2.15 PALEOINDIAN AND ARCHAIC PERIODS IN NORTH AMERICA

20 Pages·2013·4.89 MB·English

2.15 P ALEOINDIAN AND ARCHAIC
PERIODS IN NORTH AMERICA
.
DAVID G ANDERSON
Unequivocal evidence for widespread human settlement in and to the south in Latin America. Evidence for earlier human
North America dates to c. 13,000 cal BP (all dates herein are in occupation in the Americas prior to c. 13,000 cal B P is reviewed
calendar years before present unless explicitly noted), and sites by Michael Collins in this volume (Chapter 2.14), while Archaic
are recognised by the presence of bifacial fl uted Clovis - style and subsequent occupations in other parts of the continent up
projectile points, named after a town in eastern New Mexico to and after c. 3000 cal B P are summarised by several authors in
where they were found in stratigraphic complex in the 1930s later chapters.
and after at the nearby site of Blackwater Draw (Boldurian & C lovis points, the diagnostic artifacts used to identify
Cotter 1 999) (M ap 2.15.1) . The ensuing 10,000 years of human these early occupations, have blades that are typically lanceo-
occupation in North America, during the temporal interval late or slightly expanding in shape, and range in size from a
from c. 13,000 to 3200 cal B P or c. 11,200–3000 14C yr BP , cor- few to 20 cm or so in length, with most under c. 10 to 12 cm
responds to what were traditionally known as the Paleoindian (F ig. 2.15.2) . They were prepared using a distinctive manu-
and Archaic stages of cultural development across much of facturing procedure employing overshot fl aking to produce a
the continent, prior to the appearance of agriculture, monu- bifacial shape from a parent core or fl ake, followed by a thin-
mental architecture and pottery in many areas (e .g. , Willey & ning procedure involving direct percussion or pressure fl aking
Phillips 1958 ; Griffi n 1 967) . All of these cultural developments known as fl uting, which involves the removal of one or more
are now known to have begun much earlier, well back into the fl akes from the base upwards along the blade, typically to no
Archaic; the date of their appearance varies from area to area more than a third to halfway up the original blade length.
if they occurred at all, and the cultures that were present at any Fluting occurs for approximately a millennium on Clovis and
given time were highly varied, rendering the use of stage termi- a number of presumably descendant projectile point types
nology as a marker of cultural development untenable in most such as Barnes, Cumberland, Folsom, Gainey and Vail- Debert
areas. For the purposes of the present discussion, and employ- in portions of North America, and then disappears, never to
ing usage common in many areas, particularly in the eastern be adopted again (Bradley e t al. 2008 ; Meltzer 2009 ). Artifacts
part of the continent, the Paleoindian Period here refers to the exhibiting this distinctive form of basal or end thinning are
interval from c. 13,200 to 11,450 cal B P , or 11,200 to 10,000 14C thus unambiguous indicators of Late Pleistocene occupations
yr B P , the Terminal Pleistocene geochronological epoch, during in North America; large true blades appear to be another tool
the warmer Allerø d and the colder and more variable Younger form that dates to this period, although blades, albeit typi-
Dryas Period, which occurred from c. 12,850 to 11,650 cal B P cally much smaller, also occur a number of times and places
(Fiedel 1999 ; Hughen e t al. 2000 ) ( Fig. 2.15.1 ). The succeeding later in prehistory as well, so care must be taken before using
Archaic Period spans the interval from 10,000 to 3000 14C yr BP , their presence to infer early occupation. While rare compared
or 11,450 to 3200 cal BP , during the Early and Middle parts of with many subsequent forms, fl uted points have been avidly
the Holocene epoch, and the Boreal, Atlantic or Hypsithermal sought after and recorded by archaeologists and collectors
and Subborreal climatic periods, which occur from c. 11,650 alike for almost a century, since they were fi rst found in direct
to 8900, 8900 to 5700, and 5700 to 2500 cal B P , roughly coe- association with Pleistocene fauna in the 1920s and 1930, with
val with the Early, Middle and Late Archaic periods in many an extinct form of bison at Folsom, New Mexico, in 1926 and
regional cultural sequences (e .g. , Anderson & Sassaman with mammoth at Dent, Colorado, in 1932. Clovis, the earliest-
2 004, 2012; Frison 1 991; McElrath, Fortier & Emerson 2 009; known fl uted point type, has been tightly dated at a number
Sassaman & Anderson 2 004) . In what follows, Paleoindian of locations to between c. 13,150 and 12,850 cal BP (Waters &
and Archaic occupations are examined across North America, Stafford 2007 ), although given the absence of dates from many
with an emphasis on the eastern two-t hirds of the continent areas, including where the type occurs in large numbers in the
