Projectile Points Research Articles

Early and middle Holocene periglacial lake-level changes and human landscape use in south-central Patagonia. An approach to hunting activities in Cerro Casa de Piedra locality

This paper discusses data on the use of space by groups living in the Andean south-central Patagonia. The information is based on research in the archaeological site Cerro Casa de Piedra 7. The excavations were undertaken to address the chronology of the initial human settlement in this region. The first human evidence at CCP7 dates back to 12,500 calibrated years, indicating one of the earliest dates of human presence in this portion of the Andean Range. Additionally, surface material recovered around the excavated site is considered for a broader spatial perspective. Paleogeographic variations identified for the early Holocene are paramount for this study. The glacial retreat brought along critical lacustrine feature modifications. In some cases, this led to the emergence of new areas, resulting in a change of scenery. Hunting behaviour and its related activities are considered within this fluctuating context to contribute to the discussion about hunting strategies on a regional scale. Accordingly, archaeological assemblages are studied with a particular emphasis on the lithic projectile points and their chronological distribution.The latter shows a clear decline in the presence of these elements from 8,000 calibrated years BP onwards, different from what is observed throughout the region.

Investigating Material Culture Through Multilayer Network Analysis in Tonto Basin

Network analysis has a strong foundation in Southwest archaeology, yet the analysis of multiple network layers in a single analysis– (multilayer network analysis)– has not been formally applied except within a single artifact type. Many studies consider material culture holistically, yet network analysis has the advantage of focusing specifically on the relationships between entities. This study uses architecture, ceramic, projectile point, and site locations from the Roosevelt Platform Mound Study and combines these data in a multilayer network analysis. This analysis provides a way to test the co-variance of these types of material culture with each other and with spatial variation. Overall, the ceramic and projectile point networks exhibit significant differences. This indicates that the social networks that created these patterns had different social mechanisms. One potential cause of these differences is gendered spheres of interaction with men producing and exchanging projectile points and women producing and exchanging ceramics.

Reassessing Early Archaic projectile point typologies in the Carolina Piedmont through gross morphometric analysis

ABSTRACT Palmer and Kirk Corner-Notched projectile points are common in archaeological assemblages of the Carolina Piedmont dating to the Early Archaic (11,500–9,000 cal BP). These types were initially described by Joffre Lanning Coe ([1964] The Formative Cultures of the Carolina Piedmont. Transactions of the American Philosophical Society 54(5):1–130. DOI:10.2307/3231919) in his seminal typology and are now well documented as the primary hafted bifacial tools diagnostic of the region’s early Holocene occupation. Several studies describe morphological similarities between Palmer and Kirk points – as defined by Coe – but there is little agreement regarding the chronological and typological relationships between them; some maintain that they are discrete point types while others believe they instead represent distinct use-life stages of a single type. The inconsistencies of these perspectives indicate that this aspect of Coe’s typology requires a reassessment. Here, we demonstrate substantial overlap in Palmer and Kirk Corner-Notched points’ haft morphologies and significant differences in their overall proportions, a combination of traits that better supports the hypothesis that all Early Archaic corner-notched points in the Carolina Piedmont are of a single type. Combining these historically separated point types into a single one resolves longstanding confusions and permits new lines of inquiry regarding Early Archaic adaptations including conditions under which points might be more or less heavily resharpened (i.e., Palmer-like and Kirk-like, respectively).

Geometric Morphometric Analyses of Levallois Points from the Levantine Middle Paleolithic do not Support Functional Specialization

ABSTRACT Levallois points are a prominent part of many Levantine Middle Paleolithic assemblages. They are either produced intentionally or incidentally by the Levallois core reduction technique and are of a generally similar shape, although the degree to which they were used as specialized tools has been questioned. Here, we examine Levallois points using geometric morphometric analyses to assess the range of shape variation in this artifact type. We then compare Levallois point shape variation and symmetry to a sample of Late Pleistocene-aged Folsom projectile points from North America. Folsom are highly standardized projectile points that current evidence suggests were primarily used for hunting ancient bison. Our results indicate that Levallois points are more variable and asymmetrical than Folsom and therefore more generalized than Folsom. Differences in manufacturing technique, hafting, and delivery system when used as weapons are posited as playing roles in the differences in shape and symmetry that we document.

Western visitors at the Blätterhöhle (city of Hagen, southern Westphalia) during the Younger Dryas? A new final palaeolithic assemblage type in western Germany.

Until now, it was considered certain that the last reindeer hunters of the Ahrensburgian (tanged point groups) existed exclusively in northwestern Central Europe during the Younger Dryas Cold Period (~ Greenland Stadial 1). The excavations carried out since 2006 on the forecourt (Vorplatz) of the small Blätterhöhle in Hagen on the northern edge of the Sauerland uplands of southern Westphalia (North Rhine-Westphalia, western Germany) have now changed this view. Beneath a surprisingly extensive sequence of Mesolithic find horizons, Pleistocene sediments could be reached whose excavations yielded a Final Palaeolithic lithic ensemble of the Younger Dryas, unusual for the region and beyond. It is characterised by numerous backed lithic projectile points of high variability. Comparisons suggest a typological-technological connection with the Western European Laborian / Late Laborian. Neither in the nearer nor in the wider surroundings has a comparable lithic find ensemble been found so far. In addition, there is a lack of clear evidence for the reindeer in the fauna. Surprisingly, the vast majority of radiocarbon dates of bones and charcoals from the investigated archaeological horizon of the Final Pleistocene proved to be significantly older than expected from their stratigraphic position. This phenomenon has not yet been clarified.

Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene lithic industries from Southernmost Patagonia. Discussing technical variability, continuity and innovations

The study of early lithic assemblages from South America's Southern Cone used to be strongly focused on projectile points, including the famed fishtail type, often using a typological approach. The last three decades have seen a growing diversification of theoretical and methodological approaches to lithic studies, as well as new analytical techniques, used to study issues including lithic production systems, technical variability, tool manufacturing and management, raw material economy and circulation, among others. Recent studies on lithic industries are exemplified by discussing Southernmost Patagonia's first human occupations, dated ∼13,000cal BP, and Middle Holocene early marine explorations, dated ∼8000–7000cal BP. An overview and comparison of Southernmost Patagonia's early hunter-gatherer lithic technologies is made.

Les premières occupations humaines dans le Sud du Brésil : une vision géoarchéologique intégrée

Between ≈13,000 and 7000 BP, the territory of southern Brazil was occupied in a stable and diverse manner, with the main anthropic trace being in lithic material. Archaeological research has provided more consistent evidence of occupation in different environments and associated with different stratigraphic formation processes since the Late Pleistocene. Therefore, this paper proposes to analyse the history of the earliest evidence of pre-colonial occupation in southern Brazil from a geoarchaeological point of view, focusing on stratigraphic and chronological data and the process of formation of archaeological layers. Thirty-three stratigraphic sections were analysed from 31 archaeological sites distributed along the Paraná, Uruguay and Atlantic basins. Evidence of archaeological levels was found in different geomorphological contexts: plateau, slopes, valley bottom, alluvial plains and rockshelters. The results indicate that the oldest archaeological levels in the region were formed in the Late Pleistocene, associated with periods of fluvial incision that signal important changes in the southern river systems, characterized by the formation of alluvial and colluvial-alluvial terraces in the valley bottoms. This is followed in the Lower Holocene by widespread colluvial processes in the incised valleys, alluvium in the middle river courses and anthropogenic deposits in the rockshelters that formed the main ancient levels. In the early Middle Holocene, sedimentary deposits containing archaeological material decrease significantly, marking regional changes in lithic industries. The data indicate that there appears to be a threshold between deposition and archaeology in the Early Holocene, characterized by high stratigraphic resolution, where stratigraphic sequences show greater thickness and density of archaeological levels. Finally, the diversity of inter-regional lithic assemblages is clearly highlighted, marked by the predominance of industries on pebbles and blocks, the debitage of flakes and blades as a support for various tools in the interior basins and the shaping of small projectile points on the Atlantic slope.

Diversité culturelle des peuplements pionniers du Sud du Brésil à l’Holocène initial

The variety of South American lithic industries in the Early Holocene indicates that the settlement processes were characterized by cultural diversification and adaptive flexibility. In the present article, we will analyze the bifacial lithic industries of southern Brazil that include projectile points in their repertoire of instruments, through a comparative study between the results of research in the hydrographic regions of Uruguay River and Lake Guaíba. Our objective is to problematize issues about the construction of cultural territories in the process of initial settlement of the South American Cone through the analysis of technical systems.

