Projectile Points Research Articles

Mammoth ivory was the most suitable osseous raw material for the production of Late Pleistocene big game projectile points

Late Pleistocene societies throughout the northern hemisphere used mammoth and mastodon ivory not only for art and adornment, but also for tools, in particular projectile points. A comparative analysis of the mechanical properties of tusk dentine from woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius) and African elephant (Loxodonta africana) reveals similar longitudinal stiffness values that are comparable to those of cervid antler compacta. The longitudinal bending strength and work of fracture of proboscidean ivory are very high owing to its substantial collagen content and specific microstructure. In permafrost, these properties can be fully retained for thousands of years. Owing to the unique combination of stiffness, toughness and size, ivory was obviously the most suitable osseous raw material for massive projectile points used in big game hunting.

Spatiotemporal diversification of projectile point types in western North America over 13,000 years

North America was initially colonized by humans during the late Pleistocene, and over the course of the Holocene material culture diversified as local populations adapted to regional environments. However, to date, while anthropologists and archaeologists have long been interested in diversity, little is known of the process of diversification over space and time. Here, we focus on the diversification of the archaeological record of western North America over 13,000 years. By compiling time series of projectile point types and their spatial distribution, we quantify the empirical record of diversification in this region. Our results show that projectile point diversity increases exponentially over time, consistent with a simple evolutionary branching process. The spatial extent of projectile points decreases exponentially over time at a similar rate. Therefore, the evolutionary diversification of projectile point types in western North America is a fractal-like space-filling process, likely reflecting increasingly localized adaptations to regional environments and a consequent reduction in the spatial extent of cultural networks.

Technological Analysis and Source Provenance of Obsidian Artifacts from a Sun Pyramid Substructure Cache, Teotihuacan, Mexico

The following report provides new data on a Sun Pyramid cache excavated by René Millon in 1959, including confirmation that the cache was associated with a substructure. A technological analysis illustrates the anthropomorphic eccentric production sequence, and indicates that the miniature projectile points were produced from debitage from multiple reduction technologies. All obsidian artifacts were attributed to the Otumba source area via energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). In addition to providing data on the production of obsidian implements for ritual deposits, we suggest that the cache may be a representation of scaffold sacrifice.

The age of the Dalton culture: a Bayesian analysis of the radiocarbon data

ABSTRACTSince a radiocarbon chronology of the Dalton culture in the Southeast was first proposed, several new sites have been dated. I propose a new chronology based on radiocarbon dates from sites in the Dalton Heartland and its eastern periphery using Bayesian statistical models in OxCal and an analysis of the associated diagnostic projectile points. The analyses indicate that the Dalton culture probably evolved from the Clovis or Gainey phenomena about 12,680 cal BP (ca. 10,700 BP) and lasted at least until ca. 10,400 cal BP (ca. 9,200 BP), if not several centuries later. I propose early and late Dalton phases that follow changes in how Dalton points were made and resharpened. It appears that the people living to the east of the Heartland followed a different trajectory of projectile point evolution. There, notched points appear about 11,500 cal BP, while in the Heartland, true notched points do not appear in large numbers until the Graham Cave point over 2,000 years later. The chronologies demonstrate that early, coeval, region-wide cultural changes may not have been the norm. They also raise interesting questions about how people in the Heartland and its eastern periphery interacted.

Assessing indigenous technology and land-use patterns between pre- and equestrian times in southern Patagonia (southern South America)

One of the most profound effects of the European expansion across America from the fifteenth to nineteenth centuries was the introduction of the horse. This phenomenon left a wake of cultural and ecological changes among native, foot-mobile hunter-gatherer groups. Historical and archaeological sources suggest that the spread of equestrian adaptation to southern Patagonia (southern South America) drove the occupation of high quality grazing areas, the gradual abandonment of projectile points, and their replacement by lithic “bolas” as the primary hunting tool among indigenous people between the eighteenth and twentieth centuries. Here, we assess the archaeological distribution of projectile points and occupational events in southern Patagonia for the last 500 years through non-parametric and spatial statistical analyses. Our results support the gradual transformation in native hunting technologies after they adopted the horse. However, equestrian occupations are located differently from previous times, although not mainly in high quality grazing areas. This may have resulted from the land-use patterns of hunter-gatherers on horseback and the expansion of European settlements that reduced the availability of “free” lands for indigenous use.

