Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T00:52:01.468Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Context, Provenance and Technology of a Western Stemmed Tradition Artifact Cache from the Cooper’s Ferry Site, Idaho

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Loren G. Davis ,
Alex J. Nyers  and
Samuel C. Willis
Loren G. Davis
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 238 Waldo Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 (loren.davis@oregonstate.edu)
Alex J. Nyers
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 238 Waldo Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 (loren.davis@oregonstate.edu)
Samuel C. Willis
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, 238 Waldo Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331 and Logan Simpson Design Inc., 8 E Broadway Suite 300, Salt Lake City, UT 84111
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The discovery of an artifact cache containing Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) projectile points in a clearly defined pit feature at the Cooper’s Ferry site offers a unique perspective on early lithic technology and logistical organization in western North America. A description and analysis of the cache feature reveals several new insights, including: a rocky cairn capped the surface of the pit feature; some of the artifacts were made from cryptocrystalline silicates found 16 km away; debitage analysis, including aggregate and attribute based measures, identified two distinct lithic reduction stages present in the cache; new radiocarbon assays suggest that the cache is probably not early Holocene in age and may date to associated age estimates of 11,410–11,370 radiocarbon years before present (B.P.). Unlike Clovis caches, the Pit Feature A2 cache at Cooper’s Ferry appears to be a generalized toolkit that was probably placed at the site for future use. If the 11,410–11,370 radiocarbon years B.P. assays date the creation of the Pit Feature A2 cache, then its creators were probably not pioneers in the lower Salmon River canyon but possessed local knowledge about the landscape and raw material sources; these patterns suggest greater time depth for WST foragers.

Resumen

Resumen

El descubrimiento de un depósito de artefactos conteniendo puntas de proyectil en la Tradición de Tallo Occidental (Western Stemmed Tradition) en una fosa claramente definida, en el sitio de Cooper’s Ferry, ofrece una perspectiva única sobre la tecnología lίtica temprana y organización logística en el Occidente de América del Norte. La descripción y el análisis de este depósito revela nuevas manifestaciones, incluyendo: el uso de un cumulo rocoso que cubrió la superficie de la fosa; algunos de los artefactos fueron hechos de silicatos criptocristalinos que se encuentran a 16 km de distancia; análisis de los desechos de talla, incluyendo las medidas basadas en agregados y sus atributos, identificaron dos distintas etapas de reducción lίtica presentes en el acopio. Nuevas fechas por radiocarbono indican que este depósito probablemente no corresponde al Holoceno temprano en antigüedad y bien puede datar a fechas por radiocarbono de entrell, 11,410–11,370 años de radiocarbono antes del presente. A diferencia de depósitos Clovis, el de la fosa A2 en Cooper’s Ferry, parece ser un conjunto de herramientas de uso general que probablemente fue colocado en el sitio para su uso a futuro. Si las fechas 11,410–11,370 años de radiocarbono antes del presente datan la creación del depósito en la fosa A2, entonces los autores probablemente no fueron pioneros en las bajas inmediaciones del cañón del río Salmón (Salmon River canyon), pero poseían un conocimiento particular acerca del paisaje y fuentes de materia primas locales; estos patrones sugieren una mayor antigüedad para los grupos recolectores de la Tradición de Tallo Occidental.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 4 , October 2014 , pp. 596 - 615
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2014

