Anthony T. Boldurian

Folsom Mobility and Organization of Lithic Technology: A View from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico

In a 1988 article, Kelly identified the variable role of bifaces in the organization of hunter-gatherer lithic technology as cores, long use-life tools, and products of the shaping process. He also proposed that biface function was determined largely by the interplay among raw material availability, anticipated stone tool needs, and group mobility. Tliis paper discusses the role of bifaces as cores in the organization of Folsom lithic technology for groups who occupied interior areas of the Southern Plains. Frank Broilos (1971) model of regional Paleoindian settlement is employed to examine the role of bifaces as cores. It is postdated that highly mobile Folsom groups of interior zones in the Southern Plains manufactured large biface cores as an adaptive response in the organization of technology. Several cores of this type have been recovered over the years from Blackwater Draw. Use of biface cores helped solve problems posed by great distances traveled between stone sources in central Texas, and food resource activity locations on the Llano Estacado. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND In a recent article Kelly (1988) offered the proposition that bifaces served three possible functions in prehistoric lithic technology for hunter-gatherers: cores, long use-life tools, and function-specific products of the shaping process. The role that bifaces maintained depended primarily on the availability of suitable stone, as well as anticipated stone tool needs, and group mobility. Kelly and Todd (1988) suggested the im portance of bifaces in Paleoindian settlement and subsistence. They argue that Clovis and Fol som populations maintained high group mobility in response to new climates and rapidly shifting food resources during late Pleistocene early Holocene times. Paleoindian subsistence focused on procurement of game that frequent ly cross-cut environmental zones, rather than ex ploiting food resources indigenous to a specific region. Kelly and Todd (1988) maintain that bifaces were well-suited for the highly mobile Paleoindian lifestyle that included a depend ence on hunting large game. Bifaces provided a sharp, durable edge that could be easily reshar pened. They were also highly portable and could be used as cores for the production of many ex pedient and formed stone implements. Bifaces both maximized the number of potential tools carried and minimized the amount of stone car

Fluting Devices in the Folsom Tradition: Patterning In Debitage Formation and Projectile Point Basal Configuration

Replicative experiments in Folsom point manufac ture suggest that fluting during the final stages of biface reduction may have been executed via indirect percussion using a grooved anvil and backstop flut ing device. Experimental preform breakage patterns through this procedure systematically replicate those observed at known Folsom base camps on the Llano Estacado of eastern New Mexico and west Texas and elsewhere in the Great Plains. The experiments also demonstrate that use of a fluting device can impose certain restrictions on preform configuration, especially with respect to width dimensions. There fore, it is suggested that observed low variations in Folsom point basal width may have been a func tion of manufacture related variables, in addition to hafting tolerances as postulated by Judge (1973).

Clovis Blade Manufacture: Analytical Procedure to Infer “Technique”:

Based on an experiment in prismatic blade manufacture, coupled with lithic analysis, a new attribute—point of maximum blade curvature—is proposed for the analysis of Clovis blades. Also, a laboratory procedure for its calculation is described. Comparisons of three sets of experimental blades suggest this attribute is helpful for inferring how artisans held the core and applied force during blade manufacture. Among the findings, experimental blades made by indirect percussion with the core firmly clamped without a rest were distinguished from those made by direct percussion whereby the core was hand-cradled. Though results of the experiment are preliminary, they may provide a basis for detecting variability in “technique,” as defined by Newcomer (1975) in his study of Clovis blade technology. Archaeologists are encouraged to measure this new attribute for Clovis blades.

A CUMBERLAND PREFORM: IMPLICATIONS FOR PALEOINDIAN LITHIC TECHNOLOGY

Use of isolated striking platforms in biface manufacture—one hallmark of Paleoindian technology—appears in Clovis (11,500-10,900 B.P.) and Folsom (10,900-10,200 B.P.) fluting and in Agate Basin (10,500-10,200 B.P.) preform lateral thinning. We document a new observation: Cumberland or Southeastern Clovis (10,800-10,500 B.P.) artisans used isolated striking platforms for both. We also note that Cumberland points exhibit Folsom-type fluting and Agate Basin stiletto shape (i.e., an elongate blade thick in proportion to narrow width). From these observations, we speculate on technological, cultural, and chronological implications for Clovis, Folsom, Cumberland, and Agate Basin.

A Clovis Fluted Point from Coastal Waters in Southern New Jersey

This report documents a Clovis-like fluted point found in shallow waters of Great Egg Harbor Bay, a backbarrier lagoon along the Jersey shore. The artifact has a complicated life history and is significant by enriching the vastly incomplete Paleoindian data base from New Jerseys Outer Coastal Plain. Despite the extraordinary circumstances of its discovery, this fluted point calls new attention to the potential of nearshore and estuarine settings in our search for traces of the First Americans in eastern North America.

A Fluted Biface Fragment from the Lange Site in Gloucester County, New Jersey: Implications for Paleoindian Site Selection and Function:

Replicative experiments indicate that a fluted biface fragment found at the recently destroyed Lange site in Gloucester County, New Jersey, was from a preform broken during the fluting stage of projectile point manufacture. The nearby occurrence of lithic raw materials suitable for flaked stone tool manufacture suggests that the site possibly functioned as a more permanent base camp for Paleoindian populations. This speculation may be supported further by the occurrence of late stage fluted biface manufacture. Additionally, other flaked stone tools of probable Paleoindian affiliation have been recovered from the site. Together, these data provide further support for Marshalls (1982) hypothesis that the occurrence and distribution of pebble cherts in the New Jersey Coastal Plains figured significantly in the settlement patterns of Paleoindian populations.