Activity Areas or Conflict Episode? Interpreting the Spatial Patterning of Lice and Fleas at the Precontact Yup’ik Site of Nunalleq (Sixteenth to Seventeenth Centuries AD, Alaska)

Archaeoentomological research at the precontact site of Nunalleq (sixteenth and seventeenth centuries AD), Southwest Alaska, has identified hundreds of lice and fleas that infested both the human inhabitants of the site and their canine companions. As lice are host specific, staying attached to the host’s hair or fur during the totality of their lifecycle, they are generally considered excellent indicators of activity areas. Fleas, however, are relatively less common in archaeological contexts and, since they are mobile and able to infest several different host species, their potential use in the spatial reconstruction of activities is more limited. At Nunalleq, the study of insects from the most recent archaeological contexts produced very different spatial distribution patterns for human lice, fleas, and dog lice. This article compares these archaeoentomological data with other datasets available for the site (carrion-feeding flies, human hair, fur, coprolites, projectile points, and pieces of clothing) with the aim of establishing the phenomena that produced the distinct spatial distributions observed.

Secrets of the Dirt: Uncovering the Ancient People of Gault by Mary S. Black

Reviewed by: Secrets of the Dirt: Uncovering the Ancient People of Gault by Mary S. Black Mariah Wade Secrets of the Dirt: Uncovering the Ancient People of Gault. By Mary S. Black. (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2019. Pp. 132. Illustrations, bibliography, index.) This is a lovely book. The word “lovely” is seldom coupled with archaeology, but the informal narrative here disguises some of the achievements of the work. Secrets in the Dirt tells the meandering and motley story of the Gault Site in Central Texas and is intended for a wide audience fascinated by archaeology and willing to learn. In a down-to-earth tone, the author uses Gault to speak of a dynasty of important researchers, many from Texas, and links them to the present array of professional and avocational archaeologists as well as to the large number of volunteers who have worked on the site. At the same time that it highlights the professional [End Page 240] genealogy of those researchers and their work, the book traces important Texas sites, connecting the geographic dots among them to clarify where we have been and where we are now in understanding the material culture that the first Americans left behind. Importantly, study at Gault, in its various phases, has been masterminded by Mike Collins, chair of the Gault School of Archaeological Research and research associate with the Texas Archeological Research Laboratory at the University of Texas at Austin. Along with this mapping of people and sites, the author subtly reveals the vitality of archaeological studies that are a result of the intersection of researchers from other scholarly disciplines with the intense curiosity and ingenuity of crafts people. It is good and necessary that people such as E. H. Sellars, J. E. Pearce, Glen Evans, Ernest Lundelius, and Don Crabtree, among others, are acknowledged for their impact on archaeology in Texas and in general. Although the author smooths the edges of many archaeological conundrums regarding the modes of arrival and dispersion of the first Americans on the continent, the questioning reader will find that some of the researchers mentioned in the book, then and now, continue to grapple with those questions. Archaeology is about hypotheses and research, not certainties. Conversely, landowners’ prevalent practice of allowing pot-robbers to dig for a fee is not smoothed over, but neither is it stressed. Not unlike many other sites in Texas and around the world, Gault’s exploration had its beginning with those the author calls hobbyists, but this reviewer has issues with that description: having “a little fun in the dirt” (4) is also destruction, and one should not glamorize it. All archaeological sites are important, but the Gault Site spans about 16,000 years of human occupation and is unquestionably one of the most important archaeological sites in the Americas. Gault has provided important clues about the behavior of the peoples who inhabited the site during Clovis time (about 12,000–10,000 years before present), although the more recent archaeological evidence (since about 8,000 CE) has been churned up by those so-called hobbyists. As Clovis-age sites go, Gault is not unique; there are others, but Gault is among a selected few sites that produced pre-Clovis material culture. The Clovis-era materials at Gault have helped define the Clovis tool-kit and the pre-Clovis materials there have added some fascinating wrinkles to a complex picture. In fact, the pre-Clovis diversity is fascinating when considering the Clovis quasi uniformity followed by the heterogeneity of late Paleo tool traditions. Although Secrets of the Dirt is unnecessarily fanciful at times, one hopes it and the example and importance of the Gault Site will convince some Texas landowners, and others elsewhere, that the preservation of cultural heritage is a better badge of honor than the few dollars to be gained from would-be treasure hunters. This is a battle many archeologists have long fought. Native Americans would certainly be gratified to have their history [End Page 241] properly documented and not subsumed under a framed collection of projectile points hanging on a wall. Mariah Wade University of Texas at Austin Copyright © 2019 The Texas State Historical Association...