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Ahler, Stanley A. 1989 Mass Analysis of Flaking Debris: Studying the Forest Rather Than the Trees. In Alternative Approaches to Lithic Analysis, edited by Donald Henry and George Odell.pp. 85–118. Archaeological Papers No. 1. American Anthropological Association, Washington, D.C. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ames, Kenneth M. 1988 Early Holocene Forager Mobility Strategies on the Southern Columbia Plateau. In Early Human Occupation in Far Western North America: The Clovis-Archaic Interface, edited by Judith A. Willig, C. Melvin Aikens, and John L. Fagan, pp. 325–360. Anthropological Papers No. 21. Nevada State Museum, Carson City.Google Scholar
Ames, Kenneth M., Dumond, Don E., Galm, Jerry R., and Minor, Rick 1998 Prehistory of the Southern Plateau. In Plateau, edited by Deward E. Walker, Jr., pp. 103–119. Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 12, William C. Sturtevant, general editor. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D.C. Google Scholar
Ames, Kenneth M., Green, J. P., and Pfoertner, M. 1981 Hatwai (10NP143): Interim Report. Archaeological Reports No. 9. Boise State University, Boise, Idaho.Google Scholar
Amick, Daniel S. 2004 A Possible Ritual Cache of Great Basin Stemmed Bifaces from the Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene Occupation of NW Nevada, USA. Lithic Technology 29:119–145.Google Scholar
Beck, Charlotte, and Jones, George T. 1997 The Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene Archaeology of the Great Basin. Journal of World Prehistory 11:161–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beck, Charlotte, and Jones, George T. 2007 Early Paleoarchaic Morphology and Chronology. In Paleoindian or Paleoarchaic? Great Basin Human Ecology at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, edited by Kelly E. Graf and Dave N. Schmitt, pp. 23–41. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Beck, Charlotte, and Jones, George T. 2010 Clovis and Western Stemmed: Population Migration and the Meeting of Two Technologies in the Intermountain West. American Antiquity 75:81–116.Google Scholar
Beck, Charlotte, and Jones, George T. 2013 Complexities of the Colonization Process: A View from the North American West. In Paleoamerican Odyssey, edited by Kelly E. Graf, Caroline V. Ketron, and Michael R. Waters, pp. 273–293. Center for the Study of the First Americans, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1979 Organization and Formation Processes: Looking at Curated Technologies. Journal of Anthropological Research 35:255–273.Google Scholar
Binford, Lewis R. 1980 Willow Smoke and Dogs’ Tails: Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Systems and Archaeological Site Formation Processes. American Antiquity 45:4–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bryan, Alan L. 1980 The Stemmed Point Tradition: An Early Technological Tradition in Western North America. In Anthropological Papers in Memory of Earl H. Swanson, Jr., edited by L. Harten, Claude Warren, and Don Tuohy, pp. 77–107. Special Publication of the Idaho State University Museum of Natural History, Pocatello.Google Scholar
Bryan, Alan L. 1988 The Relationship of the Stemmed Point and Fluted Point Traditions in the Great Basin. In Early Human Occupation in Far Western North America: The Clovis-Archaic Interface, edited by Judith A. Willig, C. Melvin Aikens, and John L. Fagan, pp. 53–74. Anthropological Papers No. 21. Nevada State Museum, Carson City.Google Scholar
Butler, B. Robert 1963 An Early Man Site at Big Camas Prairie, South-Central Idaho. Tebiwa 6:22–23.Google Scholar
Butler, B. Robert 1969 The Earlier Cultural Remains at Cooper’s Ferry. Tebiwa 12:35–50.Google Scholar
Butler, B. Robert, and Fitzwater, R. J. 1965 A Further Note on the Clovis Site at Big Camas Prairie, South-Central Idaho. Tebiwa 8:38–39.Google Scholar
Carlson, Roy L. 1983 The Far West. In Early Man in the New World, edited by Richard Shutler, pp. 73–96. Sage Press, London.Google Scholar
Daugherty, Richard D. 1956 Archaeology of the Lind Coulee Site, Washington. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 100:223–278.Google Scholar
Davis, Loren G., Nyers, Alex J., and Henry, Jason R. 2014 Radiocarbon Chronology for the Windust-Cascade Phase Transition at the Cooper’s Ferry Site, Idaho. Manuscript on file, Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.Google Scholar
Davis, Loren G., and Schweger, Charles E. 2004 Geoarchaeological Context of Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Occupation at the Cooper’s Ferry Site, Western Idaho, USA. Geoarchaeology 19:685–704.Google Scholar
