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Redating the Mill Iron Site, Montana: A Reexamination of Goshen Complex Chronology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Michael R. Waters  and
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Michael R. Waters
Affiliation:
Center for the Study of the First Americans, Departments of Anthropology and Geography, Texas A&M University, 4352 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843-4352 ([email protected])
Thomas W. Stafford Jr.
Affiliation:
Centre for GeoGenetics, Natural History Museum of Denmark, Geological MuseumOester Voldgade 5-7, DK-1350, Copenhagen, Denmark, andDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, Aarhus University, Ny Munkegade 120DK-8000, Aarhus C, Denmark
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Abstract

The Paleoindian Goshen complex occurs in the northern Plains and eastern Rocky Mountains. Since its identification, there has been much discussion about the chronological placement of the Goshen complex. This is especially true because diagnostic Goshen projectile points occur stratigraphically below Folsom artifacts at two sites, and early dates from the Mill Iron site, Montana, and the Hell Gap site, Wyoming, have suggested that this point type might be coeval with Clovis or the very earliest Folsom sites. This report presents new radiocarbon dates from the Mill Iron site, reviews Goshen chronology, and revises the age of the Goshen complex as 10,450 ± 15 to 10,175 ± 40 radiocarbon years B.P.

Resumen

Resumen

El complejo Paleoindio Goshen ocurre en las Llanuras septentrionales y en las Montañas Rocosas orientales. Desde quefue identificado ha habido mucha confusión acerca de la ubicación cronológica del complejo Goshen. Esto se debeprincipalmente al hecho de que las puntas de proyectil diagnosticadas como Goshen aparecen estratigraficamente por debajo de los artefactos Folsom en dos yacimientos. Además, las fechas tempranas proporcionadas de los yacimientos Mill Iron (Montana) y Hell Gap (Wyoming) sugieren que este tipo de puntas es coetdneo con Clovis o con los primeros yacimientos Folsom. Este artículo presenta nuevas dataciones radiocarbonicas del yacimiento de Mill Iron, una revisión de la cronología del complejo Goshen, y una estimación revisada de la edad del complejo Goshen como 10,450 ± 15 to 10,175 ±40 años de radiocarbono antes del presente 14C yr B.P.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 3 , July 2014 , pp. 541 - 548
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2014

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