Paleoindian Technology in Beringia— A Technological and Morphological Analysis of the Northern Fluted-Point Complex

• Main Author: Smith, Heather Lynn
• Other Authors: Goebel, Ted, Graf, Kelly, Waters, Michael, DeWitt, Thomas, Carlson, David
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: Fluted Points; Beringia; Paleoindian Technology; Arctic Paleoindian; Arctic; Yukon; Alaska
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/187003

This project is the first comprehensive analysis of fluted projectile points found across arctic North America and encompasses three levels of analysis that increase in scope geographically, methodologically, and theoretically. The start of the project served to develop an understanding of the technological organization represented at the first archaeological site to provide a clear radiocarbon record for fluted points in Alaska, Serpentine Hot Springs. The fluted-point collection from Serpentine was then used as a benchmark to compare the greater collection of fluted-points found across northern Alaska and Yukon and understand whether they represent a cohesive complex, and the technological risk and adaptive role associated with fluted-point use in the late Pleistocene Arctic. Finally, an expanded technological and morphological analysis comparing northern fluted points to other fluted-point forms found throughout North America was conducted to investigate whether convergence or cultural transmission was responsible for the presence of fluted-point technology in the far north. The first phase of the project consisted of an assemblage level analysis of the lithic collection recovered from the Serpentine Fluted-point Site. The site contained buried fluted projectile-point fragments, an associated lithic assemblage, and charcoal-rich cultural features AMS-radiocarbon dated to approximately 12,000 calendar years before present, placing it within a Paleoindian timeframe. Interpretation of the technological organization used by the site’s occupants provides a glimpse of a logistical system of mobility practiced by Paleoindian groups in the Arctic. The second phase of the project consisted of a technological and morphological analysis of 51 northern fluted points that included metric, non-metric, and qualitative variables, which were statistically evaluated and compared to a collection of 46 Folsom artifacts. A new approach to geometric morphometrics was developed to evaluate variability in point outline shape, which ...