Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Stone Tool Technologies from the Pacific Coast of Canada

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Archaeological investigations into late Pleistocene and early Holocene archaeological components on the Pacific coast of Canada have uncovered several different approaches to chipped stone manufacturing. The earliest known assemblages are associated with calibrated radiocarbon ages between 14,000 and 13,500 years ago and contain examples of core and flake tools. Between 13,000 and 12,500 years ago the first well-documented project point types are known. Core and flake assemblages tend to be dominated by discoidal and Levallois-like technological approaches. The types of projectile points found across the region range from stemmed to those that are more foliate in shape. Caches of formed tools have also been identified giving insights into the composition of tool kits and the transportation of raw materials. Microblade technology appears in coastal areas after 10,000 calendar years ago. This paper will review our knowledge of stone tool technologies dating to the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in near-coastal areas and will present on recent finds from a number of sites.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Late Pleistocene Stemmed Points across North America: Continental Questions and Regional Concerns   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37688.0