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Intercluster Lithic Patterning at Nobles Pond: A Case for “Disembedded” Procurement among Early Paleoindian Societies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mark F. Seeman
Mark F. Seeman*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, Kent, OH 45220
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Abstract

This study examines the relation between raw-material procurement and subsistence behavior among foraging societies. “Embedded procurement” of raw materials may characterize many or most modern foraging societies (Binford 1979). Past societies, however, present economic configurations different than those of any contemporary society. The Early Paleoindian societies of North America present extreme examples in this regard, and were characterized by high mobility, low population density, and high weapon reliability. A lithic-debitage analysis of a portion of the Nobles Pond site (33ST357) supports the argument that the acquisition of lithic raw materials was not embedded in subsistence behavior, but rather, was a specialized activity required by the particular demands of band aggregation in a location far removed from sources of acceptable lithic materials.

Resumen

Resumen

El presente estudio examina la relación entre la forma de conseguir la materia prima y el comportamiento de subsistencia en las sociedades forrajeras. “Embedded procurement” de la materia prima puede caracterizar la mayoría de sociedades forrajeras; sin embargo, las sociedades antiguas muestran configuraciones económicas diferentes de las de cualquier sociedad contemporánea. Las antiguas sociedades paleoindígenas de Norteamérica muestran un caso extremo de combinación de las demandas de gran mobilidad, baja densidad poblacional, y armas altamente confiables. Un análisis de los restos líticos de una porción del sitio Nobles Pond apoya el argumento de que la adquisición de materia prima lítica no se basó en el comportamiento de subsistencia sino que fue una actividad especializada requerida por las demandas particulares de la agregación de bandas en lugares lejanos de la fuente de materiales líticos aceptables.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , April 1994 , pp. 273 - 288
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1994

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References

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