Browsing by Subject "Clovis"
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Item A Behavioral Analysis of Clovis Point Morphology Using Geometric Morphometrics(2012-02-14) Smith, Heather LynnThis thesis presents an investigation into Paleoindian projectile-point morphology. A goal of this research is to determine if evidence of a normative cultural manufacturing protocol can be identified on Clovis projectile points which can then be used to address research questions concerning Clovis point variability, and ultimately, the spread of this tool-form across North America. This paper addresses obstacles to behavioral investigations of stone tool morphology such as the effects of resharpening and raw material type on tool shape. I argue that a culturally normative process of manufacture was maintained throughout the life-history of Clovis projectile points which translated into a specific shape maintained to the time of exhaustion and discard. As an analytical tool, this study utilizes the geometric morphometric method to retain the geometry of each artifact throughout analysis by focusing on spatial covariation among landmarks uniformly found on each tool. This thesis investigates variability in 123 fluted projectile points from 23 archaeological sites in North America which met criteria meant to control for security of context in the archaeological record. Principle components describing the shape-variability inherent in this data-set were generated using geometric morphometrics and multivariate statistical analyses were employed to identify major factors of variability. This research concluded that Clovis projectile-point shape was determined by normative cultural behavior maintained throughout the life of the artifact and not the result of raw material type or resharpening processes. Therefore, the projectile-point variability found to be geographically patterned provided evidence of Paleoindian movement and the spread of tool form. Multivariate analysis of variance determined that a regional trend in variability was present. The distribution of within-site variance suggested that artifacts from sites in the West were very homogeneous while artifacts from Eastern sites were more variable. The multivariate cluster and discriminant function analyses also demonstrated a closer affinity between artifacts in the Southwest and Northwest than either has with the Northeast. The similarities in projectile point morphology between the Southwest and Northwest regions suggest movement beginning with a Southwest point of origin from which Pleistocene peoples may have carried their fluted point technology north and east.Item A comparison of clovis caches(Texas A&M University, 2006-04-12) Lassen, Robert DetlefThe Clovis caches in this study consist of assemblages of tools left behind in an area either for future use or as ritual offerings. Clovis caches are the earliest of such assemblages known in North America. This research specifically examines a sample of four caches: East Wenatchee from Douglas County, Washington; Anzick from Park County, Montana; Simon from Camas County, Idaho; and Fenn, inferred to be from Sweetwater County, Wyoming. The artifact types in this study include fluted points, bifaces, blades, flakes, bone rods, and miscellaneous. The variables used in this study include maximum length, mid-length and maximum width, thickness, (length*width*thickness)/1000, length/width, and width/thickness; using millimeters as the basic measurement unit. This study utilizes five methods in the study of the caches: descriptive statistics, factor analysis, cluster analysis, correspondence analysis, and geoarchaeology. The descriptive statistics reveal the most prominent trends that become more apparent in the subsequent statistical analyses. Such trends include East Wenatchee containing the largest points but the smallest bifaces, Anzick and Simon having significant biface variation, Fenn tending to be average in most respects, and bone rods being larger in East Wenatchee than they are in Anzick. The factor analysis explores the relationships between the variables and assigns them to larger components. Length, width, thickness, and length*width*thickness comprise the size component, and length/width and width/thickness make up the shape component. The cluster analysis examines the artifacts within each site and between all sites to identify the most appropriate grouping arrangements based on similarities in artifact measurements. The general results show that fluted points form three clusters according to size more than shape, bifaces are highly variable but have no obvious clusters, and bone rods form three clusters with the first two being strictly divided by site. The correspondence analysis shows that the differences in count data between caches appear to relate to the geographic distances between them. Finally, geoarchaeological analysis posits that East Wenatchee has no discernable pit feature, Anzick contains only one human burial, Simon was not deposited in a pluvial lake, and Fenn would have been shallowly buried but was probably disturbed by erosion.Item A microwear study of Clovis blades from the Gault site, Bell County, Texas(2009-06-02) Minchak, Scott AlanPrehistoric quarries in America are poorly understood and thus problematical to take into account when making inferences about past behavior. A microwear analysis of Clovis blades from the 2000 Texas