Open Air Camps of the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene: Intra-Camp Spatial Organization, Activity Areas, and Technology

DOCUMENT Citation Only Robert Dello-Russo. Banks Leonard. Robin Cordero.

Accuracy in the identification of Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene open activity areas and the subsequent inference of human behavior requires that non-behavioral causes for differential spatial patterning be considered before approaching the question of how patterning reflects human activities. Such challenges in the interpretation of behavioral patterning are exemplified at the Water Canyon Paleoindian site. In this paper, we initially describe the lithic and bone assemblages recovered from the...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Bruce Huckell. Chris Merriman. Matthew O'Brien.

Shallow open-air Folsom sites in central New Mexico have been known for six decades, but have received little investigation; most are known only from surface collection. Their post-occupational geomorphic histories of erosional exposure and reburial, coupled with limited archaeological investigation, pose significant challenges to efforts to examine and interpret Folsom intra-site activity organization. We report on our efforts to detect and make sense of patterning in the distribution of...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Kristen Carlson. Leland Bement. Brian Carter.

Bull Creek is one of a handful of Paleoindian camps, which has survived the taphonomic consequences of time. In this presentation we will discuss our current understanding of the site and it’s inhabitants. The topics discussed include environmental reconstruction and the broader use and reuse of the surrounding region by Paleoindian people. Snapshots of butchering techniques have been captured at Bull Creek as well as differential seasonal use of the site. After the third season of excavation...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Michael Jochim.

Because sites of the Late Mesolithic are relatively rare in southern Germany, and are mostly represented by caves, three open-air sites of this period provide unique insights into this period. Two of the sites are located on a lakeshore and the third is in a river valley. All three possess excellent preservation of organic materials that facilitate analysis. The contents and spatial organization of these sites will be examined in the context of their functional role and their implications for...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Dan Malkinson. Daniel Kaufman. Dani Nadel.

Thousands of open-air camp sites dating to the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene have been recorded around the world. However, most suffer from significant preservation issues which limit available data on two levels: the general camp structure, and the details of each feature. The excellent preservation of the submerged site of Ohalo II (23,000 cal BP) provides an opportunity to analyze such a site on both levels. The focus of the paper is a flint assemblage (n=5,621) from a...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Karisa Terry. Ian Buvit. Aleksander V. Konstantinov.

Late Pleistocene settlement systems in the Transbaikal Region of Siberia were established by 21,000 cal bp, and underwent key changes as climates ameliorated into the Holocene by around 12,000 cal bp. During this time the area was characterized by construction of characteristic stone-outlined circular structures, or dwelling features, with activities situated around central, stone-outlined hearths, in riparian environments of major waterways. A few produced as many as six hearth features. With...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Madeline Mackie. Todd Surovell. Robert Kelly. Matthew O'Brien.

The La Prele Mammoth site (formerly the Hinrichs or Fetterman Mammoth) was discovered and initially excavated in 1987 by a crew led by Dr. George Frison. The remains of a single juvenile Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) were recovered along with a stone tool, a possible hammerstone, and a dozen pieces of debitage. Due to landowner dispute, no further work was completed on site for 27 years. In 2014 we returned to investigate the potential for intact deposits and settle the debate about...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Dani Nadel. Reuven Yeshurun.

A wealth of Late Pleistocene - Early Holocene open-air camp-sites is recorded around the world. However, in sites pre-dating the use of stone for construction, central features such as huts and their floors are rarely preserved. Thus, the documentation of site structure and the identification of past activity areas are limited to hearths (when preserved) and their environs, and to distribution patterns of cultural remains. The focus of this paper are selected sites from the Mediterranean Levant,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Leland Bement. Kristen Carlson.

Open air camps from the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene pose significant challenges in excavation, analyses, and interpretation. This international symposium provides a formal setting to continue a series of discussions on site formation, analytical trends, and interpretations. Key topics include defining site boundaries, contemporaneity of activity areas, population estimates, and the possible effect of thresholds in the arrangement and longevity of site use. Of particular interest is...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Brian Andrews. Brooke Morgan.

Studies of intra-camp spatial organization and activity area patterning in open air camps often result in significant insights into forager behavior and social organization, but the complex spatial patterning in artifact distribution that can occur from the combination of long-term habitation, repeated habitation of the same area (due to reoccupations or to natural and/or cultural bounded space), and natural formation processes can be difficult to disentangle. A first step in doing so, however,...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Hirofumi Kato. Ekatelina Lipnina. Kunio Yoshida. Takao Sato. Dmitrii Lokhov.

Mal'ta is located in southern part of Eastern Siberia, near Baikal. This site has been known as unique Paleolithic settlement, including a double human burial of two children, 30 human figurines carved from ivory and 15 dwelling clusters. While the original interpretation of Mal'ta was that of a single cultural layer, recent investigations have identified over 10 cultural layers, dated between the OIS 3 to OIS 2 stage. Since 2010, we have been continued the Russian- Japanese Joint research for...

DOCUMENT Citation Only Neil Puckett. Kelly Graf. Angela Gore.

The Owl Ridge site, located in central Alaska’s Nenana Valley, is an excellent example of a stratified, three-component camp site. The three components span the late Pleistocene/early Holocene boundary with component 1 dating to 13,110-12,730 cal BP, component 2 dating to 12,580-11,310 cal BP, and component 3 dating to 11,400-10,710 cal BP. The presence of discretely dated and stratified components provides an ideal opportunity to identify local changes in land use, in the distribution of camp...