Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T17:35:11.676Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clovis Technology and Settlement in the American Southeast: Using Biface Analysis to Evaluate Dispersal Models

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Ashley M. Smallwood
Ashley M. Smallwood*
Affiliation:
Antonio J. Waring Archaeological Laboratory, Department of Anthropology, University of West Georgia, Carrollton, Georgia 30118 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Kelly and Todd’s (1988) “high-technology forager” model predicts Clovis groups were highly mobile populations that left behind behaviorally consistent records of Clovis fluted points as evidence of their short-term occupations. Anderson’s (1990, 1996) staging-area model predicts that Clovis settlement was more gradual; groups entered the continent and slowed migration to concentrate territorial ranges around resource-rich river valleys, and these staging areas became the demographic foundations for early cultural regionalization. This study analyzes southeastern Clovis point data and biface assemblages from Carson-Conn-Short; Topper, and Williamson to test the technological implications of these two models. Significant subregional variation exists in Clovis point morphology and biface production techniques. This variation suggests the subregions represent distinct populations who distinctly altered aspects of their technology but maintained fundamental elements of the Clovis tradition. These findings are at odds with the high-technology forager model and more closely fit the staging-area model.

Resumen

Resumen

Kelly y Todd (1988) modelo de alta tecnología de forager predice Clovis los grupos fueron poblaciones de sumamente-móvil que dejaron detrás de registros conductistamente-coherentes de Clovis puntos ondulados como evidencia de sus ocupaciones a corto plazo. Anderson (1990, 1996) modelo de etapa-área predice que arreglo de Clovis fue más gradual; los grupos entraron el continente y migración ralentizada para concentrar gamas territoriales alrededor de valles recurso-rico de río, y estas puesta en escena-áreas llegaron a ser las bases demográficas para el regionalization temprano cultural. Este estudio analiza los datos del sudeste de punto de Clovis y colecciones de biface de Carson-Corto de Connecticut, el Colmo, y Williamson para probar las implicaciones tecnológicas de estos dos modelos. La variación subregional significativa existe en la morfología de punto de Clovis y técnicas de producción de biface. Esta variación sugiere que las subregiones representan poblaciones claras que alteraron claramente aspectos de su tecnología pero elementos fundamentales mantenidos de la tradición de Clovis. Estas conclusiones están reñidas con el modelo de alta tecnología de forager y más quedan de cerca el modelo de etapa-área.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 77 , Issue 4 , October 2012 , pp. 689 - 713
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Anderson, David G. 1990 Paleoindian Colonization of Eastern North America: A View from the Southeastern United States. In Early Paleoindian Economies of Eastern North America, edited by Kenneth Tankersley and Barry Isaac, pp. 163–216. Research in Economic Anthropology Supplement 5.Google Scholar
Anderson, David G. 1996 Models of Paleoindian and Early Archaic Settlement in the Lower Southeast. In The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, edited by David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman, pp. 29–57. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. Google Scholar
Anderson, David G. 2005 Pleistocene Human Occupation of the Southeastern United States: Research Directions for the Early 21st Cen tury. In Paleoamerican Origins: Beyond Clovis, edited by Robson Bonnichsen, Bradley T. Lepper, Dennis Stanford, and Michael R. Waters, pp. 29–42. Texas A&M University Press, College Station. Google Scholar