A&M University excavations at the Gault site (41BL323), located in southern Bell County, Texas, provided a window into this problem. Texas A&M excavations on the site produced an extraordinarily large number of Clovis artifacts in two bounded geologic units, 3a and 3b. Included in the artifact types are blades, specialized elongate flakes associated with a core and blade technology. In conducting a microwear analysis of the Clovis blades from Gault, I proposed the following questions: (1) were the Clovis blades utilized at Gault?; (2) is there a difference in the use-wear patterns of Clovis blades from the geological units 3a and 3b?; and (3) is Gault, as a quarry/workshop site, a place to just obtain raw materials or did it also serve as a craft site? Observations from experiments, stereomicroscope analysis, compound microscope analysis, and SEM/EDS analysis led to answers for two research questions: (1) blades were used at Gault and (2) there is a difference between Clovis units 3a and 3b. Eight Clovis 3a blades, or 3.0% of the total Clovis 3a blade/blade fragment population (n=264), exhibit use-wear. Six Clovis 3b blades, 3.3% of the total Clovis 3b blade/blade fragment population (n=182), exhibit use-wear. In general, Clovis 3b blades were used on harder contact materials (wood to bone) than those in Clovis Unit 3a (softer contact materials similar to grass, sinew, and rawhide). The function(s) of quarries and quarry-related workshops were interpreted by William Henry Holmes as a place to obtain raw materials, while Kirk Bryan interpreted them as a place to bring other materials to work in craft activities. Following the microwear analysis of Clovis blades/blade fragments at Gault, I compared Gault to three other Paleoindian quarry-workshop sites (Wells Creek, Dutchess Quarry, and West Athens Hill). My intent is to provide supplemental data for the consideration when applying Holmes? and Bryan?s respective hypotheses.Item Biface reduction and blade manufacture at the Gault site (41bl323): a Clovis occupation in Bell County, Texas(Texas A&M University, 2007-04-25) Dickens, William A.This dissertation is a technological study that deals with those techniques employed by the Gault Clovis people in the manufacture of both bifaces and blades. The materials studied were recovered during the 2000 and 2001 field seasons conducted by the Anthropology Department of Texas A&M University. The study involves an analysis that deals with raw material selection, blank production, reduction methods, and problems encountered, and includes a definitive description and metric calculations for each of the various artifact types analyzed. The results are then compared to similar artifact assemblages from known Clovis sites. The conclusions derived from this analysis show that the Gault Clovis people utilized a number of different strategies in both biface and blade reduction. It was found that some of these strategies, previously felt to be restricted to one reductive procedure, were connected and utilized in both procedures. In addition, it was discovered that some techniques thought to be limited to use only within the initial reduction sequence were, in fact, utilized throughout.Item Clovis Lithic Debitage from Excavation Area 8 at the Gault Site (41BL323), Texas: Form and Function(2010-07-14) Pevny, Charlotte D.This dissertation focuses on two portions of the Clovis lithic assemblage recovered from Excavation Area 8 at the Gault site (41BL323) located in central Texas. Gault is a quarry-camp visited by hunter-gatherer groups for at least 13,000 years, with Paleoindian, Archaic, and Late Prehistoric occupations. Freshwater seep springs, a diverse array of floral and faunal resources, and an abundant outcrop of high-quality toolstone at the site created an ideal location for people who lived a mobile hunting-andgathering way of life. The site is currently the only locale with two stratigraphically separate Clovis components-a lower geologic unit designated 3a and an upper unit designated 3b. Both are represented in Excavation Area 8 where, in the spring of 2000, Texas A&M University (TAMU) excavated 22 1-m2 contiguous units. For this research, 3375 complete flakes were analyzed individually to characterize Clovis debitage as represented at Excavation Area 8 and to establish if there are technological differences between the debitage assemblages recovered from Units 3a and 3b. The two Clovis components are quite similar from a technological standpoint. Minor differences appear to be related to site formation processes and intensity of site use. The second objective was to determine if Clovis debitage has diagnostic technological traits that allow confident assignment to the Clovis era. To test whether Clovis debitage is distinctive, it was compared to debitage recovered from later cultural components at the site. No evidence of a true blade technology was observed in the post- Clovis Paleoindian or Early Archaic debitage assemblages, although biface manufacture continued through time. Technologically, few differences were observed between the Clovis, post-Clovis Paleoindian, and Early Archaic debitage related to biface reduction. While overshot flakes may be diagnostic of Clovis biface technology, biface thinning flakes and other non-distinctive debitage showed few differences between components. During debitage analysis pieces were selected in an attempt to identify edgemodified