Paleoindian Projectile-Point Diversity in the American Southeast: Evidence for the Mosaic Evolution of Point Design^*

* Review and acceptance of this paper was managed by Jesse Tune and Heather Smith, guest editors of the special issue of PaleoAmerica (Vol. 5, No. 2), “Variation in Fluted-point Technology: Investigations across Time and Space”. The editor apologizes for inadvertently excluding the paper from the special issue.

ABSTRACT

Paleoindian projectile points occur in high numbers in the American Southeast, and when compared to other regions of the East, the Southeast has the greatest projectile-point diversity. In this paper, we trace changes in elements of projectile-point design in the region to reconstruct the different evolutionary histories of specific point attributes and how these changes affected Paleoindian point design through time. With this approach, we consider the role of a mosaic pattern of change on the evolution of material culture. We address when and where certain aspects of point design were adopted and how these traits may have influenced point function. By tracing changes in specific technological design elements, we identify some of the social and adaptive processes that resulted in such great point diversity in the American Southeast.

KEYWORDS:

• Paleoindian lithic technology
• cultural evolution
• American Southeast

Acknowledgements

We thank Heather Smith and Jesse Tune for inviting us to participate in the 2018 Society for American Archaeology symposium and this publication. We appreciate all the years of point data collection that make using PIDBA possible; John Broster, Eugene Futato, Albert Goodyear, Jerald Ledbetter, Mark Norton, David Thulman and the many contributors of private collections helped gather data for this study. We thank our colleagues Shane D. Miller and Derek Anderson for conversations about southeastern archaeology. Many studies influenced this work, including papers by Mike O’Brien, Metin Eren, Briggs Buchanan, Anna Marie Prentiss, and Julie Morrow. We also appreciate the very helpful suggestions of the anonymous reviewers. Finally, we thank Corey Maggiano for the long conversations about evolutionary change.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Ashley M. Smallwood earned her PhD in 2011 at Texas A&M University, and she is now Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Louisville. Her research interests include the prehistory of the American Southeast, Paleoindian and Archaic hunter-gatherer adaptations, flaked-stone artifact analysis, technological change through time, technological organization, and human–environment interactions.

Thomas A. Jennings earned his PhD in 2012 at Texas A&M University, and he is now Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Louisville. He is an archaeologist researching the colonization of North America and early hunter-gatherers in the Great Plains, specializing in geoarchaeology and lithic technological organization. As Director of the Center for Archaeology and Cultural Heritage, he is also engaged in developing curation, public archaeology, and museum exhibit projects with local, state, and federal partners.

Charlotte D. Pevny earned her PhD in 2009 at Texas A&M University. She is a Project Manager with SEARCH in New Orleans, Louisiana; she has over 25 years of experience in cultural resources management. Her research interests include lithic technology and microwear analysis, hunter-gatherer subsistence and settlement, and site formation processes.

David G. Anderson earned his PhD in 1990 at the University of Michigan, and he is now a Professor at the University of Tennessee. His research interests include documenting settlement in eastern North America from initial colonization onward, climate change and its impact on human societies, teaching, and developing technical and popular syntheses of archaeological research.

Notes

* Review and acceptance of this paper was managed by Jesse Tune and Heather Smith, guest editors of the special issue of PaleoAmerica (Vol. 5, No. 2), “Variation in Fluted-point Technology: Investigations across Time and Space”. The editor apologizes for inadvertently excluding the paper from the special issue.