Anderson, David G., Shane Miller, D., Yerka, Stephen J., Christopher Gillam, J., Johanson, Erik N., Anderson, Derek T., and Smallwood, Ashley M. 2010 Paleoindians in North America: Evidence from PIDBA (Paleoindian Database of the Americas). Archaeology of Eastern North America 38:63–90.Google Scholar
Bamforth, Douglas B. 2003 Rethinking the Role of Bifacial Technology in Paleoindian Adaptations on the Great Plains. In Multiple Approaches to the Study of Bifacial Technologies, edited by Marie Soressi and Harold L. Dibble, pp. 209–228. University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia. Google Scholar
Beaton, J. M. 1991 Colonizing Continents: Some Problems from Australia and the Americas. In The First Americans: Search and Research, edited by T. D. Dillehay and D. J. Meltzer, pp. 209–230. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida. Google Scholar
Benthall, Joseph, L., and McCary, Ben C. 1973 The Williamson Site: A New Approach. Archaeology of Eastern North America 1 (1): 127–134.Google Scholar
Bettinger, Robert L., and Eerkens, Jelmer 1999 Point Typologies, Cultural Transmission, and the Sread of Bow-and-Arrow Technology in Prehistoric Great Basin. American Antiquity 64 231–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bever, Michael R., and Meltzer, David J. 2007 Exploring Variation in Paleoindian Life Ways: The Third Revised Edition of the Texas Clovis Fluted Point Survey. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 78:65–99.Google Scholar
Bradley, Bruce A. 1991 Flaked Stone Technology and Typology in the Northern High Plains. In Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains, 2nd Edition, edited by George C. Frison, pp. 369–395. Academic Press, New York. Google Scholar
Bradley, Bruce A. 1993 Paleoindian Flaked Stone Technology in the North American High Plains. In From Kostenki to Clovis: Upper Paleolithic-Paleoindian Adaptations, edited by O. Soffer and N. Praslov, pp. 251–262. Plenum Press, New York. Google Scholar
Bradley, Bruce A., and Stanford, Dennis 2006 The Solutrean-Clovis Connection: Reply to Straus, Meltzer and Goebel. World Archaeology 38:704–714.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bradley, Bruce A., Collins, Michael B., and Hemmings, Andrew 2010 Clovis Technology. International Monographs in Prehistory, Archaeological Series 17, Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Breitburg, Emanuel, and Broster, John 1994 Paleoindian Site, Lithic, and Mastodon Distributions in Tennessee. Current Research in the Pleistocene 11:9–11.Google Scholar
Broster, John B., and Norton, Mark R. 1992 Paleoindian Projectile Point and Site Survey in Ten nessee: 1988–1992. In Paleoindian and Early Archaic Period Research in the Lower Southeast: A South Carolina Perspective, edited by David G. Anderson, Kenneth E. Sassaman, and Christopher Judge, pp. 263–268. Council of South Carolina Professional Archaeologists, Columbia. Google Scholar
Broster, John B., and Norton, Mark R. 1993 The Carson-Conn-Short Site (40BN190): An Extensive Clovis Habitation in Benton County, Tennessee. Current Research in the Pleistocene 10:3–4.Google Scholar
Broster, John B., and Norton, Mark R. 1996 Recent Paleoindian Research in Tennessee. In The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, edited by David G. Anderson and Kenneth E. Sassaman, pp. 288–297. University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa. Google Scholar
Broster, John B., Norton, Mark R., Stanford, Dennis J., Vance Haynes, C. Jr., and Jodry, Margaret A. 1994 Eastern Clovis Adaptations in the Tennessee River Valley. Current Research in the Pleistocene 11:12–13.Google Scholar
Broster, John B., Norton, Mark R., Stanford, Dennis J., Vance Haynes, C. Jr., and Jodry, Margaret A. 1996 Stratified Fluted Point Deposits in the Western Valley of Tennessee. Proceedings of the 14th Annual Mid-South Archaeological Conference Special Publications 1, edited by Richard Walling, Camille Wharey and Camille Stanley, pp. 1–11 Panamerican Consultants, Inc., Memphis Google Scholar
Callahan, E. 1979 The Basis of Biface Knapping in the Eastern Fluted Point Tradition: A Manual for Flintknappers and Lithic Analysts. Archaeology of Eastern North America 7:1–180.Google Scholar
