3D Scan Data for Selected Clovis-Age Artifacts from the Gault Site (41BL323)

On August 19, 2016, selected Clovis artifacts from the Gault site (41BL323) were scanned in advance of a large collaborative research project. These data were collected using a NextEngineHD running ScanStudioHD Pro, and were post-processed in Geomagic Design X 2016.0.1. All data associated with this project have been made publicly available (open access) and are accessible in Zenodo under a Creative Commons Attribution license, where they can be downloaded for use in additional projects and learning activities. These data have the capacity to augment a variety of research designs spanning the digital humanities, applications of geometric morphometrics, and many others. Additionally, these scans will augment a wide range of comparative research topics throughout the Americas and beyond. Reuse potential for these data is significant

3D Scan Data for Selected Clovis-Age Artifacts from the Gault Site (41BL323)

On August 19, 2016, selected Clovis artifacts from the Gault site (41BL323) were scanned in advance of a large collaborative research project. These data were collected using a NextEngineHD running ScanStudioHD Pro, and were post-processed in Geomagic Design X 2016.0.1. All data associated with this project have been made publicly available (open access) and are accessible in Zenodo under a Creative Commons Attribution license, where they can be downloaded for use in additional projects and learning activities. These data have the capacity to augment a variety of research designs spanning the digital humanities, applications of geometric morphometrics, and many others. Additionally, these scans will augment a wide range of comparative research topics throughout the Americas and beyond. Reuse potential for these data is significant

Simple technologies and diverse food strategies of the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene at Huaca Prieta, Coastal Peru

Dillehay, Tom D. et al.Simple pebble tools, ephemeral cultural features, and the remains of maritime and terrestrial foods are present in undisturbed Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene deposits underneath a large human-made mound at Huaca Prieta and nearby sites on the Pacific coast of northern Peru. Radiocarbon ages indicate an intermittent human presence dated between ~15,000 and 8000 calendar years ago before the mound was built. The absence of fishhooks, harpoons, and bifacial stone tools suggests that technologies of gathering, trapping, clubbing, and exchange were used primarily to procure food resources along the shoreline and in estuarine wetlands and distant mountains. The stone artifacts are minimally worked unifacial stone tools characteristic of several areas of South America. Remains of avocado, bean, and possibly cultivated squash and chile pepper are also present, suggesting human transport and consumption. Our new findings emphasize an early coastal lifeway of diverse food procurement strategies that suggest detailed observation of resource availability in multiple environments and a knowledgeable economic organization, although technologies were simple and campsites were seemingly ephemeral and discontinuous. These findings raise questions about the pace of early human movement along some areas of the Pacific coast and the level of knowledge and technology required to exploit maritime and inland resources.We thank the NSF (grant 0914891), the National Geographic Society (grant 8935-11), Rebecca Webb Wilson and Spencer Wilson, and the Vanderbilt University for supporting our work.We acknowledge support by the CSIC Open Access Publication Initiative through its Unit of Information Resources for Research (URICI).Peer reviewe

3D Scan Data for Selected Clovis-Age Artifacts from the Gault Site (41BL323), Central Texas, USA

On August 19, 2016, selected Clovis artifacts from the Gault site (41BL323) were scanned in advance of a large collaborative research project. These data were collected using a NextEngineHD running ScanStudioHD Pro, and were post-processed in Geomagic Design X 2016.0.1. All data associated with this project have been made publicly available (open access) and are accessible in Zenodo under a Creative Commons Attribution license, where they can be downloaded for use in additional projects and learning activities. These data have the capacity to augment a variety of research designs spanning the digital humanities, applications of geometric morphometrics, and many others. Additionally, these scans will augment a wide range of comparative research topics throughout the Americas and beyond. Reuse potential for these data is significant

3D models of seventy-seven representative stone tools from Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas, Mexico