Brincando com pontas de projétil

Este artigo discute como as arqueólogas e arqueólogos podem potencialmente identificar a presença de crianças no registro arqueológico através do estudo de produtos líticos acabados. Como um estudo de caso, eu uso Adelar Pilger (RS-C-61), um sítio em abrigo-sob-rocha habitado por caçadores-coletores no sul do Brasil e datado de aproximadamente 8500 AP. Ao relacionar as decisões associadas à seleção de matéria-prima com as propriedades estéticas e tecnológicas de pontas do projétil, eu identifiquei três tipos de pontas potencialmente produzidas por especialistas, aprendizes avançados e crianças e/ou aprendizes iniciais. Eu sugiro que as crianças no sítio Adelar Pilger produziram pontas de projétil como uma forma de brincadeira de imitação. Através desta brincadeira, as crianças foram capazes de imitar grosseiramente somente as formas e o contorno geral das pontas do projétil, mas não foram capazes de reproduzir estes instrumentos em um sentido tridimensional ou tecnológico.

Setting the Stage: The Late Pleistocene Colonization of North America

The timing of human entrance into North America has been a topic of debate that dates back to the late 19th century. Central to the modern discussion is not whether late Pleistocene-age populations were present on the continent, but the timing of their arrival. Key to the debate is the age of tools—bone rods, large prismatic stone blades, and bifacially chipped and fluted stone weapon tips—often found associated with the remains of late Pleistocene fauna. For decades, it was assumed that this techno-complex—termed “Clovis”—was left by the first humans in North America, who, by 11,000–12,000 years ago, made their way eastward across the Bering Land Bridge, or Beringia, and then turned south through a corridor that ran between the Cordilleran and Laurentide ice sheets, which blanketed the northern half of the continent. That scenario has been challenged by more-recent archaeological and archaeogenetic data that suggest populations entered North America as much as 15,300–14,300 years ago and moved south along the Pacific Coast and/or through the ice-free corridor, which apparently was open several thousand years earlier than initially thought. Evidence indicates that Clovis might date as early as 13,400 years ago, which means that it was not the first technology in North America. Given the lack of fluted projectile points in the Old World, it appears certain that the Clovis techno-complex, or at least major components of it, emerged in the New World.

Cultural transmission and correlational selection in Late Period projectile points from the Puna of Salta, Argentina (CE 900 - 1500)

This work proposes a methodology for documenting metric patterns of variation and trait correlation in Late Period (ca. CE 900-1500) projectile points from the Puna and pre-Puna of Salta, Argentina. In so doing, our main goal is to explain the patterns observed in terms of mechanisms of cultural evolution and selection over the design of the artefacts. We applied this methodology to assemblages of concave-based triangular projectile points from four archaeological sites whose chronologies are well established. As a result, we were able to document low degrees of variation, as well as high, positive, significant, Pearson co-variation and partial correlation coefficients between metrical traits. These results suggest a process of correlational selection that preserved an artefact design with a structure of highly integrated traits that maximised the edge-area in relation to the haft, turning these projectile points into very lethal weapons, even for potential use in interpersonal violence. This lends support to the hypothesis presented here, where replication of these projectile points occurred within a process of stabilizing cultural selection through biased transmission mechanisms that maintained the functional relations between the variables at the design scale, which in turn favoured the selection of artefacts suitable for effective weapons in a context where hunting was a strategy that optimized animal biomass acquisition, enhancing domestic herd viability.

Phylogenetic analysis of stemmed points from Patagonia: Shape change and morphospace evolution

This work is focused in the study of Patagonian lithic projectile points shape variation from a phylogenetic perspective pursuing three main aims: first, generate a model of projectile point shape diversification and morphospace evolution; second, estimate shape variation through time, and finally, assess the robustness of previous results using the same methods but in a larger sample with better spatial coverage. A previous work using geometric morphometric and cladistic methods suggested a pattern of general morphological diversification across Patagonia related, at least in part, to the spatial distance between cases, distinguishing two main clades in northern (43-45° S) and southern (50-52° S) Patagonia. In the present work to study this pattern in a more detailed level, a sample of ca. 1200 projectile points was used to obtain statistically different morphological classes performing unsupervised K-means searching. Shape characters were used to describe the different taxonomic units and to perform the phylogenetic analysis (through the Neighbor Joining and Maximun Parsimony methods) using as an ancestor the earliest point type known to the region (Fishtail point). The new results suggest that projectile points with longer and narrow blades and smaller stems evolved later in Patagonia and occupy a different sector of morphospace that could be related to the emergence of different technical systems, like the bow and arrow. However, these results do not support the previous ones of a projectile point diversification pattern mediated by spatial distance, maybe due to the reduction of contrast between the extreme north and south of Patagonia by the larger spatial coverage used in the present analysis.

