Christopher Ellis

Factors Influencing the Use of Stone Projectile Tips

This paper summarizes the results of a pilot study of the ethnographic and ethnohistorical literature designed to address certain questions concerning the use of stone projectile tips. The term “tip” as employed herein includes not just formal “points” in a descriptive sense, but any projectile weaponry armed with a stone component as tip and/or cutting edge. Variability in such projectile tips has long been used to arrange archaeological assemblages in time and space and there have been several attempts in recent years to explain this variability in terms of factors such as changing hunting strategies (e. g., Chris-tenson 1986, 1987; Friis-Hansen 1990; Judge 1974; Odell and Cowan 1986; Shott 1989, 1993). While the present study will shed some light on the causes of stone point variability, I am concerned primarily here with the more basic question of why stone tips should be used at all as opposed to similar items made on organic materials such as wood, bone, or antler. This question has long been recognized as being of importance (e. g., Hayden 1978:183; Jelinek 1971:19), but has rarely been addressed. At a minimum, a knowledge of these conditions should be useful in two major ways.

ARCHAEOLOGY OF THE PLEISTOCENE–HOLOCENE TRANSITION IN EASTERN NORTH AMERICA

The most recently investigated significant sites dating to the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in eastern North America are reviewed, with special attention devoted to sites in the north, extending from the Great Lakes area east to the New England–Canadian Maritimes region. In archaeological terms, these sites date to the time of the Paleoindian to Archaic transition. Despite the problems of Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene 14C ‘plateaus’, chronological advances have occurred through the recent reporting of several, often stratified, 14C or geoarchaeologically dated sites. These sites also provide some insight into subsistence practices and the environmental context of the occupations and, particularly, for the earliest dating occupations in the north. Several trends in stone tool technology are also becoming well-documented, such as a shift from more formalized to more expedient core reduction strategies, an increasing reliance on more coarse-grained rocks, and the appearance of ground stone tools. Nonetheless, at the present time it is extremely difficult to characterize and understand the environmental coping strategies of the human occupants of the time because of (1) poor control of environmental and cultural variability in time and space; (2) limited numbers of known sites; and (3) a paucity of subsistence remains.

Glacial Lake Levels and Eastern Great Lakes Palaeo-Indians

This article investigates changing lake levels in the late Pleistocene eastern Great Lakes inorder to gain insights into the Early Palaeo-Indian occupations. Significant new informationbearing on lake level history is provided, notably the first well-documented deposits of a highwater level above modern in the ca. 11,000–10,300 B.P. period in the southern Lake Huronbasin. The lake level information, along with paleoenvironmental and site data, reinforcessite age estimates to the 11th millennium B.P.; suggests significant numbers of sites have beeninundated by rising water levels; provides specific informationonthe settingofarchaeologicalsites such as placing the Parkhill site adjacent to a large lake estuary; indicates reasons forthe attractiveness of shorelines to Palaeo-Indians including persistence of more open areasconducive to higher game productivity; and points to ideal areas for future archaeologicalsite survey, particularly in the Lake Erie drainage. 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Evidence for late paleoindian ritual from the Caradoc site (AFHJ -104), Southwestern Ontario, Canada

The Caradoc site, dating ca. 10,500 to 10,000 B.P., provides a rare glimpse of sacred ritual among the earliest well-documented inhabitants of the Americas. It is a kind of site never before reported, where the majority of the artifacts have been purposefully broken or sacrificed. The site yielded 302, mainly chert, lithic fragments that fit together to form at least 71 artifacts. The material includes an unfluted concave-based point, three bifacial knives, 31 unfinished bifaces, 27 unifaces and nine non-siliceous items. Distributional analyses indicate that: 1) the material was initially spread over an area of as much as 12 m2; 2) the items were constrained in their distribution and could have been in a structure; and 3) the artifacts were broken at the location where they were found.

Early Human Settlement of Northeastern North America

This paper summarizes current evidence for earliest human occupation of northeastern North America during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. We review evolution of the regions landscapes and evidence of archaeological chronologies as context for understanding human settlement of the region. Current data support limited evidence for pre-Clovis occupation south of the Laurentide glacial margin, followed by a significant temporal gap prior to early Paleoindian settlement of the region. Despite differences in sub-regional data sets, mapping of site distributions and assemblage data do support the notion of variation in lifeways between Paleoindian populations occupying formerly glaciated parts of the Northeast in the late Pleistocene, versus contemporary groups in lands south of the Laurentide glacial margin. Through time, the greatest differences in Paleoindian land use and technology occur between the Younger Dryas and early Holocene.

