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A Comparative Study of the Preceramic Occupations of North America*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2017

Wesley R. Hurt Jr.
Wesley R. Hurt Jr.*
Affiliation:
University of South Dakota, Vermillion, South Dakota
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Extract

In view of the present turmoil in North American archaeology caused by the continuing release of radiocarbon dates, it is most difficult to maintain an understanding of the preceramic occupations. What seems like a good guess today is tomorrow relegated to the realm of unwarranted speculation. The continual excavation of preceramic sites in North America and the constant revision in geological and climatological theories also force us to be cautious in making interpretations and to be willing to change any of them. Yet the evidence now available for reconstructing the preceramic traditions in some instances appears to be sufficient and reliable enough to justify certain interpretations, even though reservations must be kept in mind. In particular the relative chronology of several cultural complexes is slowly taking form.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , January 1953 , pp. 204 - 222
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1953

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Footnotes

*

Certain sections of this paper are drawn from an unpublished dissertation submitted to the University of Michigan October 15, 1951. My appreciation is due the following individuals for their suggestions in improving the various drafts of the original report: James B. Griffin, Albert C. Spaulding, Clark Hopkins, Leslie A. White, Ernst Antevs, Marie Wormington, William G. Haag, John L. Cotter, Claude R. Hibbard, and Mischa Titiev. Alex D. Krieger is to be acknowledged for his many invaluable comments on the preparation of the present paper.

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