Clovis Age Western Stemmed Projectile Points and Human Coprolites at the Paisley Caves

The Paisley Caves in Oregon record the oldest directly dated human remains (DNA) in the Western Hemisphere. More than 100 high-precision radiocarbon dates show that deposits containing artifacts and coprolites ranging in age from 12,450 to 2295 ¹⁴C years ago are well stratified. Western Stemmed projectile points were recovered in deposits dated to 11,070 to 11,340 ¹⁴C years ago, a time contemporaneous with or preceding the Clovis technology. There is no evidence of diagnostic Clovis technology at the site. These two distinct technologies were parallel developments, not the product of a unilinear technological evolution. “Blind testing” analysis of coprolites by an independent laboratory confirms the presence of human DNA in specimens of pre-Clovis age. The colonization of the Americas involved multiple technologically divergent, and possibly genetically divergent, founding groups

A Clovis-like Point from the Rose Spring Site (CA-INY-372)

During the recent reanalysis of the flaked stone artifacts from the 1951-1961 excavations of the Rose Spring site (CA-INY-372; Fig. 1), an unusual bifacially worked artifact was noted in the collection. This specimen (1-186965), collected from the surface of the site by Francis Riddell in June of 1956, had been catalogued as a broken biface. However, upon closer scrutiny, the specimen proved to be a pressure-flaked, late-stage proximal fragment of an obsidian point with large channel flakes removed from each side of the artifact

The Introduction of the Bow and Arrow and Lithic Resource Use at Rose Spring (CA-INY-372)

One objective of the most recent re-excavation of the Rose Spring site in eastern California was to evaluate the impact of the introduction of the bow and arrow on local obsidian exploitation. Part of the strategy of the study involved the collection and analysis of a large sample of lithic reduction/production waste produced over the 5,500-year occupation of the site. A change was anticipated in the use of bifacial cores with the adaptation of a new hunting technology requiring less lithic material. A model of change was posited and then tested by using the data generated from the study. The results of the analysis indicate the possibility that certain changes in the reduction strategies practiced by the inhabitants of Rose Spring did not become manifest until nearly 1,000 years after the appearance of the bow, suggesting persistence of the use of the dart and atlatl until about A.D. 1500. An alternative interpretation based on obsidian hydration data is also discussed. Depositional mixing late in time coupled with change in site tool production activities late in time could account for the apparent appearance of continuity of earlier dart point reduction strategies during the long-term use of the site

The Introduction of the Bow and Arrow and Lithic Resource Use at Rose Spring (CA-INY-372)

One objective of the most recent re-excavation of the Rose Spring site in eastern California was to evaluate the impact of the introduction of the bow and arrow on local obsidian exploitation. Part of the strategy of the study involved the collection and analysis of a large sample of lithic reduction/production waste produced over the 5,500-year occupation of the site. A change was anticipated in the use of bifacial cores with the adaptation of a new hunting technology requiring less lithic material. A model of change was posited and then tested by using the data generated from the study. The results of the analysis indicate the possibility that certain changes in the reduction strategies practiced by the inhabitants of Rose Spring did not become manifest until nearly 1,000 years after the appearance of the bow, suggesting persistence of the use of the dart and atlatl until about A.D. 1500. An alternative interpretation based on obsidian hydration data is also discussed. Depositional mixing late in time coupled with change in site tool production activities late in time could account for the apparent appearance of continuity of earlier dart point reduction strategies during the long-term use of the site

Gar nkel: Archaeology and Rock Art of the Eastern Sierra and Great Basin Frontier

Ridgecrest: Maturango Press, 2007 Maturango Museum Publication No. 22, 186 pages, 25 gures, 30 tables, references, glossary, subject index, author index, $30.00 (paper

Gar nkel: Archaeology and Rock Art of the Eastern Sierra and Great Basin Frontier

Ridgecrest: Maturango Press, 2007 Maturango Museum Publication No. 22, 186 pages, 25 gures, 30 tables, references, glossary, subject index, author index, $30.00 (paper

Bettinger: The Archaeology of Pinyon House, Two Eagles, and Crater Middens: Three Residential Sites in Owens Valley, Eastern California

The Archaeology of Pinyon House, Two Eagles, and Crater Middens: Three Residential Sites in Owens Valley, Eastern California. Robert L. Bettinger. New York: American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Paper No. 67, 1989, 355pp., 98 figs.,102 tables, $38.00, (paper)

Obsidian Re-Use at the Rose Spring Site (CA-INY-372), Eastern California: Evidence from Obsidian Hydration Studies

We report on a re-analysis of the obsidian from Rose Spring (CA-INY-372), Inyo County, California, based on obsidian hydration dating. The computed projectile point ages for Desert Series, Rose Spring Corner- Notched, Elko, and Humboldt Basal-Notched points fall within the expected range, which gives con dence in the analytic technique. The projectile points are younger than the debitage, even though both points and debitage experienced similar temperature histories, and the age difference is statistically signi cant at the 95% con dence level. Five of the Rose Spring Corner-Notched points show evidence of having been reworked from earlier points. The debitage age data also show a dependence on depth, but not as strongly as the radiocarbon data, probably due to vertical mixing. Both the mixing and the earlier age for the debitage suggest that tool stone on hand as debitage was salvaged and reutilized for tool manufacture, as a substitute for logistical traveling to gather lithic material from its source in the Coso volcanic eld

Descriptive Analyses of Two Late Prehistoric Burials From Southwestern Idaho

Data relating to prehistoric human skeletal material from the northern cultural Great Basin are scant, especially for the period dating within the last 2,000 years. Recent discoveries of two separate prehistoric inhumations in southwestern Idaho resulted in professional data recovery efforts by the Idaho State Historical Society. The radiometric assessments of the remains place the date of the interments at approximately 900 and 1,300 years ago. Descriptions of each burial and associated artifacts serve as a baseline for future studies in human paleobiology in this region

Obsidian Re-Use at the Rose Spring Site (CA-INY-372), Eastern California: Evidence from Obsidian Hydration Studies

We report on a re-analysis of the obsidian from Rose Spring (CA-INY-372), Inyo County, California, based on obsidian hydration dating. The computed projectile point ages for Desert Series, Rose Spring Corner- Notched, Elko, and Humboldt Basal-Notched points fall within the expected range, which gives con dence in the analytic technique. The projectile points are younger than the debitage, even though both points and debitage experienced similar temperature histories, and the age difference is statistically signi cant at the 95% con dence level. Five of the Rose Spring Corner-Notched points show evidence of having been reworked from earlier points. The debitage age data also show a dependence on depth, but not as strongly as the radiocarbon data, probably due to vertical mixing. Both the mixing and the earlier age for the debitage suggest that tool stone on hand as debitage was salvaged and reutilized for tool manufacture, as a substitute for logistical traveling to gather lithic material from its source in the Coso volcanic eld