Projectile Points Research Articles

Statistical Analyses Cannot be Divorced from Archaeological Theory: A Reply to Potter

AbstractPotter criticizes our experimental study of the roles played by indirect bias and guided variation in shaping prehistoric Great Basin projectile point variation. His criticisms are technically correct from the standpoint of statistical convention, but he fails to understand the theoretical rationale of our study. Without such an understanding, his assertion that our conclusions are questionable is incorrect. Here we point out again (1) how our experimental work bridges the gap between cultural-transmission theory and the empirical record and (2) why our conclusions are indeed valid.

Assessing the life history of projectile points/knives from the Middle Holocene of Argentina’s Southern Puna

Lithic artifacts that belong to hunter-gatherer occupations from the Quebrada Seca 3 site during the Middle Holocene of the Southern Puna of Argentina, dating to ca. 4800–5900 cal BP are analyzed. These tools have been defined as stemmed projectile points whose blades were intensively maintained, resulting in asymmetric shapes. However, they have also been defined as knives because of their morphology when discarded. To establish a more complete version of the life history of these artifacts, from projectile points to knives, a research design was developed that includes several analytical microscopic and compositional techniques to identify the uses that were preserved over time. Information obtained through microwear analysis and the study of microscopic residues -microfossils and chemical residues – on the blades and stems indicates that these artifacts were used in several functions, with a first use as projectile points and a final use as knives in generalized plant and animal processing. The plant material processed includes roasted or dehydrated tuberous/roots. The tools were also used to cut animal skin, flesh and/or bone. Evidence for hafting to foreshafts or handles and for the use of adhesives was also found. The use-traces and life history results were mutually consistent. This contributed to the discussion of artifact life history and resource processing by the Middle Holocene hunter-gatherers of the South Central Andes.

Upper Paleolithic Osseous Materials Artefacts from Piatra Neamț – Poiana Cireșului. 2010-2011 Excavation Campaigns

The 2010 and 2011 archaeological excavations from the well-known site from Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului, Neamţ County (dated from Upper Paleolithic – Gravettian culture) led by Professor Marin Cârciumaru (“Valahia” University, Târgovişte) offered the opportunity of recovering an assemblage of osseous materials artefacts comprising 11 pieces made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler. They were recovered from S VIII/2010 and S XI/2011. The importance of this assemblage is underlined by their rarity in the Romanian Upper Paleolithic discoveries. The typological classification revealed the existence of followings categories (according to Beldiman 2007 Typological List) : I. Tools ; II. Weapons ; V. Varia – Technical pieces, debris. The last category is predominant and it is represented by : segments of reindeer tines (5) and beam (1). They are followed by the finished objects (4) : an ivory spear point ; a reindeer spear point ; an end scraper made of reindeer tine ; an end scraper made of a fragment of reindeer beam. There is a single blank made of reindeer beam that probably was prepared to obtain an end scraper or a spear point. The analysis of the artefacts allowed us to observe some manufacturing schemes applied during the processing of reindeer antler or the manufacturing stages of certain types of pieces (ivory and reindeer spear points ; end scrapers made of reindeer tine or beam). Also, we could reconstruct the technological environment in which those artefacts were used. Here we may mention : the débitage of the reindeer antler by direct percussion/chopping with a massive lithic piece ; direct percussion/ fracture with a lithic hammer ; groove and splinter technique applied on the opposed surfaces of the reindeer beam with the purpose of detaching a segment or tine ; this was followed by the direct percussion/chopping. The shaping stage is represented by two simple procedures : axial scraping and direct percussion, followed by chopping technique. The intense axial scraping is used in order to obtain smooth surfaces ; this is the case of ivory and reindeer antler spear points. In order to obtain the active parts of the end scrapers the direct percussion/chopping, followed by the axial scraping were applied. There are no clear usewear traces because the surfaces were affected by the taphonomic processes like the corrosion produced by the soil acids and the roots of the plants, fissures and exfoliations etc. The osseous materials industry from the site attests some economic activities. The archaeological contexts connect the artefacts with hunting/ weaponry, with the processing of the reindeer carcasses/hides and with the process of transforming various raw materials. The artefact PNC/2010 5 offers an important clue regarding the season in which the site was inhabited. The piece is a base of a reindeer beam gathered in the autumn time (in October-November). This detail is added to the observations that were obtained during the archaeozoological analysis and it underlines the hypothesis according to which the site was inhabited during the autumn time. Even if the assemblage is composed of few artefacts, they offer important chrono-cultural and paleotechnological observations in terms of a complex and extensive approach of manifestations of civilisation and culture in the Paleolithic communities. The osseous materials industry analysed with this occasion is included in above mentioned context. In this respect, the general catalogue of discoveries was augmented with pieces that were used like spear armatures (made of mammoth ivory and reindeer antler) or with tools (reindeer end scrapers used for carcass processing and for hides working. These could have also been used like daggers.). We have to underline the importance of the mammoth ivory piece that increases the number of these artefacts at 5 in Piatra Neamţ-Poiana Cireşului site. At the moment, this is the most important Romanian site with pieces made of ivory dated from the Upper Paleolithic.

