Abstract
It has long been argued that the form of North American Paleoindian points was affected by hafting. According to this hypothesis, hafting constrained point bases such that they are less variable than point blades. The results of several studies have been claimed to be consistent with this hypothesis. However, there are reasons to be skeptical of these results. None of the studies employed statistical tests, and all of them focused on points recovered from kill and camp sites, which makes it difficult to be certain that the differences in variability are the result of hafting rather than a consequence of resharpening. Here, we report a study in which we tested the predictions of the hafting hypothesis by statistically comparing the variability of different parts of Clovis points. We controlled for the potentially confounding effects of resharpening by analyzing largely unused points from caches as well as points from kill and camp sites. The results of our analyses were not consistent with the predictions of the hypothesis. We found that several blade characters and point thickness were no more variable than the base characters. Our results indicate that the hafting hypothesis does not hold for Clovis points and indicate that there is a need to test its applicability in relation to post-Clovis Paleoindian points.
Highlights
Investigating the nature and causes of variation in point form is an important task for archaeologists interested in the Paleoindian period of North America
The hafting hypothesis predicts that the base characters should have lower coefficient of variation (CV) than the blade characters, the length characters, and maximum thickness
Maximum thickness is less variable than all five of the base characters; blade character MW is less variable than base characters BW, BB, LT, and base thickness (BT); and blade character TW is less variable than base character BT
Summary
Investigating the nature and causes of variation in point form is an important task for archaeologists interested in the Paleoindian period (ca. 13,600–11,450 calBP) of North America. Investigating the nature and causes of variation in point form is an important task for archaeologists interested in the Paleoindian period One is that understanding variation in point size and shape is necessary for establishing the culturalhistorical types that Paleoindian archaeologists rely on One well-known hypothesis concerning variation in Paleoindian point form contends that it was affected by hafting. According to this hypothesis, hafting requirements constrained the size and shape of point bases but did not affect the size and shape of point blades [3,4,13]. An important implication of the hafting hypothesis is that the base is the most diagnostic portion of Paleoindian points [3,4]
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