Stemmed Points and the Ice-Free Corridor

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fluting or basal thinning of lanceolate points can be readily recognized, so that much reasoning about the initial occupation of the Ice-Free Corridor has centered on the fluted point phenomenon. Fewer comparisons have been made with stemmed points from the Plateau and Great Basin, which have considerable morphological variability and a time range that extends from 14,000 or more years ago to as recently as ∼8000 years ago. A broad time range is also true for Alaskan stemmed points. Yet, a variety of stemmed point morphologies became quite common in Alberta, as the entire Ice-Free Corridor deglaciated and became biotically habitable no later than 13,200 years ago. Like the northern Great Plains, both regions also had access to the expanding Corridor. The relative abundance of both fluted and stemmed points in the Corridor has significant implications for our understanding of rapidly evolving genetic inferences about early PaleoIndigenous populations as deglaciation proceeded.