Confluences: Fluted Points in the Ice-Free Corridor

Summary

Widely assumed to be younger than Clovis forms, Corridor fluted points have been dated just once, at Tse’K’wa (Charlie Lake Cave). Given clear evidence of biotic habitability along the entire Corridor before 13,000 years ago, along with early hunting in its southern funnel, moderately dense fluted point clusters likely reflect both Clovis contemporaneous and later fluted point instances. These points were overwhelmingly fashioned on local toolstones, featuring a bimodal length distribution of some larger, relatively unaltered fluted points, plus many reworked, smaller fluted points at the end of their use life. Corridor fluted points are generally found in tertiary landscape settings rather than major kills or campsites. Consistently wide point bases (on average, greater than 26 mm) imply that shaft morphology remained little changed in the hunting of game animals including horses, bison, camels, sheep and caribou. Fluted point makers traversing the Corridor eventually met populations bearing eastern Beringian traditions; determining the degree to which diffusion or demic expansion mediated north-south interactions is a research priority. A template featuring deeper U- and V-shaped bases with multiple flutes was at play, creating geographically intermediate forms decidedly similar to Younger Dryas-aged Alaskan fluted points.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20025