scholarly journals The introduction of the bow and arrow in the Argentine Andes (29–34º S): A preliminary metric approximation

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvina Celeste Castro ◽  
Lucía Yebra ◽  
Erik Marsh ◽  
Valeria Cortegoso ◽  
Gustavo Lucero
Keyword(s):  
Maximum Width ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Weapon Systems ◽  
European Contact ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Bow And Arrow ◽  
Metric Approximation ◽  
Reduced Mobility

The study size patterns in projectile points (n=39) from six sites in the Argentine Andes (29–34°S) associated with 17 radiocarbon dates with medians spanning 3080–470 cal BP. This is the region’s first attempt to metrically distinguish arrows and darts, which is based on shoulder or maximum width, following Shott. The northern part of the study area (29°S) includes the earliest arrow point, slightly after 3080 cal BP. This suggests a rapid spread of this technology from the central Andes 16–26°S, where early arrows are dated ~3500–3000 cal BP. However, at 32 and 34°S, arrows are not clearly present until 1280 cal BP. For 1280–400 cal BP (European contact), 96% of points were identified as arrows, suggesting the bow and arrow replaced spear-based weapon systems. A single late dart from 34°S may reflect a late use of this space by hunter-gatherers. The predominance of arrows beginning at 1280 cal BP is associated with broader changes such as demographic growth, reduced mobility, low-level food production, and herding economies, following similar trends in other regions.

Power, security, and exchange: Impacts of a Late Holocene volcanic eruption in Subarctic North America

2021 ◽  
pp. 019769312098682
Author(s):  
Todd J Kristensen ◽  
John W Ives ◽  
Kisha Supernant
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
Social Relationships ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Volcanic Eruption ◽  
Late Holocene ◽  
River Basins ◽  
Adaptive Responses ◽  
Major Event ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Bow And Arrow

We synthesize environmental and cultural change following a volcanic eruption at A.D. 846–848 in Subarctic North America to demonstrate how social relationships shaped responses to natural disasters. Ethnohistoric accounts and archaeometric studies reveal differences in human adaptations in the Yukon and Mackenzie river basins that relate to exertions of power over contested resources versus affordances of security to intercept dispersed migrating animals. The ways that pre-contact hunter-gatherers maintained or redressed ecological imbalances influenced respective trajectories of resilience to a major event. Adaptive responses to a volcanic eruption affected the movement of bow and arrow technology and the proliferation of copper use in northwest North America.

Points in Time: Direct Radiocarbon Dates on Great Basin Projectile Points

2013 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 580-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey M. Smith ◽  
Pat Barker ◽  
Eugene M. Hattori ◽  
Anan Raymond ◽  
Ted Goebel
Keyword(s):  
Great Basin ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Projectile Point ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Primary Means ◽  
Point Types ◽  
Cross Dating ◽  
Age Estimates

AbstractTypological cross-dating is the primary means by which archaeological sites are placed into chronological frameworks. This approach relies on the assumption that artifacts at undated sites—usually projectile points—are coeval with similar artifacts found at Other, dated sites. While typological cross-dating is necessary in regions dominated by open-air lithic scatters, the approach can be problematic when undated and dated sites are separated by significant distances. Here, we present radiocarbon dates on projectile points with organic hafting material still attached or found within organic storage bags. Our results provide unequivocal ages for various morphological projectile point types at several Great Basin locales and should be useful to researchers seeking local age estimates for those point types, which often involves relying on chronological data from more distant sites. The results also highlight potential issues with uncritically applying typological cross-dating using typologies based on metric attributes, and in two cases, suggest the need to revise the age ranges for certain point styles in the western Great Basin.

Radiocarbon Dates from an Early Archaic Deposit in Russell Cave, Alabama

1957 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 84-84
Author(s):  
Carl F. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Large Sample ◽  
Jackson County ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Early Archaic

During recent excavations in the archaeological deposits in Russell Cave, Jackson County, Alabama (Miller 1956), we reached a depth of 13 feet. From this level we collected a large sample of charcoal found in association with chert projectile points whose shape suggests a placement at the end of paleo-Indian times and the beginning of early Archaic times.