The introduction of the bow and arrow in the Argentine Andes (29–34º S): A preliminary metric approximation

The study size patterns in projectile points (n=39) from six sites in the Argentine Andes (29–34°S) associated with 17 radiocarbon dates with medians spanning 3080–470 cal BP. This is the region’s first attempt to metrically distinguish arrows and darts, which is based on shoulder or maximum width, following Shott. The northern part of the study area (29°S) includes the earliest arrow point, slightly after 3080 cal BP. This suggests a rapid spread of this technology from the central Andes 16–26°S, where early arrows are dated ~3500–3000 cal BP. However, at 32 and 34°S, arrows are not clearly present until 1280 cal BP. For 1280–400 cal BP (European contact), 96% of points were identified as arrows, suggesting the bow and arrow replaced spear-based weapon systems. A single late dart from 34°S may reflect a late use of this space by hunter-gatherers. The predominance of arrows beginning at 1280 cal BP is associated with broader changes such as demographic growth, reduced mobility, low-level food production, and herding economies, following similar trends in other regions.

First results of the hunter-gatherer weapon system studies in the middle basin of the Salado creek (Pampas Region, Argentina)

In this paper we present the results of the study of 32 projectile points from Hangar site, located in the Salado creek basin (centre of the province of Buenos Aires). Archaeological materials recovered from the site include some isolated human remains, several potsherds, faunal materials, and lithic artefacts. The presence of pottery and small triangular points, together with the radiocarbon dating results, indicate that the main occupations occurred during the end of the Late Holocene. Methodology used included the techno-typological study of the lithic assemblage. Results showed that the outcrops of some rocks present in the sample are found in the Humid Pampas (100-190 km distant from the site) and the Dry Pampas (400-530 km distant from the site). The projectile points show variability in design and size, attributes that have implications for distinguishing different weapon systems (e.g., arrow and dart). In the Pampas region, the Late Holocene is a period characterized by an increasing complexity in hunter-gatherer societies, as it is indicated by long-distance exchange networks and different strategies of intensification and diversification on faunal resources. In accordance with this scenario, we propose that the variability that is observed in the lithic points is a reflex of an increase in the amount of the hunted species in relation with technological innovations such as the introduction of the bow and arrow.

The cultural trajectories of Aurignacian osseous projectile points in Southern Europe: Insights from geometric morphometrics

Studies on European population dynamics during the Early Upper Palaeolithic heavily rely on evidence gathered from the analysis of material culture. Spatial occurrence of an artefact type allows to delimit the territories occupied by their bearers, and, when a chronological perspective is added to the study, to follow shifts in land occupation through time. In this paper, we review first-hand data gathered from 129 Aurignacian osseous projectile points yielded by 11 sites that are distributed along the southern dispersal route assumed to have facilitated the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens into Western Europe, i.e., the Mediterranean coastline. In this region, clear differences are observed with regard to the relative distribution of split- and massive-based points. The Adriatic Sea is identified as the geographical limit dividing the western and eastern regions of the Mediterranean coastline. In both regions, massive-based points occur contemporaneously with split-based points at some sites. In the western region, split-based points appear at the end of the Proto-Aurignacian, and overall outnumber massive-based points. In the eastern region, split-based points are associated with the end of Early Aurignacian occupations, and it is massive-based points that are found in greater number. The geographic distribution of the data obtained from a landmark-based geometric morphometrics analysis of the forms for both projectile point types suggests the high mobility of Aurignacian populations. However, the rules of production seem more flexible for the manufacture of massive-based points compared to those reproduced during the manufacture of split-based points. A parallel is drawn between this pattern and the complexity of the reduction sequence of both types. These results cast doubts on the hypothesis according to which Aurignacian osseous projectile points, and more specifically split-based points, would represent a proxy for the initial dispersal of Homo sapiens into Europe. On the contrary, the present review indicates the adoption of osseous projectile technologies at a continental scale signals the development of novel socio-economic strategies by groups already present on the continent and linked to one another.

On the shape of things: A geometric morphometrics approach to investigate Aurignacian group membership

The manufacture of composite projectile technology requires the production and assemblage of tightly fitted parts designed to fulfill a number of distinct functions. Each part combines a number of techno-functional units, and various processes may be responsible for the shape variability of these units. In order to investigate the relative contribution of each process to the overall variability of a projectile implement, one must identify the point of demarcation between its techno-functional units. In the present paper, the concept of shape modularity is introduced to precisely identify this locus. The application of geometric morphometrics and shape modularity to the study of two Aurignacian osseous projectile point types, i.e., split- and massive-based points, reveals interesting patterns. On both types, the maximum width delimits the distal and proximal techno-functional units of these objects. When focusing on the morphometric variability and the geographic distribution of the implements' proximal unit, the eight shapes identified for split-based points are found over vast regions of Europe. On the other hand, the two proximal shapes defined for massive-based points show a pattern of local, or regional, aggregation. These proximal shapes were likely considered fit for hafting and hunting by the prehistoric populations who reproduced them, and they are interpreted as a proxy for the socially shared rules of production that guided the manufacture of these tool types. They could therefore be used in future studies that aim to identify group membership amongst the Aurignacian metapopulation and the extent of their interactions.