Davis, Loren G., and Sisson, David A. 1998 An Early Stemmed Point Cache From the Lower Salmon River Canyon of West-Central Idaho. Current Research in the Pleistocene 15:12–14.Google Scholar
Davis, Loren G., Willis, Samuel C., and Macfarlan, Shane J. 2012 Lithic Technology, Cultural Transmission, and the Nature of the Far Western Paleoarchaic-Paleoindian Co-Tradition. In Meetings at the Margins: Prehistoric Cultural Interactions in the Intermountain West, edited by David Rhode, pp. 47–64. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L. 1997 Platform Variability and Flake Morphology: A Comparison of Experimental and Archaeological Data and Implications for Interpreting Prehistoric Lithic Technological Strategies. Lithic Technology 22:150–170.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., and Pelcin, Andrew 1995 The Effect of Hammer Mass and Velocity on Flake Mass. Journal of Archaeological Science 22:429–439.Google Scholar
Dibble, Harold J., and Rezek, Zeljko 2009 Introducing a New Experimental Design for Exterior Platform Angle, Platform Depth, Angle of Blow, Velocity, and Force. Journal of Archaeological Science 36:1945–1954.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dibble, Harold L., and Whittaker, John C. 1981 New Experimental Evidence on the Relation between Percussion Flaking and Flake Variation. Journal of Archaeological Science 6:283–296.Google Scholar
Fiedel, Stuart, and Morrow, Juliet 2012 Comment on “Clovis and Western Stemmed: Population Migration and the Meeting of Two Technologies in the Intermountain West” by Charlotte Beck and George T. Jones. American Antiquity 77:376–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frison, George C. 1991 Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. 2nd ed. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, George C., Andrews, R. L., Adovasio, J. M., Carlisle, R. C., and Edgar, Robert 1986 A Late Paleoindian Animal Trapping Net from Northern Wyoming. American Antiquity 51:352–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frison, George, and Bradley, Bruce 1999 The Fenn Cache: Clovis Weapons and Tools. One Horse Land and Cattle Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico.Google Scholar
Goebel, Ted, and Keene, Joshua L. 2014 Are Great Basin Stemmed Points as Old as Clovis in the Intermountain West? A Review of the Geochronological Evidence. In Archaeology in the Great Basin and Southwest: Papers in Honor of Don D. Fowler, edited by Nancy Parezo and Joel Janetski, pp. 35–60. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Gramly, Richard Michael 1993 The Richey Clovis Cache: Earliest Americans along the Columbia River. Persimmon Press, New York.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance 1964 Fluted Projectile Points: Their Age and Dispersion. Science 145:1408–1413.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. Vance 1992 C-14 Dating of the Peopling of the New World. In Radiocarbon after Four Decades: An Interdisciplinary Perspective, edited by R. E. Taylor, A. Long, and R. Kra, pp. 503–518. Springer Verlag, New York.Google Scholar
Haynes, Gary 2007 Paleoindian or Paleoarchaic? In Paleoindian or Paleoarchaic? Great Basin Human Ecology at the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition, edited by Kelly E. Graf and Dave N. Schmidt, pp. 251–258. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Dennis L., Davis, Loren G., Thomas W., Stafford Jr., Campos, Paula F., Connolly, Thomas J., Scott Cummings, Linda, Hofreiter, Michael, Hockett, Bryan, Mc-Donough, Katelyn, Luthe, Ian, O'Grady, Patrick W., Reinhard, Karl J., Swisher, Mark E., White, Frances, Yates, Bonnie, Yohe, II, Yost, Chad , Robert M., and Willerslev, Eske 2013 Geochronology, Archaeological Context, and DNA at the Paisley Caves. In Paleoamerican Odyssey, edited by Kelly E. Graf, Caroline V. Ketron, and Michael R. Waters, pp. 485–510. Center for the Study of the First Americans, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Dennis L., Davis, Loren G., Stafford, Jr., Campos, Paula F. , Thomas W., Hockett, Bryan, Jones, George T., Scott Cummings, Linda, Yost, Chad, Connolly, Thomas J., Yohe, II, Gibbons, Summer C. , Robert M., Raghavan, Maanasa, Rasmussen, Morten, Paijmans, Johanna L. A., Hofreiter, Michael, Kemp, Brian M., Lynn Barta, Jodi, Monroe, Cara, Thomas, M. Gilbert, P., and Willerslev, Eske 2012 Clovis Age Western Stemmed Projectile Points and Human Coprolites at the Paisley Caves. Science 337:223–228.Google Scholar
