Allometry of unifacial flake tools from Mojave Desert terminal pleistocene/early holocene sites: Implications for landscape knowledge, tool design, and land use

Abstract

This study evaluates the allometry of terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene age unifacial flake tools in the northcentral Mojave Desert of California to reveal linkages between landscape knowledge, tool design, and land use. Analyses of 438 unifacial flake tools (all types) show at the population scale that Mojave Desert Paleoindians, like other post-Clovis Paleoindians across North America, possessed good knowledge of the landscape and designed flake tools for short-term purposes. This design strategy repeats in three study areas but to varying degrees: flake tools in the Fort Irwin study area were designed for shorter-term use than those from the pluvial China Lake and Lake Mojave study areas. Chert flake tools were designed for somewhat shorter-term use than those made from fine-grained volcanic stones, with obsidian flake tools designed for longevity. The regional ubiquity of knappable lithic raw materials, especially cherts, partially explains the short-term design strategy given Paleoindians’ knowledge of the landscape, including where to find knappable stones. Given that the design strategy of unifacial flake tools varies by raw material type, it provides a reminder that Great Basin Paleoindian land use models derived solely or largely from obsidian projectile points and bifacial tools may result in biased interpretations.