Use-wear and ballistic analyses of arrowheads from the burial ground of the Nitra culture in Ludanice - Mýtna Nová Ves

The burial ground in Ludanice - Mýtna Nová Ves (Slovakia) comprises a total of 477 graves of the Nitra Culture, a derivate of the Epi-Corded complex in Central Europe. This archaeological culture is placed chronologically between the Late Eneolithic, represented by Corded Ware Culture and Bell Beaker Culture, and the developed Early Bronze Age, characterised by a rapid spatial expansion of Únětice Culture. This period on the threshold of the Bronze Age was crucial for transition from an unstratified society with a defined warrior status to an early stratified society. The warrior elite had an important role in formative social processes of the Bronze Age. This period is characterized by significant peak of lithic projectile point appearance, which ballistic and functional analysis we present to prove their practical warrior function.

The quantitative assessment of archaeological artifact groups: Beyond geometric morphometrics

Archaeologists often wish to distinguish between groups of cultural artifacts using information collected from descriptions or measurements of their morphological forms. Morphometric methods have played an increasingly large role in such quantitative assessments. However, standard approaches to morphometric analyses are often poorly suited to many artifact types as much variation of interest to archeologists cannot be quantified adequately by sparse sets of landmarks or semilandmarks. Use of measurement conventions also requires that investigators know which aspects of the artifacts under consideration are important to include at the outset of an investigation. In this review results obtained from landmark-semilandmark-based, and image pixel-based assessments of a common set of Paleoindian fluted projectile points are compared. Results confirm that, by itself, PCA is unsuited for the assessment of between-group differences irrespective of data type, but can be useful as a transformation to reduce the dimensionality of a morphological dataset while retaining its effective information content. Landmark-semilandmark data analysed using geometric morphometric methods delivered the lowest-quality results whereas image pixel data analysed by the Naïve Bayes machine-learning classifier delivered the highest. Direct analyses of artifact images using geometric morphometric methods delivered very good results. These findings suggest that the direct analyses of digital images and 3D scans, using either geometric morphometric data-analysis methods or machine-learning procedures, can provide archaeologists with tools that improve and extend the scope of their assessments of a wide range of artifact types.

La lanza de Alejandro en Gortina

Una información recogida por Pausanias sobre la dedicatoria en Gortina de una punta de lanza que perteneció a Alejandro Magno permite considerar en detalle tanto la procedencia de la lanza como su valor curativo. El análisis nos remite, además, a las habilidades curativas de los Eácidas, y por ende, a las relaciones entre curación y poder en el mundo antiguo.

Pre-Clovis projectile points in North America

Archaeology The Clovis culture was a prehistoric Paleoindian culture. Archaeological research over the past decades has refuted the Clovis-first hypothesis in the peopling of the Americas. However, controversy continues over the timing of earlier migrations, the identification and description of the material culture possessed by these early migrants, and the likely routes by which these peoples entered North America. Waters et al. studied the Debra L. Friedkin site in Texas to resolve some of these questions. They performed careful stratigraphic excavation and a meticulous program of chronometric dating to identify a style of projectile points with triangular blades and stemmed bases. These projectiles were dated to have been made between 13,500 and 15,500 years ago and were found below typical Clovis-style points dated to 13,000 years ago. Thus, either the stemmed form was transformed locally over time into the more widespread Clovis style or it is a style created by people of an earlier and separate migration. Sci. Adv. 10.1126/sciadv.aat4505 (2018).

Pre-Clovis projectile points at the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas-Implications for the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Americas.

Lanceolate projectile points of the Clovis complex and stemmed projectile points of the Western Stemmed Tradition first appeared in North America by ~13 thousand years (ka) ago. The origin, age, and chronological superposition of these stemmed and lanceolate traditions are unclear. At the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas, below Folsom and Clovis horizons, we find stemmed projectile points dating from ~13.5 to ~15.5 ka ago, with a triangular lanceolate point form appearing ~14 ka ago. The sequential relationship of stemmed projectile points followed by lanceolate forms suggests that lanceolate points are derived from stemmed forms or that they originated from two separate migrations into the Americas.