tools. Low- and high-power usewear analysis was employed to make determinations concerning the cultural modification or use of flakes. This study concluded post-depositional damage affected most of the collection and there was minimal usewear-or minimal observable usewear-on flakes. Taphonomic processes interfered to a great extent with drawing firm inferences on tool use and possibly hindered the identification of tools. Of the 3375 pieces of Clovis debitage originally analyzed, 26 specimens were classified as tools based mainly on invasive, patterned flaking with less reliance on microscopic use indicators. Of these, inference of use was assigned to nine tools.Item Clovis Technology and Settlement in the American Southeast(2012-10-19) Smallwood, Ashley MichelleThis dissertation presents new data on Clovis site occupation, technological organization, and settlement in the American Southeast. Evidence suggests that traditionally-accepted, western-centric models do not fully explain Clovis technological characteristics and settlement patterns in the region. My second chapter presents the results of a 40 square meter block excavation on the Topper site (SC) hillside where a buried Clovis assemblage has been recovered. I review the site geomorphology and formation processes to evaluate the context of the Clovis component, characterize the Clovis assemblage and the horizontal distribution of artifacts to understand how the Clovis occupants used this portion of the site, and compare these excavation results to the rest of the archaeological record at Topper to discuss the general nature of the Clovis occupation there. My third chapter focuses on the 174 bifaces from Topper to understand biface production. I present the process of manufacture then measure the variation in production characteristics at the site in terms of our current knowledge of Clovis biface technology. I conclude that Topper flintknappers used reduction strategies typical of Clovis-but created a biface assemblage with greater flexibility in design than documented at most other Clovis sites. Clovis groups adapted to local resource conditions and adjusted the organization of their technology accordingly. My fourth chapter analyzes southeastern Clovis point data and biface assemblages from Carson-Conn-Short (TN), Topper, and Williamson (VA) to test the technological implications of Kelly and Todd?s (1988) high-technology-forager model and Anderson?s (1990) staging-area model. Significant subregional variation exists in Clovis biface systems, such as differences in point morphology and the tempo of biface reduction. This variation suggests the subregions represent distinct populations who distinctly altered aspects of their technology but maintained fundamental elements of the Clovis tradition. Ultimately, I demonstrate there was greater variability in Clovis behavior across America. Recognizing regional variation in the archaeological record is key to understanding the complexities of Clovis origins and dispersal.Item Geoarchaeological Investigations into Paleoindian Adaptations on the Aucilla River, Northwest Florida(2012-07-16) Halligan, JessiThis dissertation addresses how Paleoindians used the karst drainage of the Aucilla River in northwestern Florida during the Pleistocene/Holocene transition (approximately 15-10,000 14C yr B.P.). I take a geoarchaeological approach to discuss Paleoindian land use by first defining the Late Pleistocene and Holocene geological record, and then by creating a model of site formation processes in the Aucilla River. Both underwater and terrestrial fieldwork were performed. Underwater fieldwork consisted of hand-driven cores and surface survey, vibrocoring, underwater 1 x 1 m unit excavation, and controlled surface collection. Terrestrial fieldwork consisted of shovel and auger test pits. Seventeen cores were collected from five different submerged sinkhole sites, which were used to select two sites for further study: Sloth Hole (8JE121), which had been previously excavated, and Wayne's Sink (8JE1508/TA280), which was recorded but not formally investigated. Five vibrocores and two 1 x 1m units were used, with previous research, to define the geological and geoarchaeological context of Sloth Hole. Fifteen vibrocores, six 1 x 1 m excavation units, and ten 1 x 1 m surface collection units were used to define the geological, geoarchaeological, and archaeological context of Wayne's Sink. A combination of 130 shovel and auger test pits was used to define the geological, geoarchaeological, and archaeological potential of the terrestrial landscape. Five new Holocene-aged terrestrial sites were recorded. All of these data were evaluated with archival data from previously-excavated sites to create models of site formation and Paleoindian land use in the lower Aucilla Basin. This research shows that there have been four major periods of sinkhole infill in the lower Aucilla basin. The first occurred prior to the Last Glacial Maximum, with each sinkhole containing peat deposits that date in excess of 21,000 calendar years ago (cal B.P.). These peats are overlain by sandy colluvium that dates to approximately 14,500 cal B.P. The colluvium is overlain by clays that contain evidence for soil formation. These soils vary in age, with radiocarbon dates of approximately 14,500-10,000 cal B.P. These clays are directly overlain by peats dating to 5,000-3,500 cal B.P., which are overlain