north of Mexico and south of the Arctic circle, complementing midcontinent and the southeast, its temporal range may be
discussions presented elsewhere in this volume on human set- greater and its beginnings possibly somewhat earlier, as sug-
tlement to the north, east and west on the continental margins gested by dates of c. 13,500 cal B P at the Aubrey Site in Texas
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2.15 DAVID G. A NDERSON

MAP 2.15.1. North American Paleoindian and Archaic sites mentioned in the text: 1. Adkins, Maine; 2. Anzik Site, Montana;
3. Aubrey, Texas; 4. Blackwater Draw, New Mexico; 5. Bonneville Estates Rock Shelter, Nevada; 6. Buhl, Idaho; 7. Bull Brook,
Massachusetts; 8. Burning Tree, Ohio; 9. Cactus Hill, Virginia; 10. Cahokia, Illinois; 11. Caney, Louisiana; 12. Carlston Annis,
Kentucky; 13. Cathedral Cave, Nevada; 14. Coates- Hines, Tennessee; 15. Connley Cave No. 4B, Oregon; 16. Coopers Ferry, Idaho;
17. Cow Point, New Brunswick; 18. Crowfi eld, Ontario; 19. Danger Cave, Utah; 20. Debert, Nova Scotia; 21. Dent, Colorado;
22. Doershuck, North Carolina; 23. Dust Cave, Alabama; 24. East Wenatchee, Washington; 25. Fifty/Thunderbird, Virginia;
26. Folsom, New Mexico; 27. Frenchman’s Bend, Louisiana; 28. Gault, Texas; 29. Hardaway, North Carolina; 30. Harris Creek
Mound, Tick Island, Florida; 31. Hebior, Wisconsin; 32. Hidden Cave, Nevada; 33. Homestead Cave, Utah; 34. Indian Knoll,
Kentucky; 35. Isle Royale, Michigan; 36. Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan; 37. Koster, Illinois; 38. L’Anse Amour, Newfoundland;
39. Lamoka Lake, New York; 40. Lindenmeier, Colorado; 41. Link Farm, Tennessee; 42. Lovelock Cave, Nevada; 43. Marmes,
Washington; 44. Meadowcroft Rock Shelter, Pennsylvania; 45. Modoc Rock Shelter, Illinois; 46. Mountaineer, Colorado; 47.
Neville, New Hampshire; 48. Oconto, Wisconsin; 49. Osceola Wisconsin; 50. Page- Ladson, Florida; 51. Port au Choix/Gould,
Labrador; 52. Poverty Point, Louisiana; 53. Read, Kentucky; 54. Reigh, Wisconsin; 55. Rodgers Shelter, Missouri; 56. Schaefer,
Wisconsin; 57. Sentinel Gap, Washington; 58. Sloan, Arkansas; 59. Smith Creek Cave, Nevada; 60. St. Albans, West Virginia; 61.
Stallings Island, Georgia; 62. Stanfi eld Worley Bluff Shelter, Alabama; 63. Sunshine Locality, Nevada; 64. Thom’s Creek, South
Carolina; 65. Topper, South Carolina; 66. Turner Farm, Maine; 67. Vail, Maine; 68. Ventana Cave, Arizona; 69. Wacissa River,
Florida; 70. Watson Brake, Louisiana; 71. Wildcat Canyon, Oregon; 72. Windover, Florida.
(Ferring 2001 ). Several thousand Clovis points have been southwestern Europe, and the Nenana and nearby river valleys
found in North America and, while the form is more preva- in central Alaska have all been proposed, with some source
lent in some areas than in others, particularly along the major areas drawing greater attention and controversy than others
drainages of the eastern part of the continent, it occurs as far ( e.g., Goebel, Waters & O’Rourke 2008; Stanford & Bradley
south as northern Mexico, although the incidence drops mark- 2 002; Straus, Meltzer & Goebel 2 005) . While the preponder-
edly into Central America (Anderson et al. 2010 ) ( Map 2.15.2 ). ance of linguistic, genetic and other physical anthropological/
Possibly related and roughly contemporaneous or perhaps morphological evidence indicates that the Paleoindian inhab-
slightly later basally thinned forms found in South America itants in the New World ultimately derived from northeastern
are characterised, in many cases, by long stems and distinctive and East Asia, Clovis technology itself may well have developed
expanding blades, and are considered morphologically suffi - in North America, perhaps in the eastern and southeastern
ciently distinct from Clovis to be characterised as a separate part of the continent or in the southern plains. Fluted points
“Fish- tail” horizon (see Chapter 2.14 ). are found in large numbers in these areas, and possible pre-
The origins of Clovis people and technology are unknown, cursor sites yielding biface and blade technologies up to sev-
although locations as far afi eld as extreme Northeast Asia, eral thousand years older have been found, such as at Gault in
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Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America
ClimaticEventSub Atlantic Sub-Boreal Sub-Boreal Hypsithermal Ends Atlantic Hypsithermal Begins 8200 Cold Episode Boreal HOLOCENELEISTOCENEPYounger Dryas ends Younger Dryas begins Allerød Older Dryas Bolling
