Paleoindian and Paleoamerican (Other Keyword)
251-275 (596 Records)
This is an abstract from the "The Paleoindian Southwest" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In attempting to work out the chronological relationship between a newly discovered mammoth kill and plant processing sites in southern Arizona in the 1950s, Emil Haury succinctly concluded, "the hunters were here first." In the ensuing decades, it became clear that underlying the relatively conspicuous archaeological record of the agricultural Southwest is an...
Identification of Fragmented Mammoth Ivory in Archaeological Sites Using SEM Microscopy (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Although mammoth ivory appears distinctive from other organic materials when found in large pieces, many morphological characteristics that distinguish ivory – such as Schreger lines – cannot be easily identified in small fragments. However, other characteristics, including dental tubules and canals, can be microscopically identified. In this study, I...
Identifying Lithic Technological Strategies at the Late Paleoindian Sentinel Gap Site Using 3D Digital Morphometrics (2018)
The Late Paleoindian Sentinel Gap site, located along the Columbia River in central Washington, provides a unique data set of bifaces and projectile points/knives (pp/ks) from a single occupation episode dating to c. 10,200 radiocarbon years BP. In addition to over 60 partial and complete bifaces and 11 pp/ks recovered during excavations, 15 lithic debris accumulations interpreted as debitage "dumps" were excavated. The refitting of flakes from one of these features revealed the original core...
The Implementation and Distribution of Thermoregulatory Technology in the Paleoindian Period (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Thermoregulation was integral to the survival of the first and subsequent people who inhabited North America following the Last Glacial Maximum. Successive climate fluctuations necessitated the implementation of technologies that increased the probability of human survival. Previous research has examined the timing of thermoregulatory technologies in the...
Incorporating Soil Micromorphology into First American Research: A Tale of Two Sites (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Over the past several decades, the application of soil and sediment micromorphology in geoarchaeology has flourished, especially outside of the Americas. Despite widespread acceptance and use of various micromorphological techniques by our European counterparts, a similar fluorescence has yet to occur among geoarchaeologists who are focused on the early...
Innovative GIS Mapping Approaches Further Support Historic Site, Etzanoa, Was Located at the Mouth of the Walnut River, Arkansas City, Kansas (2021)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. This analysis presents convincing evidence that the mythic city of Etzanoa locale can be confirmed as located at the mouth of the Walnut River, in Arkansas City as proposed by Dr. Donald Blakeslee in 2018. Satellite imagery, ESRI’s GIS technologies, georeferencing, and comparative viewshed analyses conducted in geospatial environments offer new and innovative...
An Interdisciplinary Approach to Investigate Early Andean Settlement Dynamics and Adaptation (2018)
The Andean cordillera was one of the world’s last mountain regions to be colonized by hunter-gatherers. To date, the empirical evidence indicates an initial appearance of humans in the high Andes (up to 4500 m above sea level) in the Terminal Pleistocene, about 12,500 years ago. Early forager sites of the Andes exhibit a spectrum of settlement and mobility configurations, which constitute responses to the structure of resources in their specific habitats. Intriguingly, some of the earliest and...
Interdisciplinary Studies at Delta River Overlook Site, a Late Pleistocene to Late Holocene Multicomponent Site in Central Alaska (2018)
Recent large-scale excavations at Delta River Overlook in the middle Tanana River basin yielded 12 components dating from the onset of the Younger Dryas (~12,860 cal BP) to the later Holocene (2300 cal yr BP). Well preserved faunal assemblages, including bison, are present in multiple components, with economic transitions evident at ~6000 cal yr BP. Several features and activity areas were analyzed, including ochre-rich processing areas. Over 20,000 lithic items have been analyzed, primarily...
Interpreting Resharpening Patterns of Paleoindian and Early Archaic Projectile Points from the Carolina Piedmont (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Resharpening occurs throughout the use-life of a tool and may indicate the intention to rejuvenate the blade edge or the reconfiguration of a tool for a new function. Analysis of this aspect of projectile point maintenance can reflect variation in resource use strategies amongst the users of these tools. This study concerns the differences in resharpening...
Interpreting Technological Activities and Organization at McDonald Creek, Central Alaska, ca. 13,900 Calendar Years Ago (2021)
This is an abstract from the "McDonald Creek and Blair Lakes: Late Pleistocene-Holocene Human Activity in the Tanana Flats of Central Alaska" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Continuing excavations at the McDonald Creek site, located in the Tanana Flats south of the city of Fairbanks, have yielded a significant assemblage of stone artifacts. Most of these come from a late Pleistocene cultural layer dating to about 13,900 calendar years ago, but...
Intrasite Spatial Analysis at the Debra L. Friedkin Site, TX (2018)
The Debra L. Friedkin site, located in central Texas along Buttermilk Creek, provides evidence of human occupation in Texas during the past 15 thousand years within a deposit approximately 1 meter thick. Excavation Block A consisted of 52 contiguous 1x1 m units excavated between 2006 and 2009. Excavations since the initial publication of the site include 14 units adjacent to the south end of the block and 32 units just northeast. Each 1x1 m unit was excavated in 2.5 cm levels. Currently we are...
Intrasite Spatial Analysis of the 13,800-year-old Component at Shég' Xdaltth’í’, Central Alaska (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Shég’ Xdaltth’í’ is an archaeological site (FAI-2043) located about 30 miles south of Fairbanks, Alaska in the Tanana Flats. Results of archaeological testing and excavations between 2013 and 2022 identified three distinct archaeological components, components 1, 2, and 3, dating to about 13,800 cal BP, 12,700 cal BP, and 5,000 cal BP, respectively. While...
