University of New Mexico UNM Digital Repository Anthropology ETDs Electronic Theses and Dissertations 5-1-2015 Explanations For Morphological Variability In Projectile Points: A Case Study From The Late Paleoindian Cody Complex Cheryl Fogle-Hatch Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds Part of the Anthropology Commons Recommended Citation Fogle-Hatch, Cheryl. "Explanations For Morphological Variability In Projectile Points: A Case Study From The Late Paleoindian Cody Complex." (2015). https://digitalrepository.unm.edu/anth_etds/22 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Electronic Theses and Dissertations at UNM Digital Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology ETDs by an authorized administrator of UNM Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Cheryl K. Fogle-Hatch Candidate Anthropology Department This dissertation is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication: Approved by the Dissertation Committee: Dr. Bruce B. Huckell, Chairperson Dr. Lawrence G. Strauss, Co-Chairperson Dr. E. James Dixon Dr. Mary Lou Larson i EXPLANATIONS FOR MORPHOLOGICAL VARIABILITY IN PROJECTILE POINTS A CASE STUDY FROM THE LATE PALEOINDIAN CODY COMPLEX BY CHERYL K. FOGLE-HATCH Bachelor of Arts, Journalism, University of Arizona, 1998 Master of Arts, Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2000 Doctor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, 2015 DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Anthropology The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, New Mexico May, 2015 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I heartily thank my committee chair Bruce Huckell for his guidance and for continuing to work with me after I moved across the country. I also thank Lawrence Straus, co-chair, for his advice throughout this project. My other committee members, Jim Dixon and Mary Lou Larson, made recommendations and advised me on this manuscript. This dissertation would not have been possible without the cooperation of museum staff and a private collector. Laura Nightengale granted me access to the Blackwater draw assemblage curated at the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory in Austin. Marcel Kornfeld allowed me to examine the Carter Kerr-Mc’Gee, Hell Gap, Horner, and Nelson artifacts curated at the Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming. Dennis Stanford gave me access to collections from Claypool, Frasca, Horner, Hudson-Meng, Lamb Spring, and San Jon that are curated at the Smithsonian institution, National Museum of Natural History. Mark Mullins of Colorado Springs opened his private collection and let me study the projectile points from Finley; my visit was arranged by Jason Labelle from the Colorado State University. Deborah Confer gave me permission to study the Olsen-Chubbuck and Claypool assemblages at the University of Colorado, Museum of Natural History; she also arranged for me to examine the Jurgens collection that was temporarily loaned to the Department of Anthropology. Douglas Bamforth generously gave me office space to examine the Jurgens projectile points, and Brian Naze shared his in-depth knowledge of that site assemblage. iii I would like to thank several students who served as research assistants during my data collection. They were Dora Ridenour at the University of Wyoming, Sibel Demiralp, at the University of Texas, Austin, Marissa Mattys, University of Colorado, Boulder, and Claudia Devilla at the Smithsonian Institution. Thanks also to Chris Merrimann for drafting figures and formatting tables in this dissertation. My research was funded through a combination of grants and in-kind support from other sources. I received grants from the New Mexico archaeological council, the George C. Frison Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, and the Foundation for Science and Disability. I was also awarded a stipend from the College of Engineering, New Mexico State University, with funds from the National Science Foundation under Continuing Grant No. HRD 0622930. I am grateful for support provided by the Accessibility Resource Center, University of New Mexico, and the New Mexico Commission for the Blind. Finally, I am grateful for the support of friends and family. Several friends generously let me stay in their homes during my travel for data collection. They are: Robin Hill of Laramie Wyoming, Mary and Mike Kottyan, then residing in Broomfield Colorado, and the late Don Galloway, and June Galloway of Washington D.C. Most importantly, I thank my wife, Beth, who convinced me to persevere in those moments when I doubted that I would complete my dissertation. iv EXPLANATIONS FOR MORPHOLOGICAL VARIABILITY IN PROJECTILE POINTS A CASE STUDY FROM THE LATE PALEOINDIAN CODY