CalendricalRadiocarbonPeriodCultureGeneralDiagnostics(cal yr BP)(uncalibrated)ComplexTrendsBurial mounds become widespread in eastEarly WoodlandDorset Culture Agriculture significant in east and southwest Tchefuncte cultureCeramics become widespread in eastAlexanderPoverty Point32003000Moorehead cultureWheeler cultureBow and arrow in northeast and subarctic?WheelerThom’s CreekCeramics appear in northeastThom’s CreekLate ArchaicStallings Island CultureEastern Agricultural ComplexSoapstone vessels45004000Orange CultureMesoamerican domesticates appear in southwestOtter CreekSusquehanna TraditionCircular and U-shaped shell monuments in coastal areasStallings/Orange ceramicsLake Forest Archaic CultureBroadpoint/Savannah River StemmedOld Copper/Laurentian CulturesCeramics appear in lower southeast57005000Watson Brake Mound CultureEarthen mound centers in Lower Mississippi ValleyShield Archaic CultureGround slate in northeastMaritime ArchaicIntra and interregional exchangeBentonEvidence for conflict68006000McKean ComplexBison hunting on the plainsMcKeanMiddle ArchaicGeneralized foraging adaptations widespreadMorrow Mountain First burial mounds in northeast, lower southeast/Florida78507000Shell middens appear in lower midwest and midsouthPlains Archaic CulturesBison hunting on the plains Subaqueous cemeteries in lower southeast/FloridaAngostura89008000Bifurcate HorizonBifurcate types in eastDesert Archaic CultureGeneralized foraging adaptations widespreadCodyEarly ArchaicCorner notched horizon in east102009000Plains 'Paleoindian'Bison hunting on the plainsAlbertaScottsbluffPaleoarchaic cultureHell GapEarly Side Notched horizon in east1145010000Ste. Anne-VarneyAgate Basin Late PaleoindianDalton CultureCemeteries in Central Mississippi Valley?Sloan/Dalton1245010,500Generalized foraging adaptationsMichaud-Neponset/Western Stemmed typesWestern Stemmed HorizonVail-Debert/Bull Brook-West Athens HillCaribou hunting in northeastSuwannee/Simpson/Beaver Lake/QuadPlains PaleoindianBison hunting on the plainsFolsom/Cumberland/Redstone/Midland1285010,900Generalized foraging adaptationsWestern Stemmed/GoshenGainey/King's Road-WhippleMiddle PaleoindianClovis CultureSpecialized big game hunting?Clovis1290011,000 Nenana1340011,500 Early Triangular/Page-LadsonEarly PaleoindianPre-Clovis CulturesGeneralized foraging adaptations?1400012,000Miller Lanceolate * Chart emphasizes develkopments in eastern and plains regions. 2.15.1. Paleoindian/Archaic timeline and cultures in North America. FIGURE
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2.15 DAVID G. A NDERSON

FIGURE 2.15.2. Diagnostic Paleoindian projectile- point types in eastern North America. a. “Fluted” Dalton; b. Hardaway Dalton;
c–e. Unfl uted Dalton points; f. Cormier- Nicholas; g, h. Beaver Lake; i, o. Unfl uted lanceolate; j. Ste. Anne- Varney; k. Bull Brook-
West Athens Hill; l. Vail- Debert; m, n, u. Suwannee/Simpson; p, q. Redstone; s. Cumberland; t. Michaud- Neponset; r, v–z.
Clovis; aa. Clovis Variant. (Images drawn by R. Jerald Ledbetter and William Burgess, used by permission of the artists and the
Maine Archaeological Society.)
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Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America

MAP 2.15.2. Fluted point sites in North America. Image courtesy of the Paleoindian Database of the Americas (PIDBA), available
at http://pidba.tennessee.edu/ .
Texas, Cactus Hill in Virginia and Meadowcroft Rock Shelter of preservation and raw material, they also sometimes occur
in Pennsylvania, as well as several locations in Florida and with a range of well-m ade stone, bone and ivory bifaces,
Wisconsin. Small triangular to lanceolate shaped u nfl uted blades and blade cores, scraping and graving tools and bone
bifaces variously named the “Early Triangular”, “Miller and ivory points and other tool forms. How varied Clovis
Lanceolate”, or “Page- Ladson” types have been recovered at adaptations may have been in various parts of the continent
some of these sites ( Fig. 2.15.3 ), as have true blades; and while is not well understood at present, since comparative analyses
in some cases the dating and associations are controversial, of technological and assemblage variation among Clovis sites
these point forms may ultimately prove to be an ancestor of and artifacts are infrequent. Specialised hunting adaptations,
the near-u biquitous Clovis and post-C lovis Paleoindian bifa- directed to larger animals such as mastodon or mammoth, or
cial technology occurring a few millennia later (Adovasio e t al. herd animals such as caribou, may have been present in higher
1999 ; Goodyear 2005 ; Dunbar & Hemmings 2004 ; Overstreet latitudes and on the plains in areas characterised by tundra,
2005 ; Webb 2006 ). boreal forest and grassland environments, while more gen-
C lovis assemblages are characterised by fl uted projectile eralised adaptations are inferred in more wooded temperate
points; and while there is appreciable variation due to factors and subtropical parts of the continent (Meltzer 1 988, 2 009) .
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2.15 DAVID G. A NDERSON

FIGURE 2.15.3. Some Florida Paleoindian projectile- point types. (Image courtesy of James S. Dunbar, Senior Archaeologist,
Public Lands Archaeology Program, Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research.)