ESPAÑOL: Esta publicación open access ha sido concebida como un manual de trabajo dirigido a investigadores y estudiantes de la prehistoria mexicana, una herramienta indispensable para el análisis y la comprensión de las técnicas de manufactura y del espectro morfológico-funcional del conjunto de instrumentos de piedra tallada de edad pleistocénica descubiertos en la Cueva del Chiquihuite, Zacatecas, Mexico. La publicación ha nacido como un complemento indispensable del compendio completo de artefactos liticos publicado recientemente en formatos digital e impreso. El presente libro reúne una selección representativa de setenta y siete artefactos liticos que reflejan la totalidad de los tipos y categorías funcionales definidos para el sitio arqueológico mencionado. Los setenta y siete artefactos son presentados en formato de modelos digitales tridimensionales, creados mediante la técnica de la luz estructurada en el laboratorio nacional para la investigación y conservación del patrimonio, LANCIC, adscrito al Instituto de Fisica de la UNAM. Los modelos 3D, de alta resolución y detalle, son entregados al publico mediante tres opciones de acceso: a) descarga del archivo 3D original del repositorio institucional de la Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas; b) descarga del mismo archivo de una fuente alternativa en Google Drive; c) acceso directo al modelo 3D online, mediante una plataforma especializada en la difusión del patrimonio cultural, Ariadne Visual Media Service, creada y puesta a disposición por lo colegas del Visual Computing Lab en Italia. Cada una de las tres opciones de acceso cuentan con link directo y con códigos QR individualizados. De este modo, especialistas, estudiantes y publico en general pueden tener acceso permanente a las herramientas de piedra más antiguas de México en formato digital, pudiendo girarlas, acercarlas, alejarlas, analizarlas en pantalla como si estuvieran en sus manos.ENGLISH: This Open Access publication has been conceived as a work manual meant for the researchers and students of Mexican prehistory, an indispensable tool for the analysis and comprehension of the manufacture techniques and morphological-functional spectrum of the Pleistocene flaked stone instruments discovered at Chiquihuite Cave, Zacatecas, Mexico. This publication was born as a necessary complement for the full catalog of Chiquihuite stone artifacts, previously published in both digital and hard copy formats. The present book reunites a representative selection of seventy-seven artifacts that reflect the totality of types and functional categories defined for the mentioned prehistoric site. The selected artifacts are presented as digital tridimensional models crated with the structured light technique at the National Laboratory for the Investigation and Conservation of Cultural Heritage, LANCIC, hosted by the Institute of Physics of the National University of Mexico (IF-UNAM). The high-resolution and detailed 3D models are delivered to the public with three access options: a) the reader can download the original 3D file, in .ply format, from the institutional repository of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas; b) downloading the same file, from an alternative Google Drive source; c) a direct access to the 3D model online, via the Ariadne Visual Media Service, a cultural heritage specialized platform created and curated by our collaborators at the Visual Computing Lab in Italy. For each artifact, each access option counts with a link and a QR code. Wi the QR, the files can be accessed also from the printed version of this e-book. Our publication will enable scholars and the general public from around the world to observe and analyze in much better fashion the oldest human-made artifacts from Mexico

Evidence of an early projectile point technology in North America at the Gault Site, Texas, USA

American archeology has long been polarized over the issue of a human presence in the Western Hemisphere earlier than Clovis. As evidence of early sites across North and South America continues to emerge, stone tool assemblages appear more geographically and temporally diverse than traditionally assumed. Within this new framework, the prevailing models of Clovis origins and the peopling of the Americas are being reevaluated. This paper presents age estimates from a series of alluvial sedimentary samples from the earliest cultural assemblage at the Gault Site, Central Texas. The optically stimulated luminescence age estimates (-16 to 20 thousand years ago) indicate an early human occupation in North America before at least-16 thousand years ago. Significantly, this assemblage exhibits a previously unknown, early projectile point technology unrelated to Clovis. Within a wider context, this evidence suggests that Clovis technology spread across an already regionalized, indigenous population