by peats and clays that date to 2,500-0 cal B.P. Intact Paleoindian and Early Archaic deposits are possible in the late Pleistocene soils.Item Site Formation Processes at the Buttermilk Creek Site (41BL1239), Bell County, Texas(2010-10-12) Keene, Joshua L.The archaeological literature warns against trusting the context of artifacts found within a vertisol due to the constant mixing of sediments caused by the shrink/swell properties of clays. These churning processes were thought to be the defining characteristic of vertisols until only the past few decades. It is now apparent that vertisols vary drastically based on a wide spectrum of variables and are fully capable of forming without churning processes. The Buttermilk Creek Site, Block A represents a prime example of a minimally developed vertisol. In addition, the site itself is a heavily occupied lithic quarry that has been almost continuously inhabited since Clovis and possibly Pre-Clovis times. This thesis takes a detailed look at the sediments and distribution of lithic artifacts from Block A of the Buttermilk Creek site to address the two following research objectives: 1) to determine if the archaeological context within the floodplain sediments at Block A has been disturbed by post-depositional processes, and 2) to identify discrete occupation surfaces within the vertic floodplain sediments at the site. These objectives are addressed using a variety of methods, including: 1) plotting the stratigraphic position of diagnostic artifacts, 2) determining the size distribution of debitage and artifact quantities throughout the floodplain deposits, 3) examining the distribution of cultural versus non-cultural lithic material, 4) recording the presence or absence of heat alteration in the deposits, 5) creating maps showing the degree of fissuring across the site, 6) analyzing differences in patination on artifacts, and 7) analyzing the presence of calcium carbonate on artifacts from all levels. Results from these analyses show that, despite the classification of sediments at Block A as a vertisol, vertical displacement of artifacts is largely absent. Chronologically ordered diagnostic points, consistently size sorted artifacts, and a lack of constant mixing of calcium carbonate throughout the profile suggest that artifacts found as deep as 20 cm below the Clovis-aged horizon represent intact cultural horizons. These oldest components found in Block A may represent some of the earliest known evidence of people in the New World.Item Tracking Changes in Early Paleoindian Technology and Adaptations on the Southern Plains Periphery(2012-07-16) Jennings, ThomasThis dissertation presents new data on early Paleoindian stone technologies in the Southern Plains periphery. Analyses of lithic artifact assemblages show that significant technological changes occurred between the transitions from pre-Clovis to Clovis and from Clovis to Folsom/Midland. After an initial introduction to the problems in chapter one, a detailed technological description of the pre-Clovis assemblage from the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas is presented. Site-scale and general technological comparisons to Clovis reveal similarities and differences. I conclude that the pre-Clovis assemblage at Friedkin cannot be considered Clovis, but could represent an ancestral technological assemblage. The third chapter presents the analysis of Clovis bifaces from the Hogeye site, Texas. I identify patterns in the biface reduction process and suggest that these patterns could be use to distinguish between regional Clovis cultural signatures and the idiosyncrasies of individual Clovis flintknappers. The fourth chapter compares Clovis and Folsom/Midland technologies and site-use at a single site, the Debra L. Friedkin site, Texas. I show that while late-stage biface reduction and point production were the focus of both occupations, Folsom/Midland groups also reduced some early- or middle- stage bifacial cores. More broadly, the Friedkin site shows that Clovis and Folsom/Midland settlement along Buttermilk Creek varied. Ultimately, this dissertation provides new evidence of possible Clovis origins, documents Clovis biface reduction signatures, and identifies site-use and technological similarities and differences between Clovis and Folsom/Midland. Defining and comparing early Paleoindian adaptations and technologies is key to understanding how humans dispersed into North America and how they adapted to new and changing environments during the last Ice Age.Item Use-wear analysis of the Clovis biface collection from the Gault site in central Texas(2009-05-15) Smallwood, Ashley MichelleUse-wear studies were undertaken to determine if the Clovis bifaces discovered at the Gault site in Central Texas were utilized implements or rather products of lithic raw material procurement. Those bifaces bearing microscopic traces indicative of use were studied in detail to determine the use-history of the tools. This thesis describes an experimental program aimed to build analogues for probable biface functions. A series of projectile impact studies, butchering experiments, and expedient-like tool useactivities were conducted to document the traces acquired on the tool surface from use. The experimental results are used to identify the utilized tools, demonstrate their functional purpose, and suggest the extent of tool use of the prehistoric biface assemblage.