Endscrapers Across the Folsom World

Summary

This paper explores variability in Folsom adaptive strategies by examining endscraper technology throughout the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Common reconstructions based on highly curated projectile points and bifaces as well as presence of exotic raw material portray Folsom people as highly mobile and technologically organized in the sole pursuit of bison. Recent studies have begun questioning such a rigid perspective concerning Folsom life ways. Utilizing endscraper assemblages from Folsom/Midland assemblages across the Great Plains and Rocky Mountains I aim to document variability in tool kit production, organization, and discard strategies. By examining the standardization, production, and utilization intensity of endscrapers I test whether these data favor a "gearing up" strategy versus "serial replacement" and whether regional differences can be observed. As well as illuminating Folsom behavioral variability, this study also contributes to global archaeological studies of unifacial technology.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• New Perspectives in Folsom Archaeology

Keywords

Spatial Coverage