The Maisierian, at the Edge of the Gravettian

The development of the Gravettian complex is still largely unknown. In this context, the lithic assemblage from Maisières-Canal, 14C dated around 28,000 bp, is particularly interesting. We propose here a new study of this collection, based on technological, typological, and functional approaches, particularly focused on the tanged pieces and ‘Maisières points’, some of which are likely projectile points. This new study leads us to discussion of the position of this assemblage in the context of the western European Early Gravettian. The Maisierian appears to be a specific industry, different from the typical Early Gravettian, and studying it thus permits new light to be shed on the complexity of the first phases of the Gravettian, a complex that is perhaps less consistent than it would seem.

The Paleoarchaic to Early Archaic Transition on the Colorado Plateau: The Archaeology of North Creek Shelter

AbstractRecent literature on Paleoarchaic and Early Archaic strategies in the arid west of North America has characterized the shift from the earlier to later period as constituting an adaptive discontinuity. The empirical bases for this conclusion are shifts in mobility, subsistence, and technology. Paleoarchaic peoples are described as highly mobile, focused on a diversity of animal resources, including birds and small game, and using more exotic toolstone, an aspect of mobility. In contrast, Early Archaic strategies are less mobile, yet more focused on large game, using more local toolstone, and adopting grinding tools presumably to process small seeds. Accompanying this transition is the shift from stemmed to notched projectile points. Data bearing on this transition on the Colorado Plateau have been scarce. Excavations of finely stratified deposits at North Creek Shelter on the Colorado Plateau in southern Utah have yielded support for the adaptive discontinuity position, although qualitative differences between the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau are apparent in mobility and faunal use.

Cascade Points in the Northern Great Basin: A Radiocarbon-Dated Foliate Point Assemblage from Warner Valley, Oregon

Although common in the northern Great Basin, foliate points sometimes referred to as Cascade points are generally regarded as poor temporal markers because they are found in early, middle, and even late Holocene contexts. It is unclear whether this broad timespan is a function of prolonged use of the point form, later groups recycling discarded artifacts, or a combination of both. We review the spatial and temporal distribution of foliate points in the northern Great Basin and present new data derived from work at a stratified rockshelter in Oregon's Warner Valley. There, we have uncovered foliate projectile points that meet the original definition and more recent refinements of the Cascade point type associated with a late early Holocene and middle Holocene occupation. We present technological and source provenance data for the points and the associated lithic assemblage and reconstruct how prehistoric foragers used the rockshelter.

En Vignes, une halte de chasse tardiglaciaire à Marsan dans le Gers (France)

Rescue excavation in advance of road construction uncovered a small open air site with a well preserved and well dated lithic industry. On the slope of a small valley, the site is characterized by a lithic industry which, although small in quantity (one hundred artefacts), provides good-quality technological information, enabling issues such as subsistence strategy, mobility and territories to be addressed. Typo-technological analysis revealed a production of rectilinear bladelets obtained from the edges of blade blanks, which were perhaps themselves produced on the site, as well commonly occurring tools. In spite of considerable fragmentation, it was possible to reconstruct part of the manufacturing process of backed-bladelets used for hunting activities. Thus the status of the site is reflected by this particular technical activity, involving the production of hunting weapons (the manufacture and replacement of projectile points) during short stays on the site. The identification of this specialized activity, related to acquisition of specific raw materials, provides a basis for discussing notions of circulation of people and equipment over apparently vast territories. The occupation can be attributed to the Late Glacial, on the grounds of the finds and one radiocarbon date. This bladelet manufacture is evidence for longlasting production of equipment linked to hunting. As is frequently the case for this kind of use, the standardization of products and their low diversity results in frequently occurring types that continue to be made until the end of the Pleistocene, and perhaps even later. This site is one of the few examples in the Gers region with evidence for occupation or reoccupation of a territory and provides new information for this period.

