Douglas H. MacDonald

Modeling Folsom mobility, mating strategies, and technological organization in the Northern Plains

Lithic and contemporary forager data facilitate the understanding of northern Plains Folsom mobility, technological organization, and mating strategies. Northern Plains Folsom foragers emphasized local and regional travel, with only occasional direct acquisition of stone in exotic locales. The infrequency of such movements is reflected in the low percentages of exotic stone in northern Plains Folsom sites. Intercultural and intracultural forager mating distance data support the hypothesis that population density is a significant control on distance traveled to find a mate. Individuals in lower density populations travel farther to locate mates than those in more highly populated groups. No ethnographic evidence supports the hypothesis that early Paleoindians turned to inbreeding in the face of reduced mating opportunities. Rather, given low population densities of Folsom foragers in the northern Plains, some individuals likely sought mates during long-distance movements.

Grief and burial in the American Southwest: The role of evolutionary theory in the interpretation of mortuary remains

Evolutionary theory, in consort with Marxism and processualism, provides new insights into the interpretation of grave-good variation. Processual interpretations of burial sites in the American Southwest cite age, sex, or social rank as the main determinants of burial-good variation. Marxist theorists suggest that mortuary ritual mediates social tension between an egalitarian mindset and an existing social inequality. Evolutionary theory provides a supplementary explanatory framework. Recent studies guided by kin-selection theory suggest that humans grieve more for individuals of high reproductive value and genetic relatedness. Ethnographic examples also show that individuals mourn more intensively and, thus, place more social emphasis on burials of individuals of highest reproductive value (young adults). Analysis of grave goods from La Ciudad, a Hohokam site in the American Southwest, supports the hypothesis that labor value, reproductive value, and grief contributed to grave-good differentiation. At La Ciudad, individuals between the ages of 10 and 20 possessed more and higher-quality grave goods on average than any other age group. Grief at the loss of a young adult of high reproductive and labor value may facilitate explanation of mortuary variation at La Ciudad, as well as other sites in the greater Southwest and beyond.

The Evolution of Folsom Fluting

Abstract The emergence and evolution of the Folsom point is analyzed in light of cultural transmission and dual inheritance theories. While the Folsom point was an outstanding techno-functional solution to Late Pleistocene bison hunting of the Great Plains of North America, archaeological data indicate that fluting was an unnecessary high-risk activity that served as much a socio-cultural role as a techno-functional one. In dual inheritance terms, the fluting of Folsom points likely gained a foothold as one piece of the “good hunter” model which was passed from elders to youths within specific cultural contexts. The demise of Folsom points during the early Holocene likely was instigated by a transformation of social image, from fluting as an indicator trait of success, to fluting as a measure of increased risk and waste in the face of challenging subsistence realms.

Understanding Decision—Making Among Prehistoric Hunter-Gatherers Via the Study of Lithic Technological Organization

Abstract Differential use of lithic raw materials by prehistoric hunter-gatherers has become a common theme in lithic technological organization studies over the last forty years. These studies are largely oriented toward economic, technological, and subsistence decisions of prehistoric hunter-gatherers; however, there is great potential in lithic analysis to study the role of social, political, and other non-techno-economic forces in shaping human decision-making. This paper attempts to determine the contexts in which we can evaluate lithic raw material choices that may be related more to sociocultural than to economic or technological factors. In so doing, I discuss three case studies from the eastern United States in which typical lithic technological organizational logic may not explain lithic raw material variability. The case studies provide insight into the role of non-techno-economic behavior in the composition of lithic assemblages at archaeological sites. By considering these factors of lithic assemblage formation, researchers may identify aspects of human behavior not commonly recognized in the study of prehistoric hunter-gatherer populations.

Mobility and Raw Material Use at the Hunting Camp Spring Site (35WA96), Blue Mountains, Oregon

Analysis of lithic artifacts from the Hunting Camp Spring site (35WA96) in the Blue Mountains of northeastern Oregon provides insight into the technological organization of late prehistoric populations in the southern Columbia Plateau. Results of debitage and tool analyses suggest that raw material quality and availability, in terms of the stones proximity to the site area and its relative local abundance, were the prime factors in the production of formal tools at the site. In addition, black and, site, a locally abundant and highly durable stone, was the preferred raw material for expedient tool use. Locations of raw material sources, as well as a concentric zone model of land-use (Reid and Gallison, 1993a; Sampson, 1988), provide a basis for understanding hunter-gatherer mobility within the region.

Understanding the Role of Yellowstone Lake in the Prehistory of Interior Northwestern North America

As North Americas largest, high-elevation lake, Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, played an important role in the lifeways of Great Plains, Great Basin, and Rocky Mountains Native Americans during prehistory. Various hypotheses suggest that the lake was important during the spring for fishing, during the winter for hunting, and/or during warm months for generalized foraging. Because the lakes islands contain archaeological sites, some also have proposed that boats were utilized during prehistory at the lake. Using ethnohistoric, archaeological, and spatial data, we evaluate these suppositions about use of Yellowstone Lake. We suggest that annual use of the lake was initiated in early spring when the lake was frozen providing access to islands and continued through the summer. Lithic data and ethnohistoric research support the hypothesis that multiple ethnic groups used the lake in prehistory because it is a concentrated resource area.

Fishing Bridge Point (48YE381): A Stratified Prehistoric Site at Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming

Abstract Excavations at the Fishing Bridge Point site (48YE381) at Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming reveal stratified Early Archaic, Middle Archaic, Late Archaic, and Late Prehistoric period occupations. Results of specialized studies such as lithics, X-ray fluorescence, protein residue, pollen, ethnobotanical, and sub-surface imaging contribute to existing information regarding prehistoric human use of high-elevation lake basins within the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Among the significant findings are the remains of the only radiocarbon-dated Early Archaic hearth feature excavated within Yellowstone National Park. Lithic raw material use patterns of Native Americans in the Early Archaic occupation greatly contrast those from the nearby Late Paleoindian Osprey Beach site, suggesting changing material use patterns at the beginning of the Holocene at Yellowstone Lake. Late Prehistoric lithic material use patterns also contrast those of the preceding Middle and Late Archaic periods.

Paleoindians of Yellowstone Lake: Interpreting Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene hunter-gatherer land-use in the greater Yellowstone ecosystem

Over the last decade, numerous Paleoindian sites have been identified at Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, North America’s largest, high-elevation natural lake. This study presents results of University of Montana research between 2009 and 2016 at 25 sites that provide information regarding human use of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem during the Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene. Despite the recovery of Clovis evidence at Yellowstone Lake, Early Paleoindians rarely visited the region, likely due to difficult post-glacial environmental conditions. After 10,000 BP, upon ameliorating climate changes, Late Paleoindian Cody complex hunter-gatherers increased use of the lake area. In order to better understand regional travel patterns, this study compares lithic raw material and tool use between the Fishing Bridge Peninsula and Osprey Beach Late Paleoindian Cody complex sites. The paper’s conclusion discusses the implications of the research on Paleoindian use of the high-elevation Rocky Mountain region.

Folsom: New Archaeological Investigations of a Classic Paleoindian Bison Kill. David J. Meltzer, 2006. University of California Press, Berkeley, xiv + 387 pp.

David J. Meltzers Folsom provides a comprehensive interdisciplinary study of what is arguably the most important archaeological site ever to be excavated in the Americas, the Folsom site in New Mexico. Folsom compares favorably with, if not exceeds the standards set, by Frison and Stanford at Agate Basin, Bement at the Cooper site, and Wilmsen and Roberts at Lindenmeier, among other important Folsom site studies. Meltzers goals include the reconciliation of data from the 1926-1928 excavations with his own 1997-1999 excavations, as well as the solving of important questions about the nature of the Folsom site occupation. The overall quality of the book is excellent, with only a few typographical errors of note. Despite those minor editorial errors and a few dark photographs (e.g., Figure 4.10b), Meltzers Folsom pieces together the sites complex excavation history and provides a complete and final synthesis of the vastly important site.