeping it grounded during those times it felt like it was crashing. To Kyle Bocinsky and Mark Caudell, my longest roommates and friends at WSU. I could not ask for better friends and colleagues, thank you for all the good times. Our ski trips were the best, yet, not frequent enough. I am ever grateful to the members of my committee who have helped me to develop this project. The insights, comments, and critiques that you provided made this dissertation what it is. Thank you Colin Grier, Luke Premo, and Jade D’Alpoim Guedes. Finally, to my advisor and friend William Andrefsky, Jr. This research would not have been possible without you. Thank you for your guidance, support, and patience. I have learned so much from you. The best choice of my career was coming to work with you at WSU. I have to thank all of my family for their love and support since I was a child. To my parents Helen Strickland and Jack Fisher for their endless support and push for me to make my own choices in life. You taught me to love visiting new places and new experiences, even if I was a somewhat disgruntled child at the time. To my father, Jack Fisher, who throughout this process has provided unimaginable help and guidance, this would not have been possible without you. I hated archaeological digs and the smell of dirt when I was a kid, I guess I never stood a chance. Finally, to Gwen Bakke for always supporting me and having my back during all stages of this dissertation, your laugh is contagious, thank you. iv UNDERSTANDING CULTURE HISTORY USING TOPOGRAPHIC MORPHOMETRICS OF LITHIC PROJECTILE POINTS: PALEOINDIAN CASE STUDIES FROM THE GREAT PLAINS AND NORTHERN ALASKA Abstract by Philip Robert Fisher, Ph.D. Washington State University May 2018 Chair: William Andrefsky, Jr. The classification of projectile points into types has long been used by archaeologists to develop regional chronologies and serves as a basis by which to explain cultural continuity or change over time. This study incorporates assumptions from social learning and culture- historical transmission of traditions to investigate questions surrounding cultural relatedness through the examination of flake scar patterns from different lithic projectile point types. The conceptual basis of this study is that flintknapping knowledge and technique in small, hunter- gatherer groups is passed from generation to generation through small numbers of master flintknappers. This should result in similar flake scar patterning on projectile points that can be identified using topographic morphometric analysis. I created a digital topographic morphometric approach to test whether cultural relatedness between past groups or “cultures” can be determined by analyzing three-dimensional models of lithic projectile points to identify variations in flake scar patterning that result from similar or v different flintknapping techniques. This methodology utilizes high-resolution three-dimensional imagery to measure variation in flake scar patterns on both faces of a biface. The cross- sectioning of projectile points at given isoheights records the morphology and patterning of flake scars that are the result of the flintknapping knowledge and technique that goes into the manufacture of a projectile point. If these manufacturing techniques are socially learned, and the production of certain archaeological types of projectile points represent related groups, then similarities in these flake scar patterns should contain the information to relate groups of people who share this same knowledge and technique. This method of viewing culture history is then applied to two Paleoindian case studies. Projectile point assemblages from the Great Plains and northern Alaska that date to the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition are analyzed to investigate the cultural relationships among geographically and temporally similar point types. The results from this study demonstrate that similarities and differences exist in the flake scar patterning of different projectile points types and can be successfully identified using topographic morphometrics. Results from the case studies can help archaeologists to better understand the Paleoindian culture histories in these different regions. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii ABSTRACT .....................................................................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES ......................................................................................................................... ix LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................1 Objectives ......................................................................................................................3 Conceptual Framework ..................................................................................................4 Archaeological Complexes ..........................................................................................20 Structure of the Dissertation ........................................................................................37 CHAPTER TWO: THREE-DIMENSIONAL IMAGING AND METHODS ..................38 NextEngine Ultra HD 3D Scanner ...............................................................................38 Image Processing .........................................................................................................43 Image Analysis.............................................................................................................46 Topographic Morphometrics and Lithic Expectations ................................................51 CHAPTER THREE: TESTING TOPOGRAPHIC MORPHOMETRICS ........................55 Application of Topographic Morphometrics on the Assemblage ................................63 Complete ±¼ Measurement .........................................................................................68 Complete