Tecnología de caza en la Quebrada de Antofalla, Departamento Antofagasta de la Sierra, Catamarca

Las prácticas de cacería de camélidos silvestres han sido relevantes para la reproducción de las poblaciones humanas en los Andes Centro-Sur durante los últimos 12000 años aproximadamente. Para la materialización de esta práctica, son relevantes las armas utilizadas para poder dar muerte a las presas pretendidas. Una alternativa para interpretar el tipo de arma es a través de la información obtenida del análisis de las puntas de proyectil líticas registradas mediantes metodologías disciplinarias. Como caso de estudio utilizamos los datos obtenidos de la prospección intensiva y sistemática desarrollada en la quebrada de Antofalla, ubicada en el Departamento Antofagasta de la Sierra, Provincia de Catamarca, Argentina. Para evaluar las características de esta tecnología nos centraremos en tres grandes aspectos: las características tecno-morfológicas de estos instrumentos, la asignación a distintos tipos de armas y sus posibles asignaciones cronológicas, los espacios donde fueron registrados estos especímenes, en relación con las características de los paisajes cinegéticos.

A new species of Proceratophrys Miranda-Ribeiro (Amphibia: Anura: Cycloramphidae) from the Chapada Diamantina, State of Bahia, northeastern Brazil

We describe a new species of Proceratophrys, allied to P. schirchi, from the northern sector of the Espinhaço mountain range, within a semiarid region in central State of Bahia known as Chapada Diamantina. The new species inhabits seasonal semi-deciduous forests (usually known as dry forests) that cover the mountainous relief of the Serra de Jacobina, a regional designation of the Espinhaço mountain range in northeastern Brazil. Proceratophrys minuta sp. nov. most resembles P. schirchi by combination of small palpebral appendages, general external morphology, and by its restriction to Atlantic Forest remnants. It is diagnosed from all congeners by the combination of small body size (snout–vent length, males 20.4–25.2 mm, females 28.3–31.9 mm), absence of rostral appendage, short palpebral appendages with the central prominent, dorsum adorned with sinuous longitudinal ridges outlining a spear-shaped ornamentation like a hastate-shaped leaf (with flaring pointed lobes at eyes and spear point at urostile), and other six morphological characteristics. We also describe the tadpole of P. minuta sp. nov., and compare its color and external morphology with other tadpoles of Proceratophrys described in the literature.

Open-area excavations at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village, South Dakota (A.D. 1000–1150): New interpretations of site function from interdwelling areas

Excavations at the Mitchell Prehistoric Indian Village (A.D. 1000–1150), an Initial Middle Missouri period Plains earthen lodge village site in eastern South Dakota, revealed new data regarding the lifeways and cultural systems of its prehistoric inhabitants. While extensive excavations had been conducted at the site and at a large number of other Middle Missouri sites prior to the present project, our open-area approach revealed new and significantly different information. New features in the areas between the dwellings were uncovered, features that are rarely studied in the context of the Middle Missouri cultural tradition. Other finds included Mississippian-influenced ceramics, Avonlea projectile points, and ceremonial goods that indicate long-distance cultural interaction. The discovery of large, complex features in the interdwelling areas of the site changes our understanding of Middle Missouri lifeways and settlement structure.

Pre-Clovis Mastodon Hunters Make a Point

In this week's issue of Science , researchers use DNA and radiocarbon dating to demonstrate that a bone spear point came from a mastodon bone shaped into a weapon by humans and used a startling 13,800 years ago.

Red deer antler technology and early modern humans in Southeast Europe: an experimental study

In technological approaches to prehistoric industries, there is currently a renewed interest in the transformation of osseous materials. This approach requires the construction of a technical reference base of manufacturing stigmata, as well as of the procedures and methods used to produce tool blanks. One of the better known processes for the production of blanks in the Upper Palaeolithic is extraction by a double longitudinal groove, observed only in the Gravettian. Aurignacian artefacts indicate that during this period blanks were obtained through a procedure of longitudinal fracturing (splitting) or diffuse percussion fracturing. The manner of implementing these procedures is, however, still poorly known. In order to better characterise this stage in the manufacturing of blanks for antler points, we conducted an experimental study. Based on a thorough analysis of the Spanish archaeological materials, we tested the procedure of fracturing by indirect percussion on deer antler. The results provide new criteria for the identification of blanks and their manufacturing processes. They also emphasize the possibility of predetermining the size of the blank and, consequently, the size of future projectile point.