Introduction to Session with a Discussion of Measuring Stone Tool Diversity (2019)
This is an abstract from the "Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. It has been thirty years since the publication of Quantifying Diversity in Archaeology and this edited volume has proven to be an important benchmark in archaeological diversity studies. We review the impact this volume has had on quantitative archaeological research across a number of subfields. We then provide three examples of our work...
Investigating Beringian Hunting Toolkits from Experiential Perspectives (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Advances in Perishable Weaponry Studies: Developing Perspectives from Dated Contexts to Experimental Analyses" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Experimental archaeology is an underutilized methodology for investigating variability in projectile point technologies of Upper Paleolithic Siberia and Late Pleistocene/early Holocene eastern Beringia. This paper presents the results of a multifaceted experimental research...
Investigating Human Subsistence Strategies in Panamá during the Late Holocene (2024)
This is an abstract from the "Unraveling the Mysteries of the Isthmo-Colombian Area’s Past: A Symposium in Honor of Archaeologist Richard Cooke and His Contributions" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Subsistence strategies and foodways were at the heart of Richard Cooke's and colleagues' pioneering work in Panamá. Early work found that shifting resource reliance (terrestrial and marine) had impacts on the evolution of these early peoples’ cultures...
Investigating the Cody Complex at the Capshaw site, a Late Paleoindian site in Texas (2018)
This paper presents the results of an investigation conducted at the Capshaw site, a lithic scatter site, located within the Southern High Plains region in the panhandle of Texas. The Southern High Plains region is well-known for its rich archaeological record of Paleoindian peoples, however the Cody period remains relatively poorly understood. The paper will first describe the history of the site from its discovery in 2013 through archaeological surveys with explorative field school excavations...
Investigating the Morphological Variation of Endthinning Scars on Paleoindian Bifacial Projectile Point Morphologies Using Geometric Morphometrics (2021)
This is an abstract from the "Geometric Morphometrics in Archaeology" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Endthinning, the removal of longitudinal flakes from the base of a biface, is a key diagnostic flaking characteristic of Clovis, Gainey, Folsom, Cumberland, and other Early and Middle Paleoindian biface and projectile point technologies. In the Late Paleoindian Dalton tradition in the eastern United States, endthinning occurs less consistently on...
Investigating the Population History of Western North America: Implications for the Peopling of the New World (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Western North America has emerged as a key region of focus in studies addressing the migration routes and demographic processes involved in the peopling of the Americas. Archaeological investigations in this region have resulted in the discovery of several of the earliest human skeletons and archaeological sites on the North American continent. Given that this...
Investigations at Half Mile Rise Sink (8TA98): A Submerged Paleoindian Site in Northwest Florida (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Half Mile Rise Sink (8TA98) is located within the Half Mile Rise portion of the Aucilla River in Northwest Florida. This site offers vital clues on Paleoindian lifeways of peoples occupying the Big Bend region of Florida. Here, Paleoindian projectile points and other lithics, faunal remains, and bone tools were recovered during previous investigations from a...
Investigations of the Late Pleistocene occupations at Holzman, Shaw Creek, Interior Alaska (2018)
The Holzman site, discovered in 2015, is roughly one half mile from the confluence of Shaw Creek with the Tanana River in interior Alaska. To date, we have excavated 56m2, revealing repeated occupations beginning in the Bolling-Allerod, and including an occupation in the Younger Dryas. Located near the Broken Mammoth, Mead, and Swan Point late Pleistocene sites, Holzman consists of a local stone flaking station, hearths, and thousands of faunal remains including organic implements on mammoth...
Is Fluting Exclusive to Paleoindians? A Comparison of Paleoindian and Archaic End-Thinning Techniques (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The idea that fluting is a uniquely Paleoindian technological marker for projectile points in the Americas has been considered a given ever since the original Folsom discovery in 1927. While it is true that fluted lanceolate points are reliably diagnostic artifacts of the Paleoindian period, stemmed points from the Archaic period also occasionally exhibit end...
Is the Wenas Creek Mammoth Site Anthropogenic? (2023)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Wenas Creek Mammoth Site was excavated 2005-2010 near Selah, Washington, USA, yielding bones of mammoth and bison dating ~17 ka, and two lithics resembling chipped stone debitage. Prior publications have reported on some aspects of the project and this poster summarizes those as well as subsequent analyses. The bones were disarticulated and scattered...
Islands on the Plains Revisited: GIS-Based Predictive Models of Playa Use on the Southern High Plains (2019)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Landscape Archaeology is useful in providing a framework for understanding human movements across various environments. Such an approach relates landscapes as they evolved through time to settlement patterns of human groups occupying the area. Cultural behaviors can then be linked to physiographic and topographic features using such an approach. On the...
It’s the Faunal Countdown! Analysis of Faunal Remains from the 2017 Excavations at the Ryan-Harley Site, Wacissa River, Florida (2019)
This is an abstract from the "First Floridians to La Florida: Recent FSU Investigations" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In 2017, the Florida State University underwater field school conducted excavations of the middle-Paleoindian Ryan-Harley site (8JE1004) in the Wacissa River in northwest Florida. These excavations recovered significant faunal remains from three one-meter units in association with lithic artifacts, potentially representing a...
The Jones-Miller Legacy Collection: Reexamining the 10,800 Year Old Bison Butchery Site (2024)
This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Jones-Miller Site, located in the eastern Colorado tri-state area, was excavated in the mid-1970s. The Hell Gap complex site has been credited as the only bison butchery site of its kind and size in Colorado, yielding 41,000 Bison antiquus bones, 200 stone tools, 11,000 pieces of debitage, and hundreds of liters of soil samples. In 2017, the...