Estimating Failure Rates in Fluting Based on Archaeological Data: Examples from NE North America

AbstractThe fluting of Early Paleo-Indian bifaces and associated failure rates have received considerable archaeological attention—perhaps at a scale exceeding its comparative importance. Nonetheless, if we are to properly evaluate explanations of the origins and purpose of fluting and the function of particular sites in Paleo-Indian settlement systems, estimates of failure rates are required. To date, such estimates have been based largely on experimental replication and rarely on a1Achaeological data, and it is suggested the experimental estimates are inaccurate. In order to overcome these problems, three interrelated, yet independent, methods of estimating fluting failure rates from archaeological data are developed and applied to data from the Parkhill site in Ontario and the Windy City site in Maine. The consistency in the results obtained by these methods inspires faith in their relative accuracy. The results suggest failure rates, at least at these sites, were not on the scale often assumed by prev...

Understanding Cache variability: a Deliberately Burned Early Paleoindian Tool Assemblage from the Crowfield Site, Southwestern Ontario, Canada

The Crowfield site, excavated in 1981–82, would be a small typical Early Paleoindian campsite except for the added presence of a plough-truncated pit feature containing 182+ burned and destroyed stone artifacts. This paper reports on the latest insights into the feature contents based on continuing attempts to cross-mend fragments, as well as detailed analyses of the spatial distribution of artifact pieces within the feature itself. These results reinforce earlier conclusions that the items were burned where found, represent a cache of still functional tools and preforms, and were purposefully destroyed. They confirm that the site represents the best evidence to date for sacred ritual by eastern North American fluted point users. Contrasts with other reported early sacred and secular caches are documented that highlight the uniqueness of the assemblage. It is argued that these contrasts indicate the Crowfield feature assemblage more closely approximates a transported, functioning tool kit, as opposed to the surplus, seasonal and insurance gear, or offerings, that dominate other early caches.

The Effect of Sepsis on the Erythrocyte

Sepsis induces a wide range of effects on the red blood cell (RBC). Some of the effects including altered metabolism and decreased 2,3-bisphosphoglycerate are preventable with appropriate treatment, whereas others, including decreased erythrocyte deformability and redistribution of membrane phospholipids, appear to be permanent, and factors in RBC clearance. Here, we review the effects of sepsis on the erythrocyte, including changes in RBC volume, metabolism and hemoglobin’s affinity for oxygen, morphology, RBC deformability (an early indicator of sepsis), antioxidant status, intracellular Ca2+ homeostasis, membrane proteins, membrane phospholipid redistribution, clearance and RBC O2-dependent adenosine triphosphate efflux (an RBC hypoxia signaling mechanism involved in microvascular autoregulation). We also consider the causes of these effects by host mediated oxidant stress and bacterial virulence factors. Additionally, we consider the altered erythrocyte microenvironment due to sepsis induced microvascular dysregulation and speculate on the possible effects of RBC autoxidation. In future, a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in sepsis induced erythrocyte pathophysiology and clearance may guide improved sepsis treatments. Evidence that small molecule antioxidants protect the erythrocyte from loss of deformability, and more importantly improve septic patient outcome suggest further research in this area is warranted. While not generally considered a critical factor in sepsis, erythrocytes (and especially a smaller subpopulation) appear to be highly susceptible to sepsis induced injury, provide an early warning signal of sepsis and are a factor in the microvascular dysfunction that has been associated with organ dysfunction.

High-Resolution Intravital NADH Fluorescence Microscopy Allows Measurements of Tissue Bioenergetics in Rat Ileal Mucosa

Objectives: NADH fluorescence microscopy has been used as an index of the metabolic state of tissue but is associated with various obstacles such as low spatial resolution and quenching effects of blood pigments that prevent reliable monitoring of tissue bioenergetics. The objective of this study was to develop a system to monitor tissue bioenergetics in vivo using NADH fluorescence microscopy in the rat ileal mucosa.

Clovis Lithic Technology: The Devil Is in the Details

Clovis is the best known early development in North America buts its lithic technology is poorly documented and often from animal kill sites. This evidence has been used to picture Clovis peoples as mobile, colonizing, big-game hunters and explanations of lithic technological practices have been framed largely in materialist terms. Increasing documentation suggests views about how the complex Clovis biface and blade production strategies relate to subsistence, land use, and specific kinds of mobility patterns are questionable and often difficult to test with archaeological data. We need to seriously consider the role of Clovis peoples worldview in structuring their thought and technical actions.