Geological perspectives on the Monte Verde archeological site in Chile and pre-Clovis coastal migration in the Americas

Discovery of the Monte Verde archeological site in Chile overturned the previous consensus that the first Americans into the New World from Asia were the makers of Clovis projectile points, and rejuvenated the hypothesis that migration through the Americas occurred largely on portions of the Pacific continental shelf exposed by Pleistocene drawdown in eustatic sea level. The postulate of travel along a paleoshoreline now hidden underwater is an attractive means to posit pre-Clovis human movement southward from Beringia to Chile without leaving traces of migration onshore. Geologic analyses of the Pleistocene paleoenvironment at Monte Verde and of the morphology of the potential migration route along the continental shelf raise questions that have not been fully addressed. The periglacial setting of Monte Verde may call its antiquity into question and the narrowness of the Pacific continental shelf of the Americas makes it unlikely that people could travel the length of the Americas without impacting ground still onshore and no farther inland than Monte Verde itself. Geological perspectives on Monte Verde and coastal migration jointly suggest that the Clovis-first hypothesis for peopling the New World may have been abandoned prematurely.

Evidence for Younger Dryas global climate oscillation and human response in the American Southwest

Whether or not abrupt Younger Dryas climate change affected regional paleoenvironments and late Pleistocene hunter-gatherer populations is an important topic in the archaeology of the American Southwest. This paper reviews multiple, age-resolved proxy evidence to gauge the magnitude and direction of Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC) environmental changes in different settings and systems. There is no record of YDC pluvial lake highstands in Arizona or New Mexico, but there are impressive records of vegetation, faunal, stable isotope, and geomorphological change coincident with the YDC. These correlate with important adaptive changes in human hunting and land use, as revealed in the analysis of the spatiotemporal distribution of late Pleistocene hunting technologies. Clovis and Folsom projectile point distributions do not support extant models of paleoenvironmental conditions in these interpretations. Significant cultural changes that coincide with the YDC include the Clovis-to-Folsom transition, the demise of mammoth hunting and the development of a highly successful emphasis on bison, increased regionalization, and the abandonment of the northwestern Chihuahuan and the Sonoran deserts by mobile, big-game hunters.

Native American lithic procurement along the international border in the boot heel region of southwestern New Mexico

Abstract. Multidisciplinary field projects can be very useful to a more fundamental understanding of the world around us, though these projects are not as common as they should be. In particular, the combination of archeology and geology combines our understanding of human behavior and human use of the landscape with an intimate knowledge of geologic processes and the materials available for human use in order to gain a broader understanding of human-Earth interaction. Here we present data from a cross-disciplinary project that uses a common dataset, archeological artifacts, to explore the anthropological and geologic implications of useage patterns. Archeological excavations and surveys conducted by the Office of Contract Archeology in 2007 along the route of the proposed international border fence reveal patterns of use of geologic materials by Archaic, Formative and Protohistoric Native Americans in the Boot Heel of southwestern New Mexico. Thousands of artifacts were recorded in multiple sites from Guadalupe Pass in the southern Peloncillo Mountains to the Carrizalillo Hills west of Columbus. We identified the lithologies of artifacts, ranging from projectile points to groundstones, and then constructed material movement maps based on either known procurement sites ("quarries") or outcrops identified as the closest source to a given site for each lithology. Not unexpectedly, the majority of the rock types utilized by native peoples are local siliceous volcanic materials. However, several artifacts constructed from obsidian were transported into the region from northern Mexico and eastern Arizona, indicating long-distance travel and/or trade routes. We also examine useage pattern difference between Archaic, Formative and Protohistoric sites. Additionally, a dramatic change in distribution of sources for geologic materials occurs between one pre-Spanish site and one post-Spanish site that are adjacent to one another.

History Written in Stone: Evolutionary Analysis of Stone Tools in Archeology

Populations of living things evolve over time, but do other things? Evolution involves transmission, be it of genes, ideas, or designs. What is transmitted, how and by whom, influences tempo and mode of evolution. In recent years, archeologists have applied evolutionary logic and processes to their study of things made and used by ancient people. Despite differences in subject units and in modes and patterns of transmission, evolutionary processes and the transmission modes that accompany them are worth seeking in archeological data. Stone spear points are abundant in the archeological record, yet we lack a theory to explain the creation, duration, and divergence of point types. Evolutionary studies of New World Late Pleistocene Paleoindian points are a step toward such theory, but limit the form of data and the evolutionary processes considered. An alternative in the study of Paleoindian points is geometric morphometric methods that do not constrain how point size and form are characterized nor assume branching divergence between taxa. Evolutionism should not dominate archeology, but it should become a major area of research within the field.