High mobility is indicated by the widespread occurrence of of presumably immediately descendant forms like Folsom in
tool stones up to several hundred kilometres away from quar- the western part of the continent from roughly the Mississippi
ries in many areas, indicating that the annual and lifetime River to the eastern margins of the Great Basin and Plateau,
g roup ranges of these peoples were probably quite extensive, and on a range of forms in portions of the east, including the
at scales rarely seen in later prehistory, save perhaps dur- Barnes, Bull Brook-W est Athens Hill, Cumberland, Gainey,
ing the immediately succeeding Younger Dryas Period on the Kings Road-W hipple, Michaud-N eponset, Redstone and Vail-
Plains among Folsom populations, and in the same region D ebert types. The technology appears to have been abandoned
in the historic period when the adoption of horses facilitated fi rst in the southeast and a few centuries later in the plains and
bison hunting over large areas. Use of high-q uality lithic raw in the upper midwestern and northeastern parts of the con-
material is characteristic of Clovis assemblages in many areas, tinent. Unfl uted lanceolate, waisted, stemmed and notched
and appears to have facilitated high mobility at great dis- point forms were adopted in many areas. Once abandoned,
tances from sources of raw material (Goodyear 1 979; Kelly & fl uting was never adopted again in the millennia that followed,
Todd 1988 ). The elaborate stone- tool technology itself, which even though examples were undoubtedly found from time to
required great knapping skill, probably had a similar purpose, time by later peoples.
to ensure that people ranging far from raw material sources I n the intermontane Great Basin and far west, where fl uting
could maximise the life span and hence the utility of the stone of any kind is rare, a contracting “Western Stemmed” biface
they were carrying. The skill required to produce such points horizon is present, identifying a “Paleoarchaic” cultural tra-
would have also probably provided a common bond or sense of dition that appears to have been contemporary and perhaps
shared identity between peoples thinly scattered and ranging slightly earlier than the fl uted and immediately postfl uted
widely over the landscape, facilitating interaction when these forms found farther to the east and, occasionally, in the same
peoples met. Fluting technology occurred for little more than area (Beck & Jones 2010 ; Meltzer 2009 : 313–15). Thought to
a thousand years in North America, on Clovis and a number have developed independently of Clovis, possibly from early
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Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America
migrants along the northern Pacifi c rim, these p eoples were found at a number of locations, primarily in the western part
adapted to the comparatively lush pluvial and upland environ- of the continent, and some appear to refl ect deliberate grave
ments present in the region during the Terminal Pleistocene offerings, as at the Anzik Site in Montana, or alternatively were
and Initial Holocene. The point styles attributed to the hori- objects cached but never recovered, as at East Wenatchee in
zon include the Cougar Mountain, Haskett, Lake Mohave, Lind Washington (Kilby 2 008) . Clovis cache deposition has been
Coulee, Parman, Silver Lake and Windust types. Points were interpreted as a means of maintaining raw materials by peo-
typically made on fi ne- grained metavolcanics and obsidian, ples ranging widely from stone sources (Meltzer 2 002) , and
and less commonly on cherts, unlike the situation observed while this undoubtedly explains some of the discoveries, cer-
on Clovis points in many areas (Beck & Jones 2 010: 99). Other emonial or ritual behaviour is also indicated in some cases,
fl aked stone- tool forms associated with the tradition include since in some Clovis caches objects were sprinkled with red
crescents, drills, gravers, scrapers and spokeshave/notches, ochre, and at the Crowfi eld Site in Ontario a number of fl uted
similar in many respects (save for the presence of crescents) points were deliberately broken and burned (Deller, Ellis &
to Clovis assemblages. Sites yielding Western Stemmed points Keron 2 009) . The production of elaborate, oversized bifaces
and well dated to between c. 13,200 and 11,600 cal B P include and other tool forms occurs throughout prehistory in many
Bonneville Estates Rock Shelter, Buhl, Connley Cave No. 4B, parts of North America, particularly in the east, where over-
Coopers Ferry , Marmes , Sentinel Gap , the Sunshine Locality , sized bifaces fi rst appear in large numbers on sites of the later
Smith Creek Cave and Wildcat Canyon (Beck & Jones 2010 : Paleoindian- Period Dalton Culture in the central Mississippi
101–2). As the regional climate became drier in the Early Valley, dating to c. 12,500 to 11,000 cal BP. Oversized or “hyper-
Holocene, Western Stemmed point forms and the way of life trophic” Sloan Dalton projectile points have been found sin-
were gradually replaced by Desert Archaic culture adapta- gly, or in groups or caches at over thirty locations along a c.
tions as represented at sites like Danger Cave, Hidden Cave 600 km stretch of the central Mississippi Valley , from north of
and Lovelock Shelter (Jennings 1 957; Graf & Schmitt 2 007; the American Bottom near St. Louis to northeastern Arkansas
Simms 2008 ). (Koldehoff & Walthall 2 009; Walthall & Koldehoff 1 998) . At the
E vidence about Paleoindian/Paleoarchaic group compo- Sloan Site in northeastern Arkansas, several hundred unused
sition and organisation is limited in many parts of North points and tools, including a number of oversized Dalton or
America, in part because investigations have tended to focus “Sloan” points, were found in some twenty clusters of artifacts
on kill sites characterised by larger and hence better preserved and human remains, an apparent marked cemetery given that
and identifi able faunal remains. This is particularly true on the there was no overlap of the clusters, the earliest evidence for
plains and in the southwestern portions of the continent, where such mortuary behaviour in the Americas (Morse 1 997) . While
moderate numbers of mammoth and bison kills have been Sloan points resemble the hypertrophic bifaces found in ear-
examined (Grayson & Meltzer 2 002) . Evidence for structures lier western North American Clovis caches, they differ in that
is rare everywhere, although probable Folsom structures have they do not seem to refl ect isolated and widely separated depo-
been discovered recently, at the Mountaineer Site in Colorado sitional episodes, but instead appear to have been fairly com-
(Stiger 2006 ), and structures are inferred to have been present mon items, occurring in burials and other site contexts, where
around hearth areas at a number of sites in the middle Atlantic they were perhaps used as status indicators or votive offerings.
