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.

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.

The Late Wisconsinan Savanna Terrace in Tributaries to the Upper Mississippi River

1983 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Flock
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Lake Superior ◽  
Mississippi Valley ◽  
Red Clay ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Jackson County ◽  
Late Wisconsinan ◽  
Different Sources ◽  
Lacustrine Deposit

The Savanna Terrace, composed of alternating red and gray clayey sediments of late Wisconsinan age, can be found in five states along the upper Mississippi valley from Pepin County, Wisconsin, to Jackson County, Illinois. The terrace is the highest glaciofluvial-lacustrine deposit without a loess cover in the upper Mississippi valley. Chemical, physical, and mineralogical data show that two different sources provided sediment. The red clay is believed to have come from Lake Superior sources, while the gray clay is believed to have come from sources farther west. Large-scale flood events from glacial Lakes Agassiz, Grantsburg, and Superior were probably the main contributors of the sediments. The red clay in the terrace is similar in composition to red glaciolacustrine sediment found in eastern and northern Wisconsin. It also is mineralogically similar to the Hinckley Sandstone and the Fond du Lac Formation, which occur under and around Lake Superior. Radiocarbon dates obtained from the lower Illinois valley indicate that the terrace sediments were deposited sometime between about 13,100 and 9500 yr ago. Soils developed on the terrace are variable in their physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties, which reflect the composition of the clayey sediments.

Comments on Radiocarbon Dates from Mexico

1951 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 33-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helmut de Terra
Keyword(s):  
Glacial Lake ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Early Archaic ◽  
Basin Of Mexico ◽  
Monte Alban ◽  
Time Sequences ◽  
Age Estimates

In the Summer of 1949, I was asked to 1 cooperate in securing appropriate samples from important Mexican sites. These, I suggested, should be selected with a view of obtaining new data on three significant problems: early man and associated geologic formations, the Archaic cultures, and the monumental civilizations of Teotihuacan and Monte Alban. This choice was dictated by the prevailing chronologic uncertainties of prehistoric cultures in Mexico and by my previous geologic approaches to time sequences in the Basin of Mexico. Computations from glacial, lake and erosion phenomena had suggested that previous age estimates, notably those presented by Vaillant (1944) and other archaeologists, had been unduly conservative. This was especially evident in the case of the basic pottery levels, known as the early Archaic or early Middle cultures, then assumed to have existed about 2100 to 1600 years ago.

Notes on the Archaic of the Appalachian Region

1959 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Witthoft
Keyword(s):  
North Carolina ◽  
Evolutionary Development ◽  
Appalachian Region ◽  
Stratigraphic Sequence ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Early Archaic ◽  
Central Pennsylvania ◽  
Pee Dee ◽  
Pee Dee River

AbstractThe long stratigraphic sequence of separate archaeological horizons at the mouth of the gorge of the Pee Dee River in North Carolina necessitates changing earlier reconstructions of Piedmont archaeology. The stratigraphically documented series of projectile points from this site makes it possible to separate in time the varied forms of points originally assigned to the Baden and Guilford foci. Moreover, this evidence contradicts the typological arrangements of points in terms of logical evolutionary development and suggests that Archaic sequences in other parts of the Appalachian region may have to be radically changed when stratigraphic data become available. Stratigraphy at the Duncan's Island site in Pennsylvania, though less precise than that at the Pee Dee site, indicates that the local typological reconstructions for parts of Pennsylvania are in need of revision. Basal levels at Duncan's Island produce quartzite tools of types scattered throughout central Pennsylvania and often considered to represent an extremely early Archaic industry. The concentration of quartzite tools at the DeTurk site, though not dated stratigraphically, provides typological justification for the idea that the quartzite industry may be a survival of an earlier forest-based proto-Archaic tradition.

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.

The Earliest Cultures in the Western United States

1962 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 138-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alex D. Krieger
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Western United States ◽  
Archaeological Sites ◽  
Projectile Point ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Point Types ◽  
Geological Position

AbstractNearly all writers on the antiquity of man in America assume that the oldest archaeological sites contain chipped-stone projectile points and therefore cannot exceed an age of some 12,000 to 15,000 years, the estimates usually given to such projectile-point types as Sandia and Clovis. Suggestions of older sites, with radiocarbon dates ranging from some 21,000 years to as much as “greater than 37,000 years,” with simpler artifacts and an absence of stone projectile points, are generally viewed with suspicion if not abhorrence.A recent paper by E. H. Sellards considers seven localities in the western United States and Baja California which, because of geological position and radiocarbon dates, are probably too old to contain stone projectile points. The writer agrees with Sellards that these localities are archaeological (except for that at Texas Street in San Diego, California), but disagrees that those in coastal locations are different from those in inland locations for “ecological” reasons such as food supply and availability of stone. The differences may be explained in that those sites on the shores of extinct lakes were never covered by overburden, whereas those which were covered by alluvium or sand are known to us now only by varying amounts of exposure by erosion or excavation (or both).

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.

Early Archaic in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley

1970 ◽  
Vol 35 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey P. Brain
Keyword(s):  
Flood Plain ◽  
Mississippi Alluvial Valley ◽  
Alluvial Valley ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley ◽  
Early Archaic ◽  
West Central ◽  
Yazoo Basin

AbstractScattered finds of Dalton, Quad, Plainview, and Scottsbluff projectile points in the Yazoo Basin of west-central Mississippi affirm the presence of an early Archaic occupation in at least that region of the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. These finds are associated with present surfaces in the alluvial flood plain which are geologic relicts formed prior to the final stages of the post-Pleistocene filling of the valley.

Geographic Variation in Fluted Projectile Points: A Hemispheric Perspective

1999 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juliet E. Morrow ◽  
Toby A. Morrow
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
South America ◽  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Great Plains ◽  
North American ◽  
South American ◽  
Western North America ◽  
Radiocarbon Dates ◽  
Projectile Points ◽  
Fluted Points

This paper examines geographic variation in fluted point morphology across North and South America. Metric data on 449 North American points, 31 Central American points, and 61 South American points were entered into a database. Ratios calculated from these metric attributes are used to quantify aspects of point shape across the two continents. The results of this analysis indicate gradual, progressive changes in fluted point outline shape from the Great Plains of western North America into adjacent parts of North America as well as into Central and South America. The South American “Fishtail” form of fluted point is seen as the culmination of incremental changes in point shape that began well into North America. A geographically gradual decline in fluting frequency also is consistent with the stylistic evolution of the stemmed “Fishtail” points. Although few in number, the available radiocarbon dates do suggest that “Fishtail” fluted points in southern South America are younger than the earliest dates associated with Clovis points in western North America. All of these data converge on the conclusion that South American “Fishtail” points evolved from North American fluted points.

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