Land use and systematic survey in the study of hunter-gatherers from northwestern Patagonia, Argentina

In this paper, we focus on the results of the archaeological research in the Diamante Valley, the southernmost limit of the expansion of agriculture, sedentary societies, and the Inka empire (Fig. 1). We conducted the first fieldwork in this area involving random surface sampling, followed by test pits in open-air sites. Our analyses show changes in the settlement pattern of hunter-gatherer societies. During the first part of the Late Holocene (3000–1500 years BP), hunter-gatherers used the highlands and the piedmont seasonally. The archaeological evidence suggests a context of resource abundance and frequent movements from one patch of resources to the other in both biogeographic units. During the last part of the Late Holocene (post-1500 BP period), the increased demography made hunter-gatherers stay longer in each patch. In this later period, we observe a settlement pattern that combines, on the one hand, short-term particular tasks camps with shallow anthropogenic deposits, low artifactual density, richness, and diversity, and on the other hand, larger residential base camps with deep deposits, high artifactual density, richness, and diversity. We also find differences in how hunter-gatherers use the two biogeographic units. We find short-term non-residential camps and larger residential camps in the piedmont. Here we found versatile toolkits with abundant cores and cortex. Even though basalts are abundant in the highlands, there is a more significant amount of non-local raw materials, such as obsidians. Projectile points and scrapers dominate the assemblages, which might lead to task-specific activities such as hunting and processing guanacos. From these results, we can affirm that Late Holocene hunter-gatherer groups from Diamante Valley had an excellent knowledge of the landscape and took advantage of the different altitudinal gradients' different resources with an organized settlement pattern.

Evolutionary radiation of mid-Holocene lanceolate points from the highlands of the South Central Andes

Through phylogenetic reconstruction this work  analyzes the  diversification of  lanceolate points of the South Central Andes   which began in the early Holocene and spanned the entire mid- Holocene. Based on a regional-scale data, we   discuss the links between the increasing mid-Holocene risk conditions, the patterns of diversification of point lineages, demographic change and animal resources consumption. We distinguish a first instance of greater diversity of points, a higher rate of innovation and less class longevity. These trends progressively stabilized, giving rise to a pattern of  less innovation, decreasing taxa diversity  and greater class longevity as well as an age-related extinction pattern. We show that as projectile points diversified,hunting efficiency increased along the mid-Holocene by the increased representation of  high-return fauna in the regional zooarchaeological record.  We suggest that this diversification of  lanceolate points was an adaptive evolutionary radiation which began with the increase in the rate of innovation for coping with the increasing risk of the beginning of mid-Holocene in the South Central Andes. From this we conclude that technological innovation was a prerequisite for the human specialization in camelid hunting and for the development of a highly economically efficient foraging strategy in the south Andean  highlands

Projectile point morphology and penetration performance

Prehistoric pointed lithic armatures (used to tip spears, darts, and arrows) vary considerably in mechanically-relevant aspects of their morphology, such as tip cross-sectional shape, cross-sectional perimeter, and cross-sectional area, mechanical advantage, and edge sharpness. The effect of variation in these parameters on penetration performance and lethality, however, is poorly understood. Six 3D-printed points that varied in cross-sectional shape, tip cross-sectional area, tip cross-sectional perimeter, mechanical advantage, and edge sharpness were fired into ballistic gelatin under controlled conditions to evaluate the importance of these variables on point performance. Tip cross-sectional perimeter was found to have the greatest effect on penetration depth in the gelatin, and mechanical advantage was also significantly related to penetration. Cross-sectional shape and tip cross-sectional area were not significantly related to penetration depth, while edge sharpness inversely affected penetration. These results highlight the importance of tip cross-sectional perimeter in the evolution of projectile point design (and reinforce its utility as an indicator of long-range projectile weaponry in the archeological record), but also underscore the multiple constraints that interact when trying to design points to maximize penetration performance, lethality, and durability.

Late Pleistocene osseous projectile point from the Manis site, Washington-Mastodon hunting in the Pacific Northwest 13,900 years ago.

Bone fragments embedded in a rib of a mastodon (Mammut americanum) from the Manis site, Washington, were digitally excavated and refit to reconstruct an object that is thin and broad, has smooth, shaped faces that converge to sharp lateral edges, and has a plano-convex cross section. These characteristics are consistent with the object being a human-made projectile point. The 13,900-year-old Manis projectile point is morphologically different from later cylindrical osseous points of the 13,000-year-old Clovis complex. The Manis point, which is made of mastodon bone, shows that people predating Clovis made and used osseous weapons to hunt megafauna in the Pacific Northwest during the Bølling-Allerød.