and northeast, such as Adkins , Debert Fifty and Vail (Gramly It has been suggested that local Dalton point- using groups
1982 , 1988 ; MacDonald 1968 ; Adovasio & Carr 2009 ). Across were bound together by the ritual use of these objects in what
the continent, small, probably band-s ized groups were pres- has been described as a “Cult of the Long Blade” (Walthall &
ent, occasionally and at special times or places coming together Koldehoff 1998 : 260–1). Other examples of behaviour centred
in larger numbers, as has been inferred at sites like Bull Brook on the production of oversized artifacts are found in Benton
in Massachusetts and Lindenmeier in Colorado (Wilmsen & points, banner stones/atlatl weights and ground-s tone axes in
Roberts 1978 ; Grimes 1979 ; Robinson e t al. 2009 ). Such aggre- portions of the later Archaic southeast, and the elaborate chert
gation events would have facilitated intergroup information swords depicted in Mississippian artwork, and found in large
exchange, mating opportunities and ceremony and ritual, a numbers in the Duck River Cache in 1894 at the Link Farm Site
convenient means by which widely ranging peoples could ren- in Tennessee (Sassaman 2005 , 2010a ).
dezvous (Anderson 1990 , 1995 ; Meltzer 2002 ). Paleoindian subsistence is not well documented in many
A rtwork is extremely rare among Paleoindian populations areas until fairly late in the period, due to an archaeological
in North America. Painting, pictographs and petroglyphs emphasis on kill sites and the only comparatively recent adop-
on caves or rock walls, common in later Archaic contexts tion of recovery strategies like fi ne- screening and fl otation.
in many areas, are unknown at present in North America. In portions of the continent, furthermore, most sites that
Several cobbles in a Paleoindian context at the Gault Site in have been found were either open-a ir assemblages or kills
Texas have engraved lines, squares and in one case an appar- of large game animals; the use of rock shelters, where bet-
ent plant (Collins, Hester & Headrick 1992 ), and while there ter preservation typically occurs, was uncommon in the east
have been engraved depictions of animals reported on por- until post- Clovis times (Walthall 1998 ). While well- preserved
table objects of bone, ivory or shell, none to date have proved palaeosubsistence remains have been found in submerged set-
to be of Paleoindian age. In contrast, caches of well- made, tings, such as at the Page- Ladson Site in Florida (Webb 2006 ),
sometimes oversized or hypertrophic Clovis bifaces have been systematic survey and examination for early archaeological
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2.15 DAVID G. A NDERSON
remains in permanently saturated settings have not been occupations in lower and middle latitudes of North America
undertaken in most regions. Clovis peoples clearly targeted was shaped, in part, by the great changes in species occurrence
large game animals in many regions, yet how prevalent this and composition that occurred at the end of the Pleistocene,
activity was, and whether it contributed to the extinctions including the major extinctions of large fauna that occurred,
observed at the end of the Pleistocene, remains the subject of encompassing some thirty- fi ve genera (Grayson 2007 ; Haynes
heated debate (Fiedel & Haynes 2004 ; Grayson 2007 ; Grayson 2 009) . The onset of the Younger Dryas (c. 12,850–11,650 cal
& Meltzer 2002 , 2003 ; Haynes 2002 , 2009 ; Wolverton et al . B P ), a cold reversal interrupting the general interglacial warm-
2 009) . There is no question, however, that mammoth, mast- ing trend, is roughly coeval with the end of Clovis and the
odon and bison were at least occasionally killed and butch- megafaunal extinctions, although the causes of this climatic
ered, particularly in the western portion of the continent, episode and its effect on human and animal populations, if
where a number of associations have been documented. Bone any, are currently the subject of much ongoing research and
and ivory from these and a number of other extinct species debate ( e.g. , Holliday & Meltzer 2010 ; Meltzer & Holliday 2010 ).
have been found at a number of locations in Florida, which Across much of North America, about the time of the onset of
means that humans were present soon after the animals died, the Younger Dryas, Clovis points were replaced by a range of
even if they did not kill them directly (Hemmings, Dunbar & point styles with fl uting that extends well up the blade, a so-
Webb 2 004) . Kill sites of extinct fauna are uncommon in the called full- fl uted horizon characterised by Folsom points in the
east compared with the west, however, suggesting either that west and the Barnes, Bull Vail- Debert, Cumberland, Gainey,
such animals were not hunted much or at all, or that archae- Michaud/Neponset and Redstone types, among others, in the
ologists have not been particularly successful in fi nding such east (Anderson et al . 2010 ; Bradley et al. 2008 ; Ellis & Deller 1997 ;
sites; the latter may be a possibility, given that comparatively Goodyear 2010 ). In addition to a diversifi cation of point forms,
few archaeologists in the region explore earlier Paleoindian the immediate post-C lovis Era is characterised by a restriction
and Archaic occupations, at least compared to the efforts in the occurrence of successor point styles, with few found
directed to later periods (Sassaman 2010a : 5–7). A number widely over more than a small part of the continent, although
of possible associations between humans and extinct fauna, Folsom is something of an exception, occurring widely in the
specifi cally mammoth and mastodon, have been reported in west, on the plains and into eastern North America.
