A Systematic Approach to Quantifying Diversity in the Morphology and Spatial Distribution of Eastern Paleoindian Projectile Points

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

For nearly 100 years, archaeologists have commented on the perceived morphological diversity in projectile points dating to the Paleoindian period in eastern North America, though the significance of this diversity and what explains it remain underexplored topics. Hesitancy to address these broader questions is, we argue, attributable to several factors including: Poor or inconsistent definition of "diversity," absence of a replicable and systematic method of classification, and substantial biases in the spatial scale and distribution of archaeological data. Several studies have grappled with the first two of these issues. But the third concern remains problematic, because while archaeologists are often interested in addressing questions at several spatial scales, our data are often aggregated by modern political units and show clear distribution biases from historical and modern land-use patterns. Here, we build on prior work on projectile-point forms in the East and integrate an explicit geographical component aimed at minimizing recovery and visibility biases at spatial scales—and in units—defined by the research question, rather than by modern administrative boundaries. We also explore hypotheses concerning environmental and biogeographic factors may best explain morphological diversity in these stone tools.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• Defining and Measuring Diversity in Archaeology

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 25099