Collins, Michael B., Hudler, Dale B., and Black, Stephen L. 2003 Research Design for Pavo Real. In Pavo Real (41BX52): A Paleoindian and Archaic Camp and Workshop on the Balcones Escarpment, South-Central Texas, edited by Michael B. Collins, Dale B. Hudler, and Stephen L. Black, pp.7–21. Studies in Archeology 41, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, and Archeological Studies Program, Report 50, Environmental Affairs Division, Texas Department of Transportation, Austin.Google Scholar
Collins, Michael B., Lohse, John, and Shoberg, Marilyn 2007 The de Graffenried Collection: A Clovis Biface Cache from the Gault Site, Central Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 78:101–123.Google Scholar
Daniel, I. Randolph Jr., and Goodyear, Albert C. 2006 An Update on the North Carolina Fluted Point Survey. Current Research in the Pleistocene 23:88–90.Google Scholar
Daniel, I. Randolph Jr., and Wisenbaker, Michael 1989 Paleoindian in the Southeast: The View from Harney Flats. In Eastern Paleoindian Lithic Resource Use, edited by C. Ellis and J. Lothrop, pp. 323–344. Westview, Boulder. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dunbar, James S. 2006 Paleoindian Archaeology. In First Floridians and Last Mastodons: The Page-Ladson Site in the Aucilla River, edited by S. David Webb, pp. 403–435. Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida, Gainesville. Google Scholar
Eerkens, Jelmer, and Bettinger, Robert L. 2001 Techniques for Assessing Standardization in Artifact Assemblages: Can We Scale Material Variability? American Antiquity 66:493–504.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Faught, Michael K. 2006 Paleoindian Archaeology in Florida and Panama: Two Circum-Gulf Regions Exhibiting Waisted Lanceolate Projectile Points. In Paleoindian Archaeology: A Hemispheric Perspective, edited by J. Morrow and C. Gnecco, pp. 164—184. University Press of Florida, Gainesville.Google Scholar
Fiedel, Stuart J. 2004 Rapid Migrations by Arctic Hunting Peoples: Clovis and Thule. In Settlement of the American Continents: A Multidisciplinary Approach to Human Biogeography, edited by CM. Barton, G.A. Clark, D.R. Yesner, and G.A. Pearson, pp. 79–84. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Flenniken, J. J. 1985 Stone Tool Reduction Techniques as Cultural Markers. In Stone Tool Analysis: Essays in Honor of Don E. Crab-tree, pp. 91–132. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. Google Scholar
Frison, George C. 1978 Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. Academic Press, San Diego.Google Scholar
Goebel, Ted, Waters, Michael R., and O'Rourke, Dennis H. 2008 The Late Pleistocene Dispersal of Modern Humans in the Americas. Science 319:1497–1502.Google Scholar
Goodyear, Albert C. III 1989 A Hypothesis for the Use of Cryptocrystalline Raw Materials among Paleoindian Groups of North America. In Eastern Paleoindian Lithic Resource Use, edited by C. Ellis and J. C. Lothrop, pp. 1–9. Westview, Boulder. Google Scholar
Goodyear, Albert C. III 1999 The Early Holocene Occupation of the Southeastern United States: A Geoarchaeological Summary. In Ice Age Peoples of North America: Environments, Origins, and Adaptations of the First Americans, edited by R. Bonnichsen and K. L. Turnmire, pp. 432–481. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis. Google Scholar
Goodyear, Albert C. III 2005 Evidence for Pre-Clovis Sites in the Eastern United States. In Paleoamerican Origins: Beyond Clovis, edited by R. Bonnichsen, B. Bradley, D. Stanford, and M. Waters. pp. 103–112. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Texas A&M University.Google Scholar
Goodyear, Albert C. III 2006 Recognizing the Redstone Fluted Point in the South Carolina Paleoindian Point Database. Current Research in the Pleistocene 23:112–114.Google Scholar
Goodyear, Albert C. III, and Charles, Tommy 1984 An Archaeological Survey of Chert Quarries in Western Allendale County, South Carolina. Research Manuscript Series 195. South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of South Carolina, Columbia.Google Scholar
