A diachronic perspective on Great Basin projectile point morphology from Veratic Rockshelter, Idaho

Abstract

Veratic Rockshelter (10CL3), located in the Birch Creek Valley on the northern border of the Snake River Plain, has long been considered among the most significant prehistoric sites in southeastern Idaho. Initially excavated by Earl Swanson in 1961, this site produced over a thousand stone tools from stratified contexts, including hundreds of diagnostic projectile points ranging from the late Paleoindian to the late prehistoric period from 13 cultural horizons. This paper provides a new evaluation of the geochronology of the site using 18 new AMS radiocarbon dates acquired from charcoal features sampled during the original excavation. These new ages are then compared with metric analyses of diagnostic projectile points from the existing assemblage to examine diachronic variability and morphological discreteness in this artifact class to tie them to existing Snake River Plain and Intermountain West projectile-point typologies as well as answer questions about late Paleoindian and Archaic spear- and dart-point variability. Results indicate that: 1) Western Stemmed Tradition points at Veratic date to significantly later than previously thought (9500–10,000 cal B.P.) and have a relatively broad spectrum of morphological variability, 2) Elko and Northern Side Notched points found in a middle-Holocene horizon (∼6000 cal B.P.) are morphologically distinct from each other, supporting the concept of an Elko “long chronology.” 3) Elko Corner Notched and Eared, Northern Side Notched, Stemmed Indented Base (including Gatecliff and possibly Pinto forms), Humboldt, and Salmon River points were found together in multiple middle-Holocene components at Veratic, indicating a period of greater variability that ended with the onset of the late Holocene by 3200 cal B.P., after which only Elko Corner Notched forms continued.