COMPLEX BY CHERYL K. FOGLE-HATCH Bachelor of Arts, Journalism, University of Arizona, 1998 Master of Arts, Anthropology, University of New Mexico, 2000 Doctor of Philosophy, University of New Mexico, 2015 ABSTRACT This dissertation examines morphological variability (differences in qualitative attributes and metric dimensions) that is observed when comparing assemblages of projectile points. My archaeological case study is an evaluation of cultural historical “types” of projectile points that have been assigned variously to the Alberta, Cody, or Firstview Complexes of the early Holocene from approximately 10,000 B.P. to 8,200 B.P. This analysis includes both quantitative and qualitative observations of 361 complete and fragmentary projectile points from 13 archaeological sites located in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, and Nebraska. My analyses showed that qualitative attributes and metric dimensions of projectile points vary more through time than through space. Since projectile point styles were used for hundreds of years and were distributed over a wide geographic area, culture change occurred slowly in the Paleoindian period. This is known as conservative cultural v transmission. I proposed that conservative cultural transmission confers social benefits on small, highly mobile, hunter-gatherers because it facilitated interaction among individuals and bands that manufactured Cody Complex projectile points. The subsistence and social advantages of interactions among Paleoindian bands likely included finding exogamous mates, cooperation in communal bison hunting, and conducting ritual activities. This model is supported because projectile points that previous researchers assigned to the Cody or Firstview Complexes cannot be differentiated by their qualitative and quantitative attributes. Therefore, conservative cultural transmission indicates that these bands were in contact. vi LIST OF TABLES X LIST OF FIGURES XII CHAPTER 1 1 Introduction 1 CHAPTER 2 6 Theoretical Background 6 Stone Tool Manufacture, Use, and Maintenance 11 Culture History, Processualism, and Evolutionary Archaeology 17 Stylistic or Functional Variation in Lithic Artifacts 21 Evolutionary Archaeology and Cultural Transmission 30 CHAPTER 3 36 Cody Complex Culture History 36 PREVIOUS RESEARCH ON CODY COMPLEX PROJECTILE POINTS 44 Central and Southern Plains Research and Alternative Classifications 54 Sources of Morphological Variability in Cody Complex Projectile Points 66 Hypotheses Tested in this Study 75 CHAPTER 4 80 The Study area: Great Plains Environment, Paleoindian Subsistence, and Archaeological Site Descriptions 80 Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Climatic Conditions 83 Paleoindian Bison Exploitation 88 Lithic Resources on the Great Plains 95 Some Well-Known Lithic Sources in the Study Area 99 Archaeological Sites in My Study 102 Wyoming Sites 104 Carter/Kerr-McGee 104 Finley 107 vii Hell Gap 110 Horner 120 Nebraska Site 127 Hudson-Meng 127 Colorado Sites 131 Claypool 131 Frasca 135 Jurgens 136 Lamb Spring 142 Nelson 145 Olsen-Chubbuck 147 New Mexico Sites 150 Blackwater Draw 150 San Jon 154 CHAPTER 5 158 Site Assemblage Characterizations 158 Qualitative Observations 158 Completeness 159 Cross Section 161 Edge Grinding 162 Flake Scars 163 Provenience 164 Photography 164 Metric Variables 165 Descriptive Statistics and Ratios 166 Other Data 168 The Carter/Kerr-McGee Site Assemblage 169 The Finley Site Assemblage 173 The Hell Gap Site Assemblage 178 The Horner Site Assemblage 194 The Hudson-Meng Assemblage 216 The Claypool Site Assemblage 221 The Frasca Site Assemblage 227 The Lamb Spring Site Assemblage 232 The Jurgens Site Assemblage 235 viii The Nelson Site Assemblage 256 The Olsen-Chubbuck Site Assemblage 259 The Blackwater Draw Site Assemblage 264 The San Jon Site Assemblage 269 CHAPTER 6 273 Discussion and Conclusions 273 Hypothesis 1 274 Hypothesis 2 282 Hypothesis 3 285 Hypothesis 4 306 Hypothesis 5 317 Implications of My Research for the Bradley-Stanford Reduction Sequence 322 Effects of Reworking on Morphological Variability 332 Conclusion: Research Implications for Cody Typology and Beyond 336 REFERENCES CITED 344 ix LIST OF TABLES Table 3.1 41 Table 3.2 75 Table 4.1 91 Table 4.2 125-126 Table 5.1 159 Table 5.2 160 Table 5.3 160 Table 5.4 161 Table 5.5 162 Table 5.6 172 Table 5.7 173 Table 5.8 173 Table 5.9 175 Table 5.10 177 Table 5.11 177 Table 5.12 180 Table 5.13 180 Table 5.14 183 Table 5.15 183 Table 5.16 185 Table 5.17 188 Table 5.18 190 Table 5.19 190 Table 5.20 191 Table 5.21 193 Table 5.22 197-200 Table 5.23 207 Table 5.24 207 Table 5.25 208 Table 5.26 212 Table 5.27 213 Table 5.28 213 Table 5.29 214 Table 5.30 216 Table 5.31 218 Table 5.32 220 Table 5.33 223-224 Table 5.34 224 Table 5.35 226