Folsom Technological Complex
The Folsom Technological Complex refers to an archaeological culture identified primarily through its distinctive flaked stone tools and associations with extinct bison remains. This complex was first noted in 1908 near Wild Horse Arroyo, New Mexico, where George McJunkin discovered significant artifacts, leading to further excavations that confirmed its historical significance. The Folsom sites, notable for bison-kill locations and various campsites, yielded artifacts such as delicate spear points, scrapers, and noteworthy ritual items, indicating a sophisticated understanding of tool-making and hunting strategies.
The Folsom complex is believed to have connections with the earlier Clovis culture, with overlapping radiocarbon dating suggesting complex interactions among these groups. Bison were central to the Folsom economy, though other game such as antelope and deer were also utilized. Key archaeological sites associated with the Folsom culture span several states, including Colorado, Wyoming, Texas, Oklahoma, and North Dakota. Ongoing research continues to unveil the cultural practices and social structures of the Folsom people, highlighting their importance in North American prehistory.
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Folsom Technological Complex
Related civilization: Paleo-Indian tradition.
Date: 10,900-10,000 b.c.e.
Locale: Folsom, New Mexico; North American Plains; Rocky Mountains; and Southwest
Folsom Technological Complex
The Folsom technological complex was named after a town in New Mexico near Wild Horse Arroyo where George McJunkin, an African American cowboy, discovered the remains of an extinct form of bison, Bison bison antiquus, and a distinctive style of flaked stone weapon in 1908. The association was later confirmed on July 14, 1926, by an excavation conducted under the direction of Jesse Figgins and the Colorado Museum of Natural History. Although the evidence was incontrovertible, it was not widely accepted until Barnum Brown, a paleontologist at the American Museum of Natural History, Frank H. H. Roberts, an archaeologist at the Smithsonian Institution, and A. V. Kidder, an archaeologist at the Robert S. Peabody Foundation for Archaeology, examined artifacts in place among fossil bison bones in September, 1927, and subsequently presented their findings at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Society.
In the summer of 1928, excavations resumed as a joint venture between the Colorado and American Museums of Natural History. As during the previous summers, more artifacts were found among skeletons of the extinct bison. Experts in archaeology, paleontology, and geology were once again invited to examine the artifacts in place, and thus, Folsom became the single most important American archaeological discovery of the twentieth century.
Folsom sites consist of bison-kill sites, overlooks, campsites, and stone procurement and workshop sites. Distinctive artifacts include thin, delicate, pressure-flaked spear points with channel flakes removed from one or both sides, spurred end-scrapers, gravers, incised bone, needles, beads, and red ochre. Because these artifacts are shared with pan-North American Clovis sites, Folsom may be derived from the earlier and preceding Clovis culture and technological complex. Radiocarbon dates from Folsom sites overlap with both Clovis and Goshen sites on the plains, and their exact relationship remains poorly understood. Folsom bifaces are stylistically and technologically similar to the Cumberland and Barnes points of eastern North America. Stone used in the production of Folsom weapons and tools was frequently transported over distances upward of 250 miles (400 kilometers). Although bison was the base of the Folsom economy, antelope, deer, rabbits, prairie dogs, ground squirrels, and marmots were also exploited. Bison-kill sites range from a few animals to almost sixty bison, and important strategic locations to dispatch game were frequently reused. Most Folsom habitation sites include small hearth features, and a small circular structure was discovered at the Agate Basin site in Wyoming. Ritual items include a painted bison skull with a zigzag line, a stacked bison bone feature, and red ochre. Additional cultural aspects of the Folsom complex are yet to be discovered.
Important Folsom sites include Lindenmeier and Cattle Guard, Colorado; Agate Basin and Hansen, Wyoming; Adair-Steadman, Lipscomb, Lake Theo, and Lubbock, Texas; Cooper, Oklahoma; and Lake Ilo, North Dakota.
Bibliography
Agogino, G. “The McJunkin Controversy.” New Mexico Magazine 49, no. 3 (1971): 41-44.
Frison, G. C. “Paleoindian Large Mammal Hunters on the Plains of North America.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Science 95 (1998): 14576-14583.
Frison, G. C., and B. Bradley. Folsom Tools and Technology at the Hanson Site, Wyoming. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1980.
Haynes, C. V. “Clovis-Folsom Geochronology and Climatic Change.” In From Kostenki to Clovis: Upper Paleolithic-Paleo-Indian Adaptations, edited by O. Soffer and N. D. Praslov. New York: Plenum Press, 1993.
Taylor, R. E., C. V. Haynes, and M. Stuiver. “Clovis and Folsom Age Estimates: Stratigraphic Context and Radiocarbon Calibration.” Antiquity 70 (1996): 515-525.