Early Fluted-biface Variation in Glaciated Northeastern North America

ABSTRACT

Most researchers argue that archaeological evidence for the Clovis technological complex, although documented across most of unglaciated North America, is absent in the glaciated Northeast, suggesting that early Paleoindian populations in the latter region were descendent from early Native American peoples associated with Clovis technology. If so, what are the earliest fluted-biface forms in glaciated northeastern North America? To refine developmental and relative chronological relationships of early Paleoindian fluted bifaces in the region, we (1) examine fluted-biface-reduction sequences at the Rogers (Ontario) and West Athens Hill (WAH) (New York) sites, and (2) compare fluted-point samples from early Paleoindian sites in the Northeast and vicinity. For Rogers and WAH, our results document variable frequencies of overshot and overface flaking during fluted-point manufacture – features linked elsewhere to Clovis biface reduction. In addition, analyses identify several early Paleoindian fluted-point samples in the Northeast that bear similarities to Clovis points but differ from, and therefore likely predate Gainey and Gainey-related early Paleoindian point forms in the glaciated Northeast.

KEYWORDS:

• Northeastern North America
• Clovis
• Gainey
• fluted bifaces
• late Pleistocene

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Heather Smith and Jesse Tune for inviting us to participate in the 2018 SAA symposium on fluted-point variation in the New World, and for organizing and guest editing this thematic issue of PaleoAmerica. Thanks also to Charlotte Beck and Anthony Boldurian for their cogent comments on an earlier draft of this paper, and to Ted Goebel, PaleoAmerica editor.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Christopher J. Ellis is Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada. His current research interests include the archaeology of eastern North America, late Pleistocene and Holocene hunters and gatherers, and lithic analysis.

Jonathan C. Lothrop is Curator of Archaeology in the research and collections division of the New York State Museum, Albany, New York, USA. His research is focused on the archaeology and lifeways of late Pleistocene and early to middle Holocene Native Americans in northeastern North America.