eastern North America, including at the Hebior and Schaefer While fl uted forms continue for roughly another millen-
Sites in Wisconsin, Burning Tree in Ohio, Coates-H ines in nium, nonfl uted forms appear fairly quickly in many areas or
Tennessee and Page- Ladson in Florida (Lepper & Funk 2006 ; were contemporaneous all along, as for example the Goshen
Overstreet 2 005; Webb 2 006) , although to date the only kill and Midland types on the plains, coeval with Folsom, the
site widely accepted from east of the Mississippi is that of a Western Stemmed horizon in the intermontaine and far west,
Bison antiquus from the Wacissa River in Florida, which had an and a wide range of lanceolate and waisted forms in the south-
unhealed wound from a projectile- point fragment penetrating east and lower Midwest, such as the Beaver Lake, Dalton,
a sinus cavity (Webb et al . 1984 ). Quad, Simpson and Suwannee types. These in turn are suc-
Generalised foraging adaptations were emerging or present ceeded by side- and corner-n otched forms in the Early Archaic
in many areas during the Paleoindian Era, and are documented in the east; by a number of lanceolate types on the Plains dur-
in a number of rock shelter assemblages dating to the Terminal ing the later Paleoindian and Early Archaic, such as Agate
Pleistocene/Initial Holocene eras in eastern, southwestern and Basin, Angostura, Alberta, Eden and Scottsbluff types (Frison
the Great Basin and Plateau areas of North America, including 1991 ), and later Plains Middle Archaic notched forms like the
at Cathedral , Danger , Hidden and Homestead Caves in Utah McKean complex types (Kornfeld & Todd 1985 ); and by a con-
and Nevada; Dust Cave and Stanfi eld Worley Bluff Shelter in tinuity of stemmed and notched forms in the far west. Whether
Alabama; Icehouse Bottom and several other sites in eastern these changes in point morphology are stylistic in nature or
Tennessee; Modoc Rock Shelter and Koster in Illinois; and refl ect signifi cant changes in adaptation is unknown in many
Rodgers Shelter in Missouri, to name just a few of the better areas. The full fl uted forms are generally thought to be much
known sites (Hollenbach 2009 ; Jennings 1957 ; Madsen 2000 ; more diffi cult to create than Clovis points, suggesting even
Rhode, Madsen & Jones 2006 ; Simon 2009; Styles & Klippel greater concern with knapping skill and maximising lithic raw
1996; Thomas 1985 ; Walker & Driskell 2007 ). In eastern material than during earlier times. If fl uting was a reaction to
North America large mammals like caribou, elk and moose uncertainty in the surrounding world, furthermore, then the
were targeted in more northern areas by post- Clovis popula- initial part of the Younger Dryas may have been a period of
tions, while a greater array of plants and animals were taken greater subsistence stress than the centuries immediately prior
in areas to the south, including large and small mammals, fi sh to this. Range mobility appears to have decreased at this time
and birds. A similar pattern applied to many other parts of the in portions of eastern North America from Clovis to immedi-
continent, although bison were apparently a major food source ate post-C lovis times, as refl ected in the distribution of raw
throughout the Archaic Period for peoples living on the Plains, materials and numbers of points and sites over the landscape
although a wide range of other foodstuffs were also utilised (Anderson e t al. 2010 ). This suggests that diffi culty of fl uting
even in this area from the earliest times (Kornfeld 2007 ). was probably not strictly linked to range extent. On the Plains,
T he apparently more diversifi ed subsistence and increased in contrast, Folsom mobility appears to have been greater than
diet breadth characteristic of later Paleoindian and Archaic that observed for Clovis in some areas, and no decline in site
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Paleoindian and Archaic Periods in North America
or artifact numbers over this form compared to earlier Clovis present in many areas during the Early Archaic Period in North
occupations is observed (Amick 2 000; Labelle 2 005; Meltzer & America. There is no evidence anywhere for social complexity,
Holliday 2 010) . Range-e xtensive mobility characterised life on although cemetery behaviour is observed in some areas towards
the Plains throughout the ensuing Archaic Period, although, the end of the period, notably in the lower southeast, indicating
as in the eastern part of the continent, more localised cultures a probable increasing concern with delimiting group ranges. A
were apparently emerging, as refl ected in the more restricted range of projectile- point forms are the primary means used to
occurrence of some tool forms. identify Early Archaic occupations, including lanceolate forms
T he end of the Pleistocene and the onset of the Holocene on the Plains and notched and later stemmed forms in many
are roughly coeval with the end of the Younger Dryas at about parts of eastern North America. The development of Archaic
10,000 1 4 C yr B P or 11,500 cal B P , a date that is used in many cultural sequences occurred in many parts of the continent in
parts of North America to arbitrarily separate the Paleoindian the 1940s and after, primarily through the excavation of deeply
and Archaic periods. The Holocene is widely considered to be stratifi ed fl oodplain, upland or rock shelter sites, in many areas
a time of essentially modern climate and biota over the conti- complemented by more extensive excavations at single compo-
nent, although biotic communities continued to change across nent sites, or sites occupied for briefer periods. In the east the
North America and climate was still signifi cantly variable, with basic Archaic projectile-p oint sequence was established by Coe
extended as well as briefer excursions of warmer or colder ( 1964 ) at the fl oodplain Doershuck and upland Hardaway Sites
temperatures (Anderson 2 001, 2 007) . Sea levels at the start along the Yadkin River in North Carolina, by Dincauze ( 1976 ) at