Early prehistoric sties in Alberta and how they relate to Ahai Mneh (FiPp-33)

A number of projectile points found in the basal cultural deposits at Ahai Mneh are representative of the Early Prehistoric period. In addition to confirming a cultural presence previously only tentatively identifi ed at this hilltop site near Wabamun Lake in central Alberta, these fi ndings add to our understanding of the range of the Agate Basin/Hell Gap phase, a period that is very poorly represented in Alberta archaeolog y. Further, two fragmentary specimens thatare basally concave and exhibit attempts at fl uting or basal thinning appear to be Early Prehistoric in origin; these bear some resemblance to stubby points of the little-known Sibbald phase, although they could also be representative of the later Lusk complex. While only the most tentative of identifi cations can presently be made, they serve as an indicator of multiple Early Prehistoric occupations at Ahai Mneh and highlight a key area of interest for future research at the site.

Multiple lines of evidence for possible Human population decline/settlement reorganization during the early Younger Dryas

Three approaches are used to test whether or not human populations across North America were affected by abrupt climate change and/or other environmental factors associated with the onset of the Younger Dryas (YD) cooling episode at ca. 12,900 cal BP. They are: (1) frequency analyses of Paleoindian projectile points from across North America; (2) time series of lithic assemblages from eleven Paleoindian quarry sites in the southeastern United States; and (3) summed probability analyses (SPA) of radiocarbon dates from cultural (human-related) sites across North America and parts of the Old World. The results of each analysis suggest a significant decline and/or reorganization in human population during the early centuries of the YD, varying in extent by region. Archaeological settings formerly heavily utilized, such as stone quarries in the southeastern U.S., appear to have been largely abandoned, while over large areas, a substantial decline occurred in the numbers of diagnostic projectile points and cultural radiocarbon dates. Later in the YD, beginning after about 12,600 cal BP, there was an apparent resurgence in population and/or settlements in many areas, as indicated by increases in projectile points, quarry usage, and human-related radiocarbon ages.

The First Neolithic Open Air Shore and Shell Midden Site of Chert Explorers of the Hvar-Lisičicí Culture on the Island of Hvar, Croatia

ABSTRACT On the Island Hvar (Croatia, Mediterranean), the first Neolithic open-air shore site of the Hvar-Lisičicí Culture—found to the northwest of Vrboska at the western edge of the Maslinica Bay—is reported, in addition to already known cave sites. The first survey of this partially eroded beach site has produced ceramic fragments, marine mollusks, domestic animal bones, numerous chert artifacts or debris, and mobile art. Evidence suggests that the site may belong to the first island chert explorers who collected large nodules from the Middle to Upper Cenomanian limestone crops which have been found only in this region of the island. Lithic artifacts discovered, including projectile points and an abundance of small reduction debris made from chert and rare obsidian (both of which were probably imported), support this claim. Other artifacts found such as ceramics are quite uniform in their ornamentation, having only parallel scratches, which rarely form crossing lines or rhombic decorations. Ceramic vessels range from medium-sized bowls to larger ones for food storage. The absence of nicely colored or spiral decorated ceramics, normally typical at cave sites, date this “farmer pottery” from the new site to the early period of the Hvar Culture. Domestic animal bones, primarily from sheep give insight into local subsistence strategies. The site also has characteristics of a shell midden which is typical for beach sites around the Mediterranean and Arabian world at this time. These cave sites, such as Vela Luka Cave (Korcula Island) and Grabac Cave, or Grapceva Spilja Cave (Hvar Island) were also used as places for burying the dead. These people may have been the first Late Neolithic Island explorers who searched for chert and left evidence of small settlements. The most important find for the Late Neolithic of the Mediterranean is the mobile art sheep figuration on a bone of unclear use. The few materials from the shore site yield important information about the social structure, subsistence, and trading habits of this lesser-known Hvar-Lisičicí Culture.

The African Origin of Complex Projectile Technology: An Analysis Using Tip Cross-Sectional Area and Perimeter

Despite a body of literature focusing on the functionality of modern and stylistically distinct projectile points, comparatively little attention has been paid to quantifying the functionality of the early stages of projectile use. Previous work identified a simple ballistics measure, the Tip Cross-Sectional Area, as a way of determining if a given class of stone points could have served as effective projectile armatures. Here we use this in combination with an alternate measure, the Tip Cross-Sectional Perimeter, a more accurate proxy of the force needed to penetrate a target to a lethal depth. The current study discusses this measure and uses it to analyze a collection of measurements from African Middle Stone Age pointed stone artifacts. Several point types that were rejected in previous studies are statistically indistinguishable from ethnographic projectile points using this new measure. The ramifications of this finding for a Middle Stone Age origin of complex projectile technology is discussed.