Paleo-Indians in North America
Paleo-Indians are recognized as the earliest well-documented cultures in North America, existing during a time of significant climatic and environmental change. This group, identified by their distinctive artifact assemblages, adapted to diverse landscapes, from caves to mountains, and exhibited a high degree of mobility. Their settlements were often temporary, with little evidence of permanent structures, reflecting a lifestyle closely tied to hunting and gathering practices. While they primarily targeted large game animals, their survival strategies were flexible, incorporating a mix of foraging that responded to ecological shifts, including the extinction of various large herbivores.
Paleo-Indians crafted sophisticated stone tools, notably bifaces, which served multiple functions and facilitated the processing of plant and animal materials. Evidence suggests they engaged in social interactions and trade with neighboring groups, as indicated by the presence of exotic stones in their toolkits. Overall, Paleo-Indians demonstrated remarkable adaptability and resourcefulness, utilizing the natural environment to sustain their communities in the face of rapid ecological changes. Their legacy provides valuable insights into the cultural and social dynamics of early inhabitants of North America.
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Paleo-Indians in North America
Related civilizations: Nenana, Clovis technological complex, Goshen, Folsom technological complex (Midland), Plainview (Milnesand), Agate Basin, Hell Gap, Cody (Scottsbluff and Firstview), Alberta, San Patrice, Dalton, Gainey, Cumberland, Barnes, Crowfield, Holcombe, Simpson, and Suwannee.
Date: 11,500-8000 b.c.e.
Locale: North America
Paleo-Indians in North America
Frank H. H. Roberts used “Paleo-Indian” in 1940 as a designation for artifact assemblages that appeared to be chronologically old on the basis of geology, fossils, or artifacts and for prehistoric cultures that were adapted to conditions unlike those prevailing in modern times. Today, “Paleo-Indian” is used to refer to the earliest well-documented cultures in the Americas, the characteristics of sites and artifact assemblages, and as a livelihood.
Paleo-Indian is the oldest unambiguous cultural tradition: It precedes all subsequent periods. Paleo-Indians adapted to a period of climatic oscillation, extremely fast environmental change, and global warming, and they explored virtually all types of topographic settings, from caves to mountainous terrain. Paleo-Indian sites have access to a high-quality stone source or an environmental magnet such as a spring, pond, or marsh, or they overlook a game crossing, stream, or confluence area. Base camps are located in areas that have access to multiple natural resources. Paleo-Indians procured high-quality chert, flint, rock crystal quartz, obsidian, quartzite, hematite, and other rock and mineral resources from a wide variety of geological situations.
Paleo-Indian settlement mobility was greater than that found among any modern hunter-gatherers. Paleo-Indian sites contain no evidence of formal houses and little refuse or features such as pits and fireplaces. Post molds and artifact distributions suggest that temporary shelters were built in a circular pattern. Paleo-Indian sites are small and scattered across the landscape. The low density of artifacts suggests that Paleo-Indian populations were sparse and scattered.
The discovery of Paleo-Indian sites on landscapes thought to have been environmentally stressful suggests a broad range of adaptive subsistence strategies. Basically, the diversity of sites and artifact assemblages from across North America demonstrates that Paleo-Indians were versatile hunter-gatherers capable of sustaining themselves in a number of ways, using whatever natural resources presented themselves.
Paleo-Indians narrowed their hunting preferences to large game animals, but their survival depended on a mixed foraging strategy that was extremely flexible and responsive to changes in ecological community structure. These changes included the extinction of large herbivores such as the mammoth, mastodon, ground sloth, horse, tapir, and camel. Paleo-Indian hunting most likely had a serious effect on species already in trouble. Ultimately, the impact of extinction on Paleo-Indian economies would have been highly variable and related to the diversity of the surviving plant and animal food resources and their response to climatic change.
Bifaces (stone tools with two faces, or edges) were the single most important Paleo-Indian utensil. They were used as weapons, knives, and a source of flakes that were recycled into myriad unifacial tools such as end scrapers, side scrapers, burins, gravers, and perforators. Use-wear studies show that plant fibers and animal skins were obtained and processed, possibly to make sacks, clothing, shelter, or traps. Bone, ivory, and stone beads were probably the most common ornament, but red ochre (hematite) was also extensively used. Red ochre was mined and commonly occurs in Paleo-Indian caches.
Paleo-Indians did not live in isolation. Contact between groups occupying neighboring areas would have been necessary to maintain an open exchange of information, raw material, and marriage partners. The only indication of Paleo-Indian trade is the presence of artifacts manufactured from exotic rocks and minerals. Although groups may have collected all their own local raw materials, the bulk of the exotic stone was probably obtained through exchange networks. Exotic stone artifacts are most common at base camps. Their presence suggests that intergroup contact and social interaction were confined to specific areas.
Bibliography
Anderson, D. G., and K. E. Sassaman. The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1996.
Ellis, C., A. C. Goodyear, D. F. Morse, and K. B. Tankersley. “Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition in Eastern North America.” Quaternary International 49/50 (1998): 151-166.
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. Prehistoric Hunters of the High Plains. 2d ed. San Diego, Calif.: Academic Press, 1991.
Tankersley, K. B. “Variation in the Early Paleoindian Economies of Late Pleistocene Eastern North America.” American Antiquity 63 (1998): 7-20.
Tankersley, K. B., and B. L. Isaac. Early Paleoindian Economies of Eastern North America. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, 1990.