A Formal Test of the Origin of Variation in North American Early Paleoindian Projectile Points

2009 ◽  
Vol 74 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Briggs Buchanan ◽  
Marcus J. Hamilton
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Regional Variation ◽  
Prey Availability ◽  
Prey Selection ◽  
Net Primary Production ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Pleistocene Period ◽  
Shared Ancestry ◽  
Correlation Statistics

Recently it has been suggested that variation in the form of Early Paleoindian projectile points across North America was the result of drift rather than regional adaptation (Morrow and Morrow 1999). Here, we test this hypothesis quantitatively with matrix correlation statistics. Using a sample of Early Paleoindian point assemblages from across the continent we attempt to correlate variation in point shape with several measures of late Pleistocene period regional variation including net primary production, prey availability, prey selection, and prey body size. We find no significant correlations between point shape and measures of regional variation, suggesting that functional modifications to points within specific regional biomes were minimal. We do find evidence of spatial autocorrelation as the regional variation in point shape correlates positively with geographic distances among sites, a pattern consistent with recent, shared ancestry. Our findings provide support for the drift hypothesis posed by Morrow and Morrow (1999). We interpret these results as suggesting that despite the wide variation in regional environmental conditions across late Pleistocene period North America not enough time elapsed during the Early Paleoindian period for these local selective gradients to have led to significant changes in point shape.

scholarly journals Setting the Stage: The Late Pleistocene Colonization of North America

Quaternary ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael O’Brien
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
New World ◽  
Pacific Coast ◽  
Ice Sheets ◽  
Land Bridge ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Bering Land Bridge ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Northern Half

The timing of human entrance into North America has been a topic of debate that dates back to the late 19th century. Central to the modern discussion is not whether late Pleistocene-age populations were present on the continent, but the timing of their arrival. Key to the debate is the age of tools—bone rods, large prismatic stone blades, and bifacially chipped and fluted stone weapon tips—often found associated with the remains of late Pleistocene fauna. For decades, it was assumed that this techno-complex—termed “Clovis”—was left by the first humans in North America, who, by 11,000–12,000 years ago, made their way eastward across the Bering Land Bridge, or Beringia, and then turned south through a corridor that ran between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets, which blanketed the northern half of the continent. That scenario has been challenged by more-recent archaeological and archaeogenetic data that suggest populations entered North America as much as 15,300–14,300 years ago and moved south along the Pacific Coast and/or through the ice-free corridor, which apparently was open several thousand years earlier than initially thought. Evidence indicates that Clovis might date as early as 13,400 years ago, which means that it was not the first technology in North America. Given the lack of fluted projectile points in the Old World, it appears certain that the Clovis techno-complex, or at least major components of it, emerged in the New World.

scholarly journals Pre-Clovis projectile points at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas—Implications for the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (10) ◽  
pp. eaat4505 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael R. Waters ◽  
Joshua L. Keene ◽  
Steven L. Forman ◽  
Elton R. Prewitt ◽  
David L. Carlson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Peopling Of The Americas ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
Point Form ◽  
Sequential Relationship ◽  
Western Stemmed Tradition

Lanceolate projectile points of the Clovis complex and stemmed projectile points of the Western Stemmed Tradition first appeared in North America by ~13 thousand years (ka) ago. The origin, age, and chronological superposition of these stemmed and lanceolate traditions are unclear. At the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas, below Folsom and Clovis horizons, we find stemmed projectile points dating from ~13.5 to ~15.5 ka ago, with a triangular lanceolate point form appearing ~14 ka ago. The sequential relationship of stemmed projectile points followed by lanceolate forms suggests that lanceolate points are derived from stemmed forms or that they originated from two separate migrations into the Americas.

Climatic implications of latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene mammalian sympatries in eastern Washington state, USA

2008 ◽  
Vol 70 (3) ◽  
pp. 426-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Lee Lyman
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Rocky Mountains ◽  
Taxonomic Composition ◽  
Washington State ◽  
The West ◽  
Mammalian Faunas ◽  
Eastern Washington

AbstractFor more than fifty years it has been known that mammalian faunas of late-Pleistocene age are taxonomically unique and lack modern analogs. It has long been thought that nonanalog mammalian faunas are limited in North America to areas east of the Rocky Mountains and that late-Pleistocene mammalian faunas in the west were modern in taxonomic composition. A late-Pleistocene fauna from Marmes Rockshelter in southeastern Washington State has no modern analog and defines an area of maximum sympatry that indicates significantly cooler summers than are found in the area today. An earliest Holocene fauna from Marmes Rockshelter defines an area of maximum sympatry, including the site area, but contains a single tentatively identified taxon that may indicate slightly cooler than modern summers.

THE LATE-PLEISTOCENE PERIOD IN NORTH-EASTERN IRELAND: AN ASSESSMENT 1975

1975 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Stephens ◽  
J. R. Creighton ◽  
M. A. Hannon
Keyword(s):  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
North Eastern ◽  
Pleistocene Period

A Carved Stone from D'Arcy, Saskatchewan

1940 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 334-335
Author(s):  
Vladimar Alfred Vigfusson
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Bering Strait ◽  
The North ◽  
Gravel Pit ◽  
North Bank ◽  
The Town

In recent years, the attention of some archaeologists has been directed to the Canadian Northwest with the expectation of finding some evidence or indication of the early migrations of man on this continent. That man reached North America by Bering Strait from Asia, is generally accepted, but the theory that the migrations took place in late Pleistocene times and by way of an open corridor between the Keewatin ice and the Rockies, requires confirmation. It is significant that Folsom and Yuma points from Saskatchewan, described by E. B. Howard, were found mainly in areas bordering the ancient glacial Lake Regina.As a further contribution to this problem, it seems desirable to present a brief description of a carved stone relic found in gravel in central Saskatchewan about three years ago.The stone was found about seven miles southeast of the town of D'Arcy in a gravel pit located on Sec. 9, Tp. 28, Rge. 18, W. 3rd Meridian, on the north bank of a ravine running east into Bad Lake.

scholarly journals At the Edge of Knowability: Towards a Prehistory of Languages

2000 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Renfrew
Keyword(s):  
Molecular Genetics ◽  
Late Pleistocene ◽  
Historical Linguistics ◽  
Prehistoric Archaeology ◽  
Recent Advances ◽  
New Synthesis ◽  
The World ◽  
Pleistocene Period ◽  
Demographic Processes

The issue of ‘knowability’ in relation to the origins and distribution of the language families of the world is addressed, and recent advances in historical linguistics and molecular genetics reviewed. While the much-debated problem of the validity of the concept of the language ‘macrofamily’ cannot yet be resolved, it is argued that a time depth for the origins of language families greater than the conventional received figure of c. 6000 years may in some cases be appropriate, allowing the possibility of a correlation between language dispersals and demographic processes following the end of the Pleistocene period. The effects of these processes may still be visible in the linguistic ‘spread zones’, here seen as often the result of farming dispersals, contrasting with the linguistic ‘mosaic zones’ whose early origins may sometimes go back to initial colonization episodes during the late Pleistocene period. If further work in historical linguistics as well as in archaeology and molecular genetics upholds these correlations a ‘new synthesis’, whose outlines may already be discerned, is likely to emerge. This would have important consequences for prehistoric archaeology, and would be of interest also to historical linguists and molecular geneticists. If, however, the proposed recognition of such patterning proves illusory the prospects for ‘knowability’ appear to be less favourable.

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