68 research outputs found
An Assessment of the Impact of Hafting on Paleoindian Point Variability
It has long been argued that the form of North American Paleoindian points was affected by hafting. According to this hypothesis, hafting constrained point bases such that they are less variable than point blades. The results of several studies have been claimed to be consistent with this hypothesis. However, there are reasons to be skeptical of these results. None of the studies employed statistical tests, and all of them focused on points recovered from kill and camp sites, which makes it difficult to be certain that the differences in variability are the result of hafting rather than a consequence of resharpening. Here, we report a study in which we tested the predictions of the hafting hypothesis by statistically comparing the variability of different parts of Clovis points. We controlled for the potentially confounding effects of resharpening by analyzing largely unused points from caches as well as points from kill and camp sites. The results of our analyses were not consistent with the predictions of the hypothesis. We found that several blade characters and point thickness were no more variable than the base characters. Our results indicate that the hafting hypothesis does not hold for Clovis points and indicate that there is a need to test its applicability in relation to post-Clovis Paleoindian points
A Morphometric Assessment of the Intended Function of Cached Clovis Points
A number of functions have been proposed for cached Clovis points. The least complicated hypothesis is that they were intended to arm hunting weapons. It has also been argued that they were produced for use in rituals or in connection with costly signaling displays. Lastly, it has been suggested that some cached Clovis points may have been used as saws. Here we report a study in which we morphometrically compared Clovis points from caches with Clovis points recovered from kill and camp sites to test two predictions of the hypothesis that cached Clovis points were intended to arm hunting weapons: 1) cached points should be the same shape as, but generally larger than, points from kill/camp sites, and 2) cached points and points from kill/camp sites should follow the same allometric trajectory. The results of the analyses are consistent with both predictions and therefore support the hypothesis. A follow-up review of the fit between the results of the analyses and the predictions of the other hypotheses indicates that the analyses support only the hunting equipment hypothesis. We conclude from this that cached Clovis points were likely produced with the intention of using them to arm hunting weapons
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Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 1
The Archaic Occupation of the Rosemont Area, Northern Santa Rita Mountains, Southeastern Arizona by Bruce B. Huckell. Contributions by Lisa W. Huckell, Robert S. Thompson. Submitted by Cultural Resource Management Division, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. Prepared for ANAMAX Mining Company, 1984. Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 1.This report describes and discusses data recovery operations at 10 Archaic sites within the ANAMAX-Rosemont land exchange area in the northern Santa Rita Mountains on the Coronado National Forest, south- eastern Arizona. The nature of the post-Paleo-Indian, preceramic occupation of the Southwestern region is briefly discussed, and use of the term "Archaic" to describe this occupation is justified. A general description of the upland or montane environmental setting of the Rosemont area is provided, and a brief discussion of paleoenvironmental conditions is presented. Theoretical foundations for the study of the sites as examples of the use of the area by prehistoric hunting- gathering societies are also stated, as are the principal research problem domains: the cultural and temporal affinities, and the subsistence-settlement systems reflected by the sites. Field methods are discussed, followed by specific descriptions of the results of investigations conducted at each site. The methods by which the artifact assemblages from the sites were analyzed are next presented, and the nature and composition of the artifact assemblage from each site is described in detail. Three periods of occupation: Early(?), Middle, and Late Archaic, are represented in these assemblages. Each of these periods is defined and discussed, and extensive comparisons of the artifact assemblages from the Rosemont sites with those recovered from sites elsewhere in the Southwest and surrounding areas are made. It is proposed that the Rosemont sites show close affinities to those elsewhere in the general Southwestern region, and that continued use of the Cochise culture as a subregional cultural-historical entity is inappropriate. Use of the phrase "Southwestern Archaic" is urged, in recognition of these close interregional relationships. Analysis of specific subsistence activities and settlement patterns represented by the Rosemont sites is undertaken. Statistical analyses of artifact