Gramly, Richard M., and Yahnig, Carl 1991 The Adams Site (15Ch90) and the Little River, Christian County, Kentucky, Clovis Workshop Complex. Southeastern Archaeology 10:134–145.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr. 1972 Stratigraphic Investigations at the Williamson Site, Dinwiddle County, Virginia. The Chesopiean 10(4): 107–113.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr. 1982 Were Clovis Progenitors in Beringia? In Paleoecology of Beringia, edited by D. M. Hopkins, J. V. Matthews, Jr., C. E. Schweger, and S. B. Young, pp. 383–389. Academic Press, New York. Google Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr. 1992 Contributions of Radiocarbon Dating to the Geochronology of the Peopling of the New World. In Radiocarbon after Four Decades, edited by R. E. Taylor, A. Long, and S. Kra, pp. 355–374. Springer-Verlag, New York. Google Scholar
Haynes, Gary 2002 The Early Settlement of North America: The Clovis Era. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Hill, Phillip J. 1997 A Re-examination of the Williamson Site in Dinwiddie County, Virginia: An Interpretation of Intrasite Variation. Archaeology of Eastern North America 25:159–173.Google Scholar
Kelly, Robert L. 1988 The Three Sides of a Biface. American Antiquity 53:717–734.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kelly, Robert L. 1996 Ethnographic Analogy and Migration to the Western Hemisphere. In Prehistoric Mongoloid Dispersals, edited by T. Akazawa and E. J. Szathmary, pp. 229–240. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Google Scholar
Kelly, Robert L., and Todd, Lawrence C. 1988 Coming into the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility. American Antiquity 53:231–244.Google Scholar
Larson, M.L. 1994 Toward a Hollistic Analysis of Chipped Stone Assemblages. In Raw Material Economies among Hunter-Gatherers, edited by A. Montet-White and S. Holen, pp. 7–31. Uni versify of Kansas Publications in Anthropology 19, Lawrence. Google Scholar
Lepper, Bradley T., and Meltzer, David J. 1991 Late Pleistocene Human Occupation of the Eastern United States. In Clovis Origins and Adaptations, edited by R. Bonnichsen and K.L. Turnmire, pp. 175–184. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State Univeristy, Coravallis. Google Scholar
McAvoy, Joseph M. 1992 Nottoway River Survey: Part I: Clovis Settlement Patterns: The 30 Year Study of a Late Ice Age Hunting Culture on the Southern Interior Coastal Plain of Virginia. Archeological Society of Virginia Special Publication, No. 28. Dietz Press, Richmond.Google Scholar
McAvoy, J. M., and McAvoy, L. D. 1997 Investigations of Site 44SX202, Cactus Hill, Sussex County, Virginia. Research Report Series No.8, Virginia Department of Historic Resources, Richmond.Google Scholar
McCary, Ben 1975 The Williamson Paleo-Indian Site Dinwiddie County, Virginia. The Chesopiean 13(3–4):48–132.Google Scholar
MacDonald, George F. 1968 Debert: A Paleo-Indian Site in Central Nova Scotia. Anthropological Papers 16. National Museum of Canada, Ottawa.Google Scholar
Meltzer, David J. 1988 Late Pleistocene Human Adaptations in Eastern North America. Journal of World Prehistory 2:1–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, David J. 2002 What Do You Do When No One's Been There Before? Thoughts on the Exploration and Colonization of New Lands. In The First Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World, edited by N.G. Jablonski, pp. 27–58. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. Google Scholar
Meltzer, David J. 2004 Modeling the Initial Colonization of the Americas: Issues of Scale, Demography, and Landscape Learning. In The Settlement of the American Continent: A Multidisci-plinary Approach to Human Biogeography, edited by C. Michael Barton, Geoffrey A. Clark, David R. Yesner, and Georges A. Pearson, pp. 123–137. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Miller, D. Shane 2007 Site Formation Processes in an Upland Paleoindian Site: The 2005–2007 Topper Firebreak Excavations. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Tennessee, Knoxville.Google Scholar
