Small Stemmed in the Northeast: Technology and Cultural Continuity in the Late Archaic

Summary

Small Stemmed projectile points were made and utilized across a wide area of eastern North America, and are one of the most frequent point types found in Archaic contexts in New England. Recent excavations have shed new light on associations with features, dated contexts, and other artifact types. This paper looks at radiocarbon dating of Small Stemmed features across southern New England to document the connections between this point type and others during this complex time period. These documented associations refine our understanding of the origins, time depth, and likely functions of this tool. The distribution of Small Stemmed points and the manufacturing technology both indicate origins in Middle Archaic contexts, and long-term continuity of settlement across the Late Archaic and into the Woodland period. These data address questions as to the origins of Algonquians in New England and their relationships to the greater Northeast during the Archaic.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Research on the Archaic Period in the Northeast: The Past 20 Years   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage