Pre-Columbian Archaeology of North America

1. Pre-Columbian Archaeology of North America Week 4: The Peopling of the New World:Classic Interpretations: Clovis, Folsom, Pleistocene extinctions

2. Pre-1930s Explanations • No evidence for pre-Holocene occupation • Hrdlička • Folsom • Clovis

3. Environment of Pleistocene America • Two major glacier groupings: • Greenland Glacier • Cordillerian Glacier • Extended quite far south (c. 40° N) • Great Lakes completely ice-covered • Only exist in present form for less than 8,000 years

4. Global ice coverage reconstruction:c. 18,000 years ago

5. Global ice coverage reconstruction:c. 12,000 years ago

6. Flora • Predominance of spruce [smrk] • Poplar [topol] also widespread • Steppe = short-grass prairie

7. Fauna • Megafauna • During the Pleistocene, large fauna are found throughout the world, with species being much larger than their modern descendants • Giant kangaroos in Australia • Wooly rhinoceros in Europe

8. Major herbivore species • Mammoths – 3 main species • Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) • Jefferson’s mammoth (Mammuthus jeffersoni) • Wooly mammoth (Mammuthusprimigenius) • American Mastodon (Mammut americanum) • Bison • Horse • Ground sloths N

9. Mammoths • Jefferson’s and Columbian mammoths are descendants of M. meridionialis • Arrived from Asia c. 1.8 mya • Wooly mammoths arrived less than 500 kya • Adults • 3-4 m at shoulder • 5500-7300 kg • Flat, plate-like teeth • Grazers • Long, curving tusks • Longest measures 4.9 m • Longest of any member of the elephant family • Pygmy mammoths (Mammuthus exilis) • Found on Channel Islands off southern coast of California • Likely evolved from Columbian mammoth c. 20 kya • 1.2-2.4 m at shoulder

10. Columbian (left) and Jefferson’s (right) Mammoths

11. American Mastodon • Mammut americanum • Existed in N. America from 3.75 mya to 10 kya • Adults: • 2-3 m at shoulder • 3500-5400 kg • Cone-like teeth • Browsers

12. Bison • Bison antiquus • 15-20% larger than the modern American bison/buffalo (Bison bison) • 220 cm at top of hump, 1300 kg • Considered ancestral • Similar behavior patter/range as modern bison

13. Horse • All species of horse evolved in the Americas and spread across the Bering land bridge to the rest of the world • Western Horse (Equus occidentalis) • Primary Pleistocene species in N. America • Superficial resemblance to modern Zebras

14. Ground Sloths • Four species • Found throughout North and South America • Much larger than modern relatives (2 and 3 toed sloths) • 2.5-3 to 6 m in length • Up to 4000 kg • Browser-used hook-like claws to pull down branches, etc. • Pictured is Harlan’s Ground Sloth (Paramylodon harlani)

15. Major carnivore species • Saber-toothed cat • American lion • Dire wolf • Short-faced bear N

16. Saber-toothed Cat • Smilodon fatalis • Mistakenly referred to as a “saber-toothed tiger” • Canines up to 18 cm long • About the size of a modern lion • More massive/ muscular with only a short tail • Ambush hunter

17. American Lion • Panthera atrox • Largest member of the cat family in N. America (largest cat species ever) • Weighed up to 400 kg • modern lions max: 150 kg

18. Dire Wolf • Canis dirus • Closely related to the modern timber/gray wolf (Canis lupus) • 1.5 m long, 50 kg • Major differences: • Shorter legs • Much larger teeth • May have had adaptation similar to modern hyenas • Bone a major element of the diet

19. Short-faced Bear • Arctodus simus • Largest carnivore in the Americas • 1.5 m at the shoulder • Stood over 3.3 m • Weighed up to 800 kg • The short-faced bear's size in comparison to the modern day grizzly (front) and polar bear (middle) • Most probably omnivorous

20. Bering Land Bridge • Created during glacial periods • Declining sea levels as water is locked up in continental glaciers • a. 60-50,000 years ago (Early Wisconsin advance) • b. 44-41,000 years ago (First Mid-Wisconsin advance) • c. 32-29,000 years ago (Second Mid-Wisconsin advance) • d. 23-13,000 years ago (Late Wisconsin advance) • e. 11-10,000 years ago (Valderan advance) • f. 8-7,000 years ago (Cochrane advance) • Sea level decline by 100 m • 1600 km wide • Vegetation: • Grassy tundra • Polar desert • Movement of animals and people • Ice-free corridor between two glacial masses • When? • Presumed to have existed no earlier than 13 kya

21. Migration Routes

22. Paleo-Indian Chronology • Clovis • 12 to 11 kya • Folsom • 11 to 10 kya • Late Paleo-Indian/Plano Cultures • 10 to 8.5 kya • All are characterized by relatively large (50-80 mm) points

23. Clovis Culture • Defined on the basis of the Clovis point • Large, bifacially lanceolate, flaked point • Characteristic flute on base • 4-13 cm in length • Found across North and Central America • All environmental zones • Toolkit • stone tools: knives, prismatic blades, bifacial preforms • Bone/ivory rods (22 to 28 cm in length, 2 to 3 cm in width) • Function unknown (foreshafts, runners, ceremonial function) • Atlatl • Migratory big-game hunters • Related to Eurasian big game hunting tradition (?) • Most sites were interpreted as killing sites/butchering stations • Bias • Residential features rare at these sites • Known habitation sites are generally interpreted as short-term, open-air camp sites N

26. Bone/Ivory Tools

27. Atlatl • From the Nahuatl (Aztec) word for “spear thrower” • Made from bone, ivory or wood • Served to increase force, accuracy and distance of thrown spear

28. Folsom Culture • Defined on the basis of the Folsom point • Bifacially flaked point • Smaller and thinner than Clovis points • Deeper flute • More usually associated with the bones of bison • Shift from broad spectrum big-game hunting to focus on bison • Olsen-Chubbuck site • More restricted to plains/prairie regions • May have had larger communities, engaged in larger communal hunting • Camp sites known with up to ten tent rings represented • More intensive occupation N

29. Folsom Points

30. Paleo-Indian Occupation in the Rio Grande Valley

31. Late Paleo-Indian Period • Generally referred to as Plano Cultures • First recognized on the Great Plains • Wider range of point styles • Agate, Basin, Hell Gap, Alberta, Scottsbluff/Eden. • Shift in hafting technology • Both lanceolate (eastern N. A.) and stemmed points (western N.A.) • A hunter's tool kit (mostly points, knives, scrapers) . • Nomadic • First evidence of regular seasonal rounds • Communal hunting • Regular use of “bison jumps” • Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump • Used for at least 6000 years • Southern Alberta (Canada) • UNESCO World Heritage Site N

32. Comparison of Paleo-Indian Points

33. Environmental Changes • The period beginning about 10 kya is marked by drastic environmental changes in North America • This resulted in a number of changes affecting the human and animal populations • Rising sea levels • Submerged coastal plains • Opening up of northern areas of the continent to habitation • Changes in rainfall and other climactic patterns • Leads to the extinction of most of the megafauna in the Americas • Resulting shift in hunting patterns, shifting to smaller game • How much of a shift is unclear because earlier archaeological research often ignored evidence of smaller mammals in favor of a focus on megafauna.

34. Megafaunal Extinction • 135 species, including two-thirds of big mammals (over 45 kg) went extinct within a very short period (400 years?) • Environmental Change • Warming of the environment • Shifting patterns of rainfall • Melting of glaciers • Resulted in change in ecosystems • Human hunting • First proposed by Paul S. Martin in 1973 • “The Discovery of America” Science 179 • A small group of hunters from Asia entered North America and having no competition rapidly expanded killing off the large megafauna which were not able to withstand this new hunting pressure. • Slow rates of reproduction • Question not only for the Americas • Australasia, South America, Europe • Humans had already been in these locations for tens of thousands of years, if not more N

36. Model of extinctions

37. The End