Morrow, Juliet E. 1995 Clovis Projectile Point Manufacture: A Perspective from the Ready/Lincoln Hills Site, 11JY46, Jersey County, Illinois. Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology 20:167–191.Google Scholar
Morrow, Juliet E., and Morrow, Toby A. 1999 Geographic Variation in Fluted Projectile Points: A Hemispheric Perspective. American Antiquity 64:215–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nami, Hugo G., Norton, Mark R., Stanford, Dennis, and Broster, John B. 1996 Comments on Eastern Clovis Lithic Technology at the Carson Conn Short Site (40BN190),Tennessee River Valley. Current in the Pleistocene 13:62–64.Google Scholar
O'Brien, Michael J., Darwent, J., and Lyman, R. L. 2001 Cladistics is Useful for Reconstructing Archaeological Phylogenies: Paleoindian Points from the Southeastern United States. Journal of Archaeological Science 28:1115–1136.Google Scholar
Otte, Marcel 2003 The Pitfalls of Using Bifaces as Cultural Markers. In Multiple Approaches to the Study of Bifacial Technologies, edited by Marie Soressi and Harold L. Dibble, pp. 183–193. University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. Google Scholar
Peck, Rodney M. 2004 Eastern Fluted Points. 3rd Edition. Rodney M. Peck, Kannapolis, NC.Google Scholar
Prasciunas, Mary M. 2007 Bifacial Cores and Flake Production Efficiency: An Experimental Test of Technological Assumptions. American Antiquity 72:334–348.Google Scholar
Prasciunas, Mary M. 2008 Clovis Projectile Point Distribution: Separating Behavior from Sample Bias. Ph.D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wyoming, Laramie.Google Scholar
Sackett, James R. 1985 Style and Ethnicity in the Kalahari: A Reply to Wiessner. American Antiquity 50:154–159.Google Scholar
Smallwood, Ashley M. 2010 Clovis Biface Technology at the Topper site, South Carolina: Evidence for Variation and Technological Flexibility. Journal of Archaeological Science 37:2413–2425.Google Scholar
Stanford, Dennis J. 1991 Clovis Origins and Adaptations: An Introductory Perspective. In Clovis Origins and Adaptations, edited by R. Bonnichsen and K. L. Turnmire, pp. 1–14. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University, Corvallis. Google Scholar
Tankersley, Kenneth B. 2004 The Concept of Clovis and the Peopling of North America. In The Settlement of the American Continent: A Mul-tidisciplinary Approach to Human Biogeography, edited by C. Michael Barton, Geoffrey A. Clark, David R. Yesner, and Georges A. Pearson, pp. 49–63. University of Arizona Press, Tucson. Google Scholar
Taylor-Montoya, John J. 2007 Quantitative Variation in Late Paleoindian Projectile Points: A Perspective from Central Texas. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 78:161–176.Google Scholar
Thulman, David K. 2007 A Typology of Fluted Points from Florida. The Florida Anthropologist 60(4): 165–177.Google Scholar
Waters, Michael R., and Stafford, Jr., Thomas W. 2007 Redefining the Age of Clovis: Implications for the Peopling of the Americas. Science 315:1122–1126.Google Scholar
Waters, Michael R., Forman, Steven L., Stafford, Thomas W. Jr., and Foss, John 2009 Geoarchaeological Investigations at the Topper and Big Pine Tree Sites, Allendale County, South Carolina. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:1300–1311.Google Scholar
Waters, M. R., Pevny, C. D., Carlson, D. L., Dickens, W. A., Smallwood, A. M., Minchak, S. A., Bartelink, E., Wiersema, J. M., Wiederhold, J. E., Luchsinger, H. M., Alexander, D. A., and Jennings, T. A. 2011 A Clovis Workshop in Central Texas: Archaeological Investigations of Excavation Area 8 at the Gault Site. Texas A&M University Press, College Station.Google Scholar
Willig, Judith A. 1991 Clovis Technology and Adaptation in Far Western North America: Regional Pattern and Environmental Context. In Clovis Origins and Adaptations, edited by R. Bonnichsen and K. L. Turnmire, pp. 91–119. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University, Corvallis. Google Scholar
Wormington, H. Marie 1957 Ancient Man in North America. Denver Museum of Natural History, Popular Series 4. Peerless, Denver.Google Scholar