Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Shoulderless stemmed projectile points are among the earliest widespread projectile technologies of Far West North America. In this area, stemmed projectile points first appear during the late Pleistocene and may be coeval with, or predate, the fluted points that appear in many other areas of the continent at this time. By the final centuries of the Pleistocene, stemmed projectile points like the forms of the Far West appear across most of North America from Alaska to Mexico and from the Pacific to Atlantic oceans. Despite the continental span of these point forms, this period in the early human history of the continent has received relatively little research effort compared to the fluted-point period in many regions. This session brings together participants from across the continent highlighting both the vast geographic extent and regional variability of shoulderless stemmed point technologies that appear across much of North America by the Pleistocene–Holocene transition. We hope this session will serve as a “call to action” for expanded research effort into this second continental scale technological radiation across North America.

Other Keywords
Paleoindian and Paleoamerican • Lithic Analysis • Chronology • Hunter-Gatherers/Foragers • Bison • Migration • Dating Techniques • Caches • Genetic Implications • Cultural Transmission

Geographic Keywords
North America (Continent) • United States of America (Country) • USA (Country) • Arizona (State / Territory) • Utah (State / Territory) • Nevada (State / Territory) • California (State / Territory) • North America: California and Great Basin • North America: Northeast and Midatlantic • North America: Great Plains

Resources Inside This Collection (Viewing 1-11 of 11)

  • Documents (11)
Documents
  • An Agate Basin Point from Michoacán, Mexico (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Brigitte Faugere. José Luis Ruvalcaba.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. A complete black obsidian Agate Basin Point was found in a rockshelter in the state of Michoacán, Mexico, during the excavations realized by the CEMCA team. Despite the fact that the stratigraphy of the shelter had been completely disturbed, this point was found associated with a complete...

  • The Curious Case of Stemmed Jude Points in the Upper Tombigbee River Valley, Mississippi (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only D. Shane Miller. Derek Anderson. James Strawn. Stephen Carmody.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the American Southeast, there are only a limited number of securely dated sites from the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene, and type descriptions are often cobbled together across subregional projectile point guides. Many of these projectile point types are poorly defined and lack any...

  • Haskett Chronology and Its Relationship to Other North American Technocomplexes (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Rosencrance.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Haskett projectile points are well known in the Great Basin, but until recently their precise age has been considered poorly understood. Outside of the Great Basin, few researchers know of Haskett or consider it an important facet of the late Pleistocene cultural landscape. Archaeologists...

  • Haskett: What Is It, When Is It, Where Is It? (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Daron Duke. Daniel Stueber.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Haskett projectile points were first defined in Idaho by Robert Butler in 1965 and have since figured variously into discussions of non-fluted lanceolate technology from the terminal Pleistocene. As one of a series of similar styles known by other names found along the western cordillera of...

  • Late Paleoindian Plano-like Finds in Virginia and Beyond (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Joseph A. M. Gingerich. William Childress.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Late Paleoindian Plano or Plano-like finds are not well understood in eastern North America. When documented, the distribution or age of these point types are not as well mapped as their western counterparts. In this paper, we include some known ranges of Plano-like finds in Virginia and...

  • Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Stone Tool Technologies from the Pacific Coast of Canada (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Duncan McLaren.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Archaeological investigations into late Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological components on the Pacific coast of Canada have uncovered several different approaches to chipped stone manufacturing. The earliest known assemblages are associated with calibrated radiocarbon ages between...

  • Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points in Arctic Alaska (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jeffrey Rasic.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Large, shoulderless stemmed bifacial projectile points are a hallmark of the late Pleistocene age Sluiceway complex represented in more than two dozen sites northern Alaska. This paper discusses the dating of this technology and potential relationship to fluted projectile point and...

  • The Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Occupations of Northern New England: Evidence for Regional Resettlement? (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Nathaniel Kitchel.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. In the northern New England, the end of the Younger Dryas was marked by rapid warming and the transition from a landscape of open tundra and spruce parklands to closed canopy forest. The human groups that first settled in the region around 12.7 ka employed distinctive stone tool...

  • New Caches from Area B at the Cooper’s Ferry Site, Idaho, Reveal Key Technological Insights and Extend the Age of Stemmed Points in the Americas (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Loren Davis.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Continued analysis of materials excavated from Area B at the Cooper’s Ferry site has clarified details about a well dated artifact assemblage containing 11 stemmed projectile points. New radiocarbon analyses show that these stemmed points are significantly older than classic Clovis fluted...

  • Redating the Jones-Miller Site: Multiple Hell Gap (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Carlton Shield Chief Gover. Christina Ryder. Erick Robinson. Kathryn Reusch. Stephen Nash.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Jones-Miller Bison Kill site was excavated in the early 1970s is dated to approximately 8000 BCE. The age of the site was initially represented by only four radiocarbon dates, only one of which was from the bison bone bed while the remainder came from charcoal samples associated with...

  • Stemmed Points in the Ice-Free Corridor (2023)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only John W. Ives.

    This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Much reasoning about the early occupation of the Ice Free Corridor has centered on the fluted point phenomenon. Fluting or basal thinning of lanceolate points can be readily recognized, and occurs in a relatively restricted time frame (~13,100 to ~11,500 calendar years ago). Fewer...