Early Holocene landscape use in the upper Tombigbee River valley

ABSTRACT We draw on the distribution of recorded archaeological sites, temporally diagnostic projectile points, sources of lithic raw materials, and fossil pollen projections to evaluate existing models for Early Holocene landscape use in the upper Tombigbee River valley (UTRV) in northeast Mississippi. We then discuss the applicability of Anderson and Hanson (1988), Daniel (2001), and Hollenbach (2009) in gaining a better understanding of early hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement in the region and discuss future directions for research.

Rethinking Stone Drill Manufacture

AbstractDrills and projectile points from a site often share a similar shaped base, and it is typically assumed that these drills are reworked hafted points. Measurements of triangular-shaped drills and triangular arrow points from an Iroquoian site indicate that, on average, these drills had narrower bases and were thicker than points. Additionally, most preserved point foreshafts from the western United States are too short if used as a simple drill shaft, and most dart and arrow shafts are too long to serve as convenient drill shafts if used with a strap or bow drill. These data call into question the assumption that drills were reworked hafted points at Iroquoian and possibly other sites.

Changes and Consistencies in Bone Technologies as a Sign of Cultural Transition About 4000 Years Ago in Eastern China: Insights from the Yinjiacheng Site, Shandong, China

The study of cultural changes associated with the emergence of complex societies in Ancient China has heavily relied on evidence from ceramics, lithic technologies, changes in settlement pattern, burial practices, and prestige goods. However, it remains unclear whether, and if so to what extent, other aspects of material culture follow similar evolutionary trajectories. Here, we analyze a large bone tool assemblage found in Longshan (n = 76) and Yueshi (n = 124) contexts at Yinjiacheng, a key site from the Haidai region. These two cultural entities are of particular interest as they allow to investigate cultural change dynamics in the Haidai region during the transition between the Late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Our assessment allows us to document changes in bone technology along three lines of evidence: typological diversity, technological know-how, and morphometric standardization. From a typological standpoint, we document an increased diversity in tool types during the Yueshi period compared to Longshan. However, the techniques used to manufacture bone tools during the Longshan and Yueshi periods remain broadly the same. Furthermore, we identify the persistence of specific reduction sequences for the manufacture of some awl and projectile point sub-types shared by the two cultural systems. Morphometrically, Longshan domestic tools are generally more standardized than Yueshi tools, while Yueshi hunting implements show a higher degree of standardization compared to their Longshan counterparts. We argue this pattern reflects the preservation of a common know-how among Longshan and Yueshi settlers at Yinjiacheng. We interpret the typological diversification of Yueshi hunting implements and changes in the standardization of Yueshi bone tools as a proxy for the articulation of this knowledge through applying less rigid rules of production to meet new emerging needs.

Dating of a large tool assemblage at the Cooper's Ferry site (Idaho, USA) to~15,785 cal yr B.P. extends the age of stemmed points in the Americas.

The timing and character of the Pleistocene peopling of the Americas are measured by the discovery of unequivocal artifacts from well-dated contexts. We report the discovery of a well-dated artifact assemblage containing 14 stemmed projectile points from the Cooper's Ferry site in western North America, dating to ~16,000 years ago. These stemmed points are several thousand years older than Clovis fluted points (~13,000 calyr B.P.) and are ~2300 years older than stemmed points found previously at the site. These points date to the end of Marine Isotope Stage 2 when glaciers had closed off an interior land route into the Americas. This assemblage includes an array of stemmed projectile points that resemble pre-Jomon Late Upper Paleolithic tools from the northwestern Pacific Rim dating to ~20,000 to 19,000 years ago, leading us to hypothesize that some of the first technological traditions in the Americas may have originated in the region.

Obsidian projectile point conveyance patterns in the lower Humboldt Valley, Nevada