of the Holocene, while well above the c. –140 m level at the the Neville Site on the Merrimack River in New Hampshire, and
Last Glacial Maximum some 20,000 cal BP , were c. 25 m below by Broyles ( 1 966, 1 971) at the St. Albans Site along the Kanawha
modern conditions and continued to rise for several thousand River in West Virginia. The fi rst extensive radiocarbon dating
more years, not reaching to within 1 to 2 m of the modern level of the eastern Archaic sequence came in the 1970s at a number
until c. 5000 cal B P, with minor fl uctuations thereafter. The of stratifi ed fl oodplain sites in eastern Tennessee (Chapman
warmest portion of the current interglacial was during the 1985 ). In the Midwest similar sequences were developed at deep
Mid-H olocene or Middle Archaic Period, from c. 8900 to 5700 open- air sites like Koster and rock shelter sites such as Modoc
cal BP, and it is not until after this era, during the Late Archaic Rock Shelter in Illinois (e .g. , Brown & Vierra 1983 ; Fowler 1959 ;
Period, that climate and biota similar to those at present occur Struever & Holton 1 979) . In the southwest and Great Basin,
over much of the continent. rock shelter sites like Danger Cave , Utah, and Ventana Cave ,
T he concept of an Archaic stage in cultural development in Arizona, were instrumental in establishing the Desert Archaic
North America dates to the early 1930s, with William Ritchie’s sequence (e .g. , Haury 1950 ; Jennings 1957 ). In the Great Plains
(1 932) report on work at the Lamoka Lake Site in the Finger and Far West, as in many areas but perhaps more so in these
Lakes of New York, where houses, burials, stone tools and regions, the Archaic cultural sequence was established through
palaeosubsistence remains of preceramic hunter-g atherer- the excavation of numerous stratifi ed as well as more briefl y
fi shers, now known to date to c. 5300 to 5000 cal B P , were fi rst occupied sites ( e.g. , Ames & Maschner 1999 ; Erlandson 1994 ;
found in the 1920s. The Archaic Period spans some 8250 years, Frison 1991 ; Jones & Klar 2007 ; Kornfeld & Todd 1985 ; Matson
and probably represents half or more of the time humans were & Coupland 1995 ).
present in the Americas, at least in any numbers. To assume T he Archaic cultural sequences in each part of the conti-
that human cultures over this vast interval of space and time nent vary appreciably from one region to the next, and they are
were largely static or unchanging is unrealistic, and research best used in the areas where they were developed, with great
in recent decades has increasingly focused on the variability in care taken when extrapolating to other areas. A transition
local cultures observed during this span. Archaic- age archae- from side to corner notching is observed in many areas of the
ological sites are, in fact, common in many parts of North east out into the Plains, with this change in notching earliest
America, and a wide range of societies were present, with great in the southern and eastern parts of the continent where an
differences in technology, adaptation, social organisation and “Early Side Notched” horizon is recognised, and somewhat
ceremony observed between and within areas over space and later on the Plains. These notched forms are almost invariably
time. While increasing cultural isolation is sometimes inferred extensively reworked, suggesting they saw a great deal of use,
to have developed over the course of the Archaic, in actuality probably as multipurpose hunting and butchering tools. The
interaction and exchange increase in many areas. By the Middle precocious Dalton Culture in the central Mississippi Valley
Archaic Period artifacts of copper, shell and other materials are disappeared soon after the start of the Early Archaic, for rea-
circulating widely over the eastern part of the continent, from sons not yet understood. It is possible that population density
the Atlantic and Gulf coasts to the upper Midwest, while by the had grown to the point where elaborate ceremony and mor-
Late Archaic Period networks comparable in scale were emerg- tuary ritual were no longer needed to bind together people
ing or present in the southwest, Great Basin, and the far west, formerly thinly spread over the landscape. The Holocene cli-
including between these areas, and between the southwest and mate was warmer and more predictable than that during the
areas farther to the south in Mesoamerica (Baugh & Ericson Younger Dryas, perhaps reducing the need for more complex
1994 ; Wilcox 1999 ; Lekson 2008 ). organisational forms.
Band- level groups characterised by fl uid membership and U se of cemeteries, fi rst observed in the late Paleoindian
a high degree of residential mobility are inferred to have been Dalton Culture, is again observed in eastern North America
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2.15 DAVID G. A NDERSON
from c. 10,000 to 7000 cal B P , during the Early Archaic and to such developments (Anderson 2002 , 2004 ; Emerson &
initial Middle Archaic periods in Florida, where burials were McElrath 2009 : 32–4).
placed in bogs and ponds, at locations like the Windover Site I n the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley of northeastern
(Doran 2 002) . The occurrence of these cemeteries suggests Louisiana, a series of earthen mound complexes were built
that group territories may have been in place, although unfor- between c. 6000 and 4800 cal B P at sites like Watson Brake,
tunately very little is known about the sociopolitical organisa- Caney and Frenchman’s Bend, followed by an apparent hiatus
tion and ceremonial life of Early Holocene cultures in most in mound building for about a millennium, with a resumption
parts of the continent. The association of death and burial of this activity at the Poverty Point Site complex between c. 3600
with a watery underworld is observed in many later prehistoric and 3100 cal B P (Gibson 1996 , 2000 ; Russo 1994 ; Saunders et al .
