A Point of Order on Great Basin Projectile Typologies and Chronologies

Summary

Archaeological sites in the Desert West are primarily open-air lithic scatters lacking organic preservation. Often, the only way these sites can be dated is via typological cross-dating using projectile points. This method of dating assumes that morphological types represent discrete and uniform time periods across large geographic areas; these time periods are based on the ages of point types at a handful of well-dated sites. Although typological cross-dating remains common, research has shown that morphologically similar points can date to very different time periods in different places. My research highlights morphological characteristics useful for distinguishing two dart point types in the eastern Great Basin (Elko and Large Side-notched), which have discrepancies in their associated age ranges across the region. Additionally, I present results from AMS radiocarbon dating organic hafting materials on dart and arrow points found across the Great Basin. These dates may be used as sub-regional reference ages for projectile types.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage