Thomas J. Loebel

Working with Wilmsen: Paleoindian end scraper design and use at nobles pond

Abstract This study is an investigation of tool design and the organization of work. Here we further test Wilmsen’s (1970) conclusion that early Paleoindian tools—specifically, hafted end scrapers—were redesigned to facilitate the processing of a broader range of resources as colonizing populations moved into the forested environments of eastern North America from the west. We use a large sample from the Nobles Pond site, morphometic variables, and high-powered microwear to evaluate the effects of design and reduction as they bear on this generalization. Results do not support Wilmsen’s model, and, more generally, we conclude that an understanding of form and function in reductive technologies comes not only from an appreciation of the planned, stage-like change that is inherent in the design of reliable tools, but also from a consideration of the many contingencies and particular work situations that arise in the lives of mobile foragers.

Site structure and activity organization at a late paleoindian base camp in western nebraska

Paleoindian archaeology on the Great Plains is often characterized by the investigation of large mammal kill/butchery bonebeds with relatively high archaeological visibility. Extensively documented aspects of Paleoindian behavioral variability include the form and composition of weaponry systems, hunting strategies, carcass exploitation, and hunter mobility. Non-hunting oriented aspects of settlement and subsistence behavior are less documented. Information from Component 2 at the O.V. Clary site, in Ash Hollow, western Nebraska, lessens this imbalance of knowledge. It provides a fine-grained, spatially extensive record of Late Paleoindian (Allen Complex) activities at a winter base camp occupied for 5-7 months. This paper highlights elements of site structure and activity organization, emphasizing domestic behaviors including hearth use, site maintenance, and hide working. ArcGIS 9.3.1 (ESRI) and GeoDa 0.9.5-1 (Anselin 2003; Anselin et al. 2006) are employed in conjunction with middle-range observations and expectations to document and interpret spatial patterning in the distribution of over 57,000 artifacts, ecofacts, and red ochre nodules. More broadly, results are related to two models of Paleoindian residential mobility: the place-oriented model and the high-tech forager model. Rather than mutually exclusive scenarios, Component 2 indicates that these models reflect complementary structural poses within the overall behavioral system.

Withington (47Gt158): A Clovis/Gainey Campsite in Grant County, Wisconsin

Abstract Located within the driftless area of southwestern Wisconsin, the Withington site provides a unique opportunity to examine the adaptive responses of Early Paleoindians exploiting this region. With a lithic assemblage dominated by Hixton Silicified Sandstone from sources over 170km to the north, chipped stone technological attributes and raw material diversity suggest that the occupants of the site were highly mobile, employed a mixed organizational strategy of toolstone transport, and possessed a wide knowledge of the lithic and social landscape. While our recent understanding of the early archaeological record of this region has progressed, a lack of published reports continues to hinder the incorporation of data from this area into larger models of Early Paleoindian subsistence and settlement. As part of an on-going research effort to address this, I present here a report and analysis of lithic material recovered from the site.

Paleoindian Colonization of the Recently Deglaciated Great Lakes: Mobility and Technological Organization in Eastern Wisconsin

Abstract This study examines a robust sample of lithic assemblages from east-central Wisconsin, including both early and late Paleoindian components and younger Archaic and Woodland material. Average transport distances exceed 200 km in both the early and late Paleoindian samples, but with an important shift from north-south to east-west movement. The Paleoindian/Archaic transition also marks a dramatic change in mobility and toolstone utilization, as Archaic and Woodland assemblages are composed almost entirely of local raw materials.