Jones, S., and Bonnichsen, R. 1994 The Anzick Clovis Burial. Current Research in the Pleistocene 11:42–43.Google Scholar
Kilby, J. David, and Huckell, Bruce B. 2013 Clovis Caches: Current Perspectives and Future Directions. In Paleoamerican Odyssey, edited by Kelly E. Graf, Caroline V. Ketron, and Michael R. Waters, pp. 257–272. Center for the Study of the First Americans, College Station, Texas.Google Scholar
Lahren, Larry, and Bonnichsen, Robsen 1974 Bone Foreshafts from a Clovis Burial in Southwestern Montana. Science 186:147–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leonhardy, Frank. C., and Rice, David G. 1970 A Proposed Culture Typology for the Lower Snake River Region, Southeastern Washington. Northwest Anthropological Research Notes 4(1):1–29.Google Scholar
Lipo, Carl P., Dunnell, Robert C., O'Brien, Michael J., Harper, Veronica, and Dudgeon, John 2012 Beveled Projectile Points and Ballistics Technology. American Antiquity 77:774–788.Google Scholar
Loud, Llewellyn, and Harrington, M. R. 1929 Lovelock Cave. Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology Vol. 25, No 1. University of California, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Lyman, R. Lee, O'Brien, Michael J., and Hayes, Virgil 1998 A Mechanical and Functional Study of Bone Rods from the Richey-Roberts Clovis Cache, Washington, USA. Journal of Archaeological Science 25:887–906.Google Scholar
Maley, Terry S. 1987 Exploring Idaho Geology. Mineral Land Publications, Boise, Idaho.Google Scholar
Mehringer, P. J. Jr. 1988 Weapons Cache of Ancient Americans. National Geographic 174:500–503.Google Scholar
Muto, Guy R. 1971 A Stage Analysis of the Manufacture of Chipped Stone Implements. In Great Basin Anthropological Conference 1970: Selected Papers, edited by C. Melvin Aikens,pp. 109–117. Anthropological Papers No. 1. University of Oregon, Eugene.Google Scholar
Nyers, Alex J. 2013 A Provenance Study of Crypto-Crystalline Silicates at the Cooper's Ferry Site: A Geochemical Approach. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Anthropology, Oregon State University, Corvallis.Google Scholar
Odell, George H. 1989 Experiments in Lithic Reduction. In Experiments in Lithic Technology, edited by D. S. Amick and R. P. Mauldin, pp. 163–198. BAR International Series 528. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Owsley, Douglas W., and Hunt, David R. 2001 Clovis and Early Archaic Period Crania from the Anzick Site (24PA506), Park County, Montana. Plains Anthropologist 46:115–121.Google Scholar
Pelcin, Andrew W. 1997 The Effect of Core Surface Morphology on Flake Attributes: Evidence from a Controlled Experiment. Journal of Archaeological Science 24:749–756.Google Scholar
Roosevelt, A. C., Douglas, John, and Brown, Linda 2002 The Migrations and Adaptations of the First Americans: Clovis and Pre-Clovis Viewed from South America. In The First Americans: The Pleistocene Colonization of the New World, edited by Nina G. Jablonski, pp. 159–236. Memoir No. 27. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco.Google Scholar
SAS Institute 2012 JMP 10 Modeling and Multivariate Methods. SAS Institute, Cary, North Carolina.Google Scholar
Schiffer, Michael B. 1987 Formation Processes of the Archaeological Record. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Speth, John D. 1981 The Role of Platform Angle and Core in Hand Hard-Hammer Percussion Flaking. Lithic Technology 10:16–21.Google Scholar
Tomka, Steven A. 1989 Differentiating Lithic Reduction Techniques: An Experimental Approach. In Experiments in Lithic Technology, edited by D. S. Amick and R. P. Mauldin, pp. 137–162. BAR International Series 528. British Archaeological Reports, Oxford.Google Scholar
Wilke, Phillip J., Jeffrey Flenniken, J., and Ozbun, Terry L. 1991 Clovis Technology at the Anzick Site, Montana. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 13:242–272.Google Scholar
Wilke, Philip J., and McDonald, M. 1989 Prehistoric Use of Rock-Lined Cache Pits: California Deserts and Southwest. Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology 11:50–73.Google Scholar
Woods, James C., and Titmus, Gene L. 1985 A Review of the Simon Clovis Collection. Idaho Archaeologist 8:3–8.Google Scholar