Confluences: Fluted Points in the Ice-Free Corridor

Abstract

ABSTRACTWe undertake an expanded analysis of the Western Canadian Fluted Points database. Given clear evidence of biotic habitability along the entire Corridor by 13,000 years ago, fluted point spatial clusters likely reflect both Clovis contemporaneous and later fluted point instances. Points were overwhelmingly fashioned on local toolstones, featuring a bimodal length distribution (larger, relatively unaltered fluted points versus reworked, smaller fluted points at the end of their use life), mainly found in dispersed landscape settings rather than major kills or campsites. The temporal cline from older Clovis forms south of the ice masses to younger fluted points in Alaska suggests fluted point makers traversing the Corridor eventually met populations bearing eastern Beringian traditions. Corridor fluted point morphologies may indicate the degree to which diffusion or demic expansion mediated north-south interactions: deeper bases, parallel sides and multiple basal thinning flakes reflect intermediate forms similar to Younger Dryas-aged Alaskan fluted points.