Daniel S. Amick

Regional patterns of Folsom mobility and land use in the American Southwest

Abstract This paper develops a regional model of Folsom land use for the American Southwest that suggests variation corresponding to seasonal patterns of resource availability. Settlement patterns and raw material movement provide an indication of the scale and intensity of Folsom land use. Comparison of these estimates with data from modern hunter‐gatherers suggests that Paleoindian groups were exceptionally mobile and modern hunter‐gatherers may not serve as useful analogs.

Effects of Raw Material on Flake Breakage Patterns

AbstractDifferences in the mechanical properties of raw materials can exert significant influences on resulting patterns of flake breakage within a debitage assemblage. A recent technique of debltage analysis based on flake breakage categories (Sullivan and Rozen 1985] is used to demonstrate these effects in archaeological and experimental situations. These cases demonstrate significant variation in flake breakage patterns that can be attributed to raw material differences. Therefore, attempts to use these breakage patterns to infer past human behavior or technological process must control for the effects of different raw materials.

A Possible Ritual Cache of Great Basin Stemmed Bifaces from the Terminal Pleistocene—Early Holocene Occupation of Nw Nevada, USA

Abstract Recently, an assemblage of 19 obsidian tools has come to light following the death of their original collector. This collection apparently resultedfrom his excavations in an unknown cave in 1974 and may have been found buried together as a cache and ritual offering. These unusually large tools correspond to the Parman variety of the Great Basin Stemmed cluster, which is associated with the terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene occupation of the Great Basin region of North America. The assemblage contains six Parman projectile points, four stemmed bifacial preforms, five bipointed preforms, two ovoid bifacial blanks, one small triangular biface, and a thick scraper. Trace element studies of these materials suggest origins from five different obsidian sources near the High Rock country of NW Nevada. Comparison of this collection with Paleoindian biface caches from outside the Great Basin suggests some interesting parallels that may imply shared cultural behaviors between these groups.

REFLECTION ON THE ORIGINS OF RECYCLING: A PALEOLITHIC PERSPECTIVE

An international gathering of about 50 archaeologists convened at Tel-Aviv University on October 7–10, 2013 for a research workshop entitled “The Origins of Recycling: A Paleolithic Perspective,” w...

Lone Butte: A Folsom Hunting Camp and Overlook in the Central Tularosa Basin of New Mexico

The Lone Butte site represents a substantial lithic assemblage from a Folsom hunting camp and overlook locality in the central Tularosa Basin of south-central New Mexico. It appears to be similar to the Rio Rancho site in the Central Rio Grande Valley in terms of its landscape position and assemblage signature. Lone Butte represents the largest and most comprehensive lithic assemblage from any Paleoindian site in the Tularosa Basin, strongly documented to have a substantial history of Folsom occupation. Interestingly, the Lone Butte assemblage is distinguished from the overall regional pattern in having relatively high proportions of preforms and channel flakes, which are made predominantly from Rancheria chert located at a distance of 40–100 km west of the site. This assemblage clearly reflects the anticipated mobility which seems partly characteristic of Folsom technological and settlement organization.