Despite their ubiquity, surface occurrences of obsidian artifacts at archaeological sites throughout western North America have traditionally been viewed as unworthy of serious attention because of the difficulty in dating them. In the past 40 years, the time sensitivity of certain Great Basin projectile point types has been established, which brings the importance of surface collections more center stage. With the coming of age and refinement of geochemical methods, obsidian artifacts from these surface sites can now be analyzed using nondestructive instrumental methods and matched to their geological eruptive origin on the basis of congruence in trace and rare earth element chemistry. Many of these surface assemblages in the Great Basin contain considerable numbers of obsidian projectile points that, when matched to their chemical source of origin, open up entirely new ways to investigate change and continuity in past land use and social relations. The present study was conducted in the lower Humboldt Valley of western Nevada, where large numbers of obsidian projectile points have been collected by professional archaeologists over the past century and housed in academic institutions and museums. In this study, more than 900 obsidian projectile points and bifaces were analyzed from 24 sites and localities within the lower Humboldt Valley using energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) to bring data to bear on the question of whether changes in obsidian source use occurred there over the past 5000 years (as determined by time-sensitive projectile points). Significant changes were identified in the direction and distance-to-source of arrow points vs. dart points, and in the source and direction of Humboldt series points and of Humboldt Basal-notched bifaces, which implicate directional shifts through time in social relations among peoples using—and during some periods living at sites in—the lower Humboldt Valley. These results provide independent data to evaluate current views about land use, artifact conveyance, social relations, and technological change in the western Great Basin and beyond.

Old design – New material: An early Final Palaeolithic bone projectile point from Bärenkeller cave site (Thuringia, Germany), and its implications for the evolution of osseous armatures and the environmental development in Lateglacial Central Europe

The transition from the late Pleniglacial to the Lateglacial in Central Europe brought about fundamental transformations of hunter-gatherer ways of life. Linked to profound climatic and environmental changes, the Late Upper Palaeolithic represented by the Magdalenian comes to an end, and the Final Palaeolithic represented by the Federmesser-Gruppen starts. This cultural shift between 13 and 12 ka cal. BC is particularly evident in lithic hunting armature, with frontally-hafted points gaining in importance to the detriment of laterally hafted backed bladelets. The changes in osseous projectile weaponry are still poorly understood. A double-bevelled projectile point made of red deer or elk bone from Bärenkeller cave site in Central Germany was radiocarbon-dated to the second half of GI-1e and is thus contemporary with the early Final Palaeolithic attested in the region. Together with already known, condiderably younger specimens from Northern Germany and Central Poland, this finding shows that the concept of double-bevelled osseous points survived the end of the Magdalenian and coexisted with lithic points and osseous barbed points during the Lateglacial. The rapid faunal exchange in the Central European low mountain range, however, required a much earlier shift from reindeer antler as the primary resource to other large cervids than in the lowlands to the north.

The Antler, Ivory, and Bone Artefacts from Maszycka Cave (Southern Poland). New Signals from a Late Upper Palaeolithic Key Site

The well-known Late Upper Palaeolithic cave site of Maszycka (southern Poland), excavated in the end of the nineteenth century as well as in the 1960s, furnished a collection of 89 osseous artefacts manufactured from cervid antler, mammoth ivory, and mammal long bone. The great majority are finished tools, mostly projectile points, while raw material blocks, pre-forms, and production waste are represented by only a few pieces. Based on the presence of the characteristic double-split antler tools, distinct projectile morphologies, and recurring ornaments, the assemblage from Maszycka can be assigned to the early Middle Magdalenian facies à navettes which dates to around 19 - 17.5 ka cal. BP. Compared to the western European sites, which also belong to this facies, Maszycka is characterised by a high proportion of ivory tools, reflecting the abundance of this favourable raw material in eastern central Europe, as well as an unusually high proportion of decorated tools, which may relate to an increased need for symbolic communication within the small and geographically isolated Magdalenian group. Both the remarkable typo-technological similarities of the bone industry from Maszycka to contemporary assemblages in France and the gap in the central European archaeological record between 22 and 19 ka cal. BP speak in favour of a direct immigration of Magdalenian hunter-gatherers from western Europe immediately after the end of the Last Glacial Maximum. Their relations to the bearers of the Epigravettian adjacent to the east and south remain to date poorly understood.

Changes in projectile design and size of prey reveal the central role of Fishtail points in megafauna hunting in South America

Fishtail projectile points are the earliest widespread projectile type in South America, and share chronology and techno-morphology with Clovis, the oldest North American projectile type. Both were temporally associated with late Pleistocene megafaunal extinctions. Although the elusive direct evidence of human exploitation of megafauna in South America had kept Fishtails out of the extinction debate, a recent paper showed a strong relationship between the temporal density and spatial distribution of megafauna and Fishtail projectile points, and proposed that this weapon was designed and used for megafauna hunting, contributing to their extinction. If so, this technology must be distinctly different from post-FPP technologies (i.e., early Holocene projectile points), used for hunting smaller prey, in terms of distribution and functional properties. In this paper, we explore the changes in projectile point technology, as well as the body mass of potential megafaunal prey, and show that Fishtails were strongly related to the largest extinct megafaunal species.