The Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Occupations of Northern New England: Evidence for Regional Resettlement?

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.

In the northern New England, the end of the Younger Dryas was marked by rapid warming and the transition from a landscape of open tundra and spruce parklands to closed canopy forest. The human groups that first settled in the region around 12.7 ka employed distinctive stone tool technologies that included fluted points. After the end of the Younger Dryas, human livelihoods undergo marked changes although the details of this transition are poorly resolved. It is clear, however, that social systems that had persisted for nearly 1,000 years transform evidenced by changes in mobility, settlement practices, and stone tool manufacturing techniques. This period is also marked by a nearly 1,500-year-long gap in archaeological 14C dates. Here I discuss the current state of research into the human occupations of the Pleistocene/Holocene transition in northern New England outlining the, albeit limited, evidence suggesting the appearance of “Agate Basin Variant” points in the region represents the resettlement of a largely depopulated area.

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): 36033.0