and historic cultures in eastern North America. Such beliefs 1997 , 2005 ; Saunders 2010 ; Kidder 2001 , 2006 ) ( Fig. 2.15.4 ).
apparently have great antiquity, and may explain why some of While monumental architecture occurs as early, or almost
the early mounds in Florida and the Lower Mississippi Valley as early, in a number of other parts of the region, notably
were built on or near such settings (Hudson 1976 : 131–68; U-s haped, circular, and more amorphous shell and earth mid-
Sassaman 2010a ). During the ensuing Middle Archaic Period, den complexes in coastal and interior areas ( Fig. 2.15.5 ), those
after c. 7000 cal B P , “wet” burial was replaced by “dry” burial in in northeastern Louisiana are unusual in being composed
mortuary complexes associated with, and typically in or under, of earth rather than earth and shellfi sh, at least some of the
mounded shell and/or earth in Florida (Sassaman 2010a ). latter of which was subsistence debris in most areas where it
D uring the Middle Archaic, after c. 6500 cal B P , recognisably was used. Watson Brake , built between c. 5400 and 5000 cal
complex societies are observed in southeastern North America B P , is the largest and most elaborate of these sites, a roughly
and, a few millennia later at the end of the Archaic and after, circular complex some 300 m in diameter and with eleven
in other parts of the continent, in the far west, southwest and mounds ranging from c. 20 to more than 50 m in diameter,
northwest. In the southeast these societies, characterised and from under a metre to over 7 m in height. At least seven of
above all by the use of shell or earth or both in the construc- the mounds are on a circular ridge, with an open central area,
tion of monumental architecture, occurred fi rst in the Lower the fi rst mound and plaza complex observed in North America,
Mississippi Valley of Louisiana and along the Atlantic and including Mesoamerica , a site plan that remained in use in
Gulf coasts of Florida and adjoining states, and by the end of many parts of eastern North America until European contact in
the Archaic more widely (Anderson, Russo & Sassaman e t al . the 16th century. Several other single mounds and multimound
2007 ; Emerson, McElrath & Fortier 2009 ; Gibson & Carr 2004 ; complexes were built at this time in eastern Louisiana, and the
Kidder & Sassaman 2009 ; Milner 2004 ; Russo 2006 ; Sassaman larger sites are similar in layout and scale to Watson Brake,
& Anderson 2004 ). In cases where burials have been found, suggesting they were created using a common measurement
status-l inked patterns of body treatment are observed includ- system and plan (Clark 2004 ).
ing the use of grave-g oods, individual graves, marked cemeter- Poverty Point , built some two thousand years later between
ies and/or mound/charnel house complexes. The exchange of c. 3600 to 3200 cal BP in the same general part of the Lower
materials from long distances increases in the east from this Mississippi Valley, and apparently laid out using a nearby
time onwards, including copper from the upper Midwest and Middle Archaic Period mound as a guide, is one of the larg-
shell from the Atlantic and Gulf coasts as well as a wide range est mound and earthwork complexes in the Americas, encom-
of lithic raw materials, and these are sometimes used in the passing c. 200 ha (Gibson 1 996, 2 000; Kidder 2 001, 2 006,
creation of specialised artifacts signalling status both in life 2010 ) ( Map 2.15.3 ). The main mound at the site was built over
and after as grave inclusions (Jefferies 1996 , 2004 ). Use of a fi lled- in pond or swamp, measures c. 210 × 210 × 22 m in
elaborately crafted and in some cases hypertrophic objects extent and contains c. 238,000 m3 of fi ll. While other earthen
like bifaces, axes and atlatl weights reappears after a hiatus of monuments were being built at this time in nearby areas, by
several thousand years. Hypertrophic Benton projectile points peoples who seem to have been associated with Poverty Point
were exchanged or interred with burials in the vicinity of the in some way, the sites’ monuments are an order of magnitude
upper Tombigbee, middle Tennessee and middle Cumberland larger in size than any contemporaneous earthen mound sites
Rivers of the southeast from c. 6500 to 6000 cal BP , possibly built at this time, and in terms of volume are second only to
as a means of promoting alliances between groups to help the construction at the late prehistoric site of Cahokia in North
alleviate subsistence or other forms of uncertainty (Johnson America north of Mexico. Poverty Point appears to have infl u-
& Brookes 1 989; Kidder & Sassaman 2 009: 676–7). The fi rst enced cultural developments over large areas of the lower
evidence for extensive interpersonal violence is found at this southeast during the terminal Archaic, not through the direct
time, in the form of skeletal trauma and embedded projectiles, control of outlying groups, of which there is no evidence, but
although whether low-i ntensity skirmishes or more inten- more likely by serving as an example of what could be accom-
sive warfare were occurring is unknown (Dye 2 009; Smith plished by people working together, as well as by shaping
1996 ). Tribal- level or segmentary societies are thought to have trading networks and what goods were appropriate for use,
emerged at this time in some areas, with a capacity for labour perhaps in combination with an effective ideology and the
organisation, integration and interaction well beyond that of exchange of objects materialising these beliefs. Tonnes of
the band- level societies assumed to have been common pre- lithic raw materials like soapstone are found at the site that
viously, and that probably still continued in areas marginal came from locations to the northwest, northeast and east,
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