Lithic procurement patterning as a proxy for identifying Late Paleoindian group mobility along the Lower Tennessee River Valley

2018 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 313-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan M. Parish
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Group Mobility ◽  
Tennessee River ◽  
Lithic Procurement ◽  
Tennessee River Valley ◽  
Late Paleoindian

The Sims Site: Implication for Paleoindian Occupation

1976 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 325-334
Author(s):  
Lou C. Adair
Keyword(s):  
River Valley ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Tennessee River ◽  
Tennessee River Valley ◽  
A Site ◽  
Late Paleoindian

A collection of lithic material from a site in the lower Tennessee River valley contains Paleoindian projectile points, uniface, and biface tools. Since few projectile points of Archaic types are included, there are implications that the rather extensive biface industry is of Late Paleoindian origin, contrary to the accepted idea that biface industries occur extensively only in post-Paleoindian occupations.

scholarly journals Declining Foraging Efficiency in the Middle Tennessee River Valley Prior to Initial Domestication

2019 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 191-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elic M. Weitzel
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Optimal Foraging Theory ◽  
River Valley ◽  
Foraging Efficiency ◽  
Eastern North America ◽  
Human Populations ◽  
Tennessee River ◽  
Tennessee River Valley ◽  
Middle Tennessee ◽  
Relationship Of

Recently, researchers investigating the origins of domestication have debated the significance of resource intensification in the shift from foraging to food production. In eastern North America, one of several independent centers of domestication, this question remains open. To determine whether initial domestication may have been preceded by intensification in eastern North America at approximately 5000 cal BP, I evaluated the archaeofaunal assemblages from six sites in the middle Tennessee River valley. Analyses of these data suggest that overall foraging efficiency gradually declined prior to initial domestication, but patch-specific declines in foraging efficiency occurred in wetland habitats and not terrestrial ones. Climatic warming and drying during the Middle Holocene, growing human populations, and oak-hickory forest expansion were the likely drivers of these changes in foraging efficiency. These results support the hypothesis that initial domestication in eastern North America was an outcome of intensification driven by environmental change and human population increases. Finally, while the debate concerning the relationship of intensification to domestication has been framed in terms of a conflict between niche construction theory and optimal foraging theory, these perspectives are compatible and should be integrated to understand domestication more fully.

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