Hemispheric Perspectives on Paleoindian Settlement Organization: A Comparison of Western Stemmed Tradition and Fishtail Patterns

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Conventional models of Paleoindian settlement organization characterize the earliest inhabitants of the western hemisphere as highly mobile foragers operating in large territories, selectively utilizing high-quality toolstone. Raw-material studies, and particularly those engaging geochemical approaches, have been centered prominently in these discussions. Recent attention, however, has been paid to their limitations. Specifically, the common over-emphasis on projectile points and volcanic toolstone, and little consideration of differentially distributed lithic landscapes can all contribute to the over-estimation of Paleoindian mobility. In this presentation, we compare emerging patterns of settlement organization and landscape use associated with two Paleoindian technologies from North and South America. From North America, we present our recent studies combining raw-material and lithic-technological approaches to Western Stemmed assemblages in the eastern Great Basin and discuss the resulting nuanced pattern of high mobility and exotic toolstone use alongside local exploitation of poorer quality materials as an adaptive response to regional toolstone scarcity. Additionally, we evaluate existing evidence for high mobility among Fishtail-equipped populations across South America. Through this comparison, we seek to reach a more comprehensive understanding of Paleoindian behavior on both continents.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• Early Human Dynamics in Arid and Mountain Environments of the Americas

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 52478