Recognizing Different Lifeways and Subsistence Practices through Analysis of the Material Cultures of Mound Sites in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 308-324
Author(s):  
Anderson Marques Garcia
Keyword(s):  
Central Region ◽  
Rio Grande ◽  
Rio Grande Do Sul ◽  
Hunter Gatherers ◽  
Patos Lagoon ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Brazilian State ◽  
Subsistence Practices ◽  
Mound Sites

In the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, the term cerrito was traditionally used to designate archaeological phenomena that emerge in the form of mounds in different landscapes. Except for recent research developed in the southwestern region of the Patos Lagoon, few advances have occurred since the 1980s in the study of cerritos in Brazil. This article presents an analysis of the lithic industries of sites with mounds in the southwestern region of the Patos Lagoon and in the central region in the current territory of Rio Grande do Sul. The results, along with other data from the sites, suggest that coastal sites were occupied by sedentary fisher-hunter-gatherers, who also possibly domesticated certain plants. Lithic material was scarce there and was mainly produced from pebbles and quartz cobbles using the anvil technique. In contrast, central region formations presented mounds on outcrops, using land, pebbles, and boulders; the area was occupied by a hunter-gatherer group that had projectile points and other instruments carved mainly by façonnage and débitage.

The Folsom (Paleoindian) Type Site: Past Investigations, Current Studies

2002 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Meltzer ◽  
Lawrence C. Todd ◽  
Vance T. Holliday
Keyword(s):  
Faunal Remains ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Fine Grained ◽  
Lithic Assemblage ◽  
Wild Horse ◽  
Field Investigations ◽  
Type Site ◽  
High Utility ◽  
Cultural Origins

Research on the Folsom Paleoindian type site, involving renewed field investigations and an analysis of extant collections from the 1920s excavations, was undertaken between 1997 and 2000. The preliminary results of that research show that all excavations to date have been in the kill area, which took place in a small and relatively shallow tributary to the Pleistocene paleovalley of Wild Horse Arroyo as well as in the paleovalley itself. Preliminary butchering of ∼32 Bison antiquus took place near where the animals were dropped. The kill area is dominated by low-utility bone elements and broken projectile points; high-utility bones and tools for processing meat and hides are rare or absent, and either occur in another, as-yet undiscovered area of the site, or altogether off-site. Faunal remains are generally in excellent condition. Those in the tributary are mostly in primary context, and underwent rapid burial beneath fine-grained (dominantly aeolian) sediments, which in turn were subsequently armored by a shingle shale; those in the paleovalley experienced postdepositional transport and redeposition. The small lithic assemblage is dominated by projectile points and comprised of material mostly from two sources in the Texas panhandle, several hundred kilometers southeast of the site. It also includes stone obtained from sources at comparable distances north and northwest of the site. A series of radiocarbon ages is available for the stratigraphic units, nearly all from charcoal of non-cultural origins; radiocarbon dates on bison bone put the age of the kill at 10,500 B.P.

Reduced Mobility or the Bow and Arrow? Another Look at “Expedient” Technologies and Sedentism

2010 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 259-286 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim A. Railey
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
North America ◽  
Agricultural Intensification ◽  
Causal Link ◽  
The Other ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Bow And Arrow ◽  
Reduced Mobility ◽  
Subsistence Practices

Parry and Kelly (1987) argued for a causal link between expedient technologies and sedentism, and their explanation has widely influenced lithic analysts. There are some problems with their explanation, however, including disconnects in the reported timing of the shifts to expedient technologies, agricultural intensification, and sedentism. On the other hand, across much of North America the transition to an expedient technology appears to correlate more closely to the arrival of the bow and arrow. This is supported by data from a large excavation project in southern New Mexico, which shows that indicators of the shift to an expedient technology cannot be attributed to reduced mobility or any observable changes in subsistence practices, but do appear to correlate temporally with the appearance of arrow points.

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