assemblage composition suggest functionally differentiated site classes, correlable in certain instances to settlement location, resource distribution, and perhaps seasonality. Data from sites recorded by survey but not further investigated are added to the information from the 10 investigated sites, and a broader view of subsistence-settlement systems through time and the changing role of the Rosemont area in that framework are proposed. Finally, the value of smaller, open Archaic sites for the study of cultural-temporal and subsistence-settlement phenomena is affirmed, and suggestions for future research on the Southwestern Archaic are made.Figures / Tables / Preface / Acknowledgments / Abstract / Introduction / The Environment of the Rosemont Area and Surrounding Regions / A Framework for Research at the Rosemont Archaic Sites / Investigations at and Descriptions of the Sites / Artifact Assemblage Descriptions / Cultural and Temporal Affiliations / Subsistence and Settlement Systems / Summary and Discussion / Archaeobotanical Remains from Archaic Sites in the Rosemont Area, Santa Rita Mountains, Arizona / Pollen Analysis of Archaeological Sediments from Archaic Sites in the ANAMAX-Rosemont Project AreaThis title from the ASM Archaeological Series is made available by the Arizona State Museum and University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions about this title, please contact Jannelle Weakly at the Arizona State Museum, (520) 621-6311, [email protected]
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Arizona State Museum Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 4
Miscellaneous Archaeological Studies in the ANAMAX-Rosemont Land Exchange Area by Martyn D. Tagg, Richard G. Ervin, Bruce B. Huckell. Submitted by Cultural Resource Management Division, Arizona State Museum, University of Arizona. Prepared for ANAMAX Mining Company, 1984. Archaeological Series No. 147, Vol. 4The four studies contained in this volume report the results of work undertaken at a number of different types of sites in the northern Santa Rita Mountains of southeastern Arizona. All these studies were performed within the ANAMAX-Rosemont land exchange area in the Coronado National Forest as part of a 10-month-long mitigation effort conducted by the Arizona State Museum.
Chapter 1 presents a description of detailed investigations at lithic material procurement sites in the Rosemont area. Two types of lithic material procurement sites are identified and described, and the kinds of flaked stone artifacts present at these sites are analyzed and discQssed in detail. Evidence suggests that the majority of these sites resulted from the rather casual, nonintensive reduction of cobbles of quartzite and metasediment or, in one case, a relatively intensive utilization of two bedrock outcrops of silicified limestone. While most of the artifacts present at these sites are debitage, cores, and tested pieces, a few finished, retouched artifacts at certain of these sites suggest the possibility that activities other than the reduction of lithic raw materials were also pursued on a limited basis.
Chapter 2 describes the investigatJon of two sites in Sycamore Canyon, which is a major drainage system on the west side of the ridgeline of the Santa Rita Mountains, 5 km northwest of Rosemont. Excavation of the two sites produced relatively abundant quantities of artifacts representing occupations ranging from the Middle Archaic period through the Historic period. Detailed comparisons of the flaked stone asemblages from the Sycamore Canyon sites are made with those from the Archaic and Hohokam sites in the Rosemont area, and allow the inference that most of the occupation at the Sycamore Canyon sites occurred during the Archaic period. It is further suggested that both sites were used as temporary campsites for the seasonal exploitation of wild plant and animal resources during prehistoric and early historic times.
The third chapter presents data from test excavations carried out at three Sobaipuri of Upper Piman sites located in the Rosemont area. These sites were investigated in 1979, but adjustments to the land exchange boundaries resulted in their ultimate exclusion from the exchange area. The testing serves to document the presence of Sobaipuri residential sites in a montane setting, and indicates that at least two of the three were occupied shortly after Spanish contact.
Chapter 4 describes the investigation of a single site located at the western edge of the land exchange area near Helvetia. This site consists of residential structures positioned on artificially constructed rock terraces emplaced on steeply sloping topography. The recovered artifact assemblage suggests a late Rincon or early Tanque Verde phase age for the site. The limited nature of the work done at the site, coupled with an impoverished artifact assemblage, suggests that the site saw use for a short time, possibly seasonally, for an unknown purpose.Figures / Tables / Preface / Acknowledgments / Abstract / Lithic Material Procurement Sites in the Rosemont Area / The Sycamore Canyon Sites / Sobaipuri Sites in the Rosemont Area / Residential Terraces at AZ EE:2:191 A Late Rincon/Early Tanque Verde Site in the Santa Ritas / ReferencesThis title from the ASM Archaeological Series is made available by the Arizona State Museum and University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions about this title, please contact Jannelle Weakly at the Arizona State Museum, (520) 621-6311, [email protected]
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