LATE

PALEOINDIAN
(PLANO
COMPLEXES)
CA. 10,000 TO 7,500 BP
 CLIMATE
 Pre–Boreal 10,500 to 9650
BP
 Boreal Climate (9650 to
8450 BP)
 change to warm dry
summers with
continuing strong
westerlies
 Atlantic Climate (8450 to
4680 BP)
 “Hypsithermal” or
“Altithermal”
 time transgressive
GOSHEN
Waters and Stafford 2014

COMPLEX American Antiquity 79(3)

stratigraphically below Folsom, same

level as Folsom and above Folsom
Related to Plainview/Midland in
Southern Plains

Mill Iron

Carter/Kerr McGhee
Jim Pitts
Agate Basin

Hell Gap

Middle Park
AGATE
BASIN
COMPLEX
10,500 TO 10,000 BP
PLANO
TRADITION
Vermilion Lakes  evidence of
structures at Hell
Gap/Agate Basin
and Vermilion Lakes
 Vermilion Lakes -
good location =>
hot springs
 occupation 14C
dated to10,400 BP
 Plano points found
throughout most of
western Canada
 VERMILION LAKES
STRUCTURE Hearth

Postholes

Circular debris scatter

 hearth,circular concentration of debris, and a

couple postholes
 circular structure about 3-4m in diameter
 Vermilion Lakes

Parkhill

Agate Basin and Hell Gap in Alberta and Saskatchewan

Parkhill site in Saskatchewan (Ebell 1980)
HELL GAP
COMPLEX
10,000 TO 9,500 BP
Casper Site Hell Gap Points
Casper Site
9,830±350 BP; 10,060±170 BP
Source
Frison, George C. 1976 The Casper Site: A Hell Gap Bison Kill on the High
Plains. Academic Press, New York
Casper Site - a bison kill located in a sand dune
Casper Site Hell Gap Points
 Several events in fall - 100 animals
killed by 75 to 100 people

Casper Site Bone Bed Planview

SHIFT FROM POINTS
TO BONES ON THE
PLAINS
Detailed analyses of the animal bones recovered from
kill sites
Preparation of comparative collections which included
representative specimens
Experimentation on actual bison carcasses to
understand prehistoric butchering processes
 AGE
DETERMINATION
Dentition
 tooth eruption and wear
 incremental growth lines

Bones
 fusion of Epiphyses

Antler
 number of tines

Horns
 growth increments in horn
sheaths
 SEX DETERMINATION
1. Anatomical features or
deposits in bones
2. Presence or absence of
elements
3. Size differences – sexual
dimorphism
4. Bivariate plots of element
dimensions
5. Statistical procedures
6. DNA analyses
 SEASONALIT
Y
1. Migratory or hibernating
habits of species
2. Fetal remains
3. Medullary bone in birds
4. Evidence of moulting in
bird bones
5. Growth and development
of antlers
6. Precise age estimates from
tooth eruption
7. Growth increments in
teeth, bones, horns and
otoliths
 HUNTING AND
BUTCHERING
BUTCHERING STRATEGIES
•procedure used to skin, eviscerate and
cut up carcass – cut marks and breaks
•selection of anatomical units – distance
to camp
• marrow extraction
• bone grease preparation

HUNTING STRATEGIES

Mortality profiles
• opportunistic or communal kills

Casper Site Hell Gap Bone Bed

Casper Site articulated spinal columns
Casper Site stacking of lumbar butchering units
 butchering of female

Casper Site articulated male bison skeleton -

preferential butchering of females
EXPERIMENTATI
ON
• penetration of skin and hitting vital organs on dead cow
• sharpened wooden spear and fire hardened failed to
penetrate the skin
• stone point affixed to wooden shaft worked but…
• stone point affixed to foreshaft and then main shaft
worked best
Jones-miller
Site
EASTERN COLORADO
Hell Gap points from the Jones-Miller site
BONEBED
 10,020±320 BP (SI-
1989)
 more than 250 bison
 at least two kill events
 winter kill
 lithic
materials from
Kansas, Colorado, and
Texas Panhandle
 no evidence of a post
corral
 deep snow, logs, or
 PLANO
SUBSISTENCE
Barton Gulch site in SW Montana (ca. 9400 BP) has roasting pits or earth
ovens with Chenopodium (goosefoot) and prickly pear (Opuntia) burnt seeds

NOTE: Chenopodium most

common seed in Plains sites
Chenopodium berlandieri

Prickly Pear
(Opuntia polyacantha)
 PLANO
RITUAL
?
 circular buffalo bone deposit, possible snow
bank
 posthole (22cm in diameter 46 cm deep) in
centre of circular bone deposit
 bird bone flute, a miniature point, and
butchered canid
 shaman’s pole, calling bison into trap
Gordon Creek Burial

9700±250 (GX-0530) BP
GORDON CREEK
BURIAL 9700±250 (GX-0530) BP


 25-30 year old woman about 152

cm tall
 tightly flexed and covered in red
ochre
 fire part of burial process or ritual.
 Grave goods - 3 bifaces,
hammerstone, endscraper,
utilized flakes, smoothed stone,
cut bones, and perforated and
broken elk teeth
 personal possessions or offerings?
CODY
COMPLEX
CA. 10,000 TO 8,000 RCYBP
Distribution of Lanceolate Plano Points (Manitoba)
Olsen-
Chubbuck
9,400 BP?
 BONE BED
193 Bison remains Strategy?

Bison occidentalis
May/June
young calves
tchered Young Female Bison – one of 13 unbutchered anima
 POINTS
 Cody knives
 multifunctional tools
 multiple points types
Scottsbluff Eden
 gathering of regional
bands?
 acceptable internal
Scottsbluff

variation?
www.Wichita.edu

Scottsbluff Milnesand Cody knives

Points from Olsen-Chubbuck

CODY FEATURES
 Mammoth Meadows,
Nebraska - rectangular
structure with stone-
lined walls
 concentration of red
ochre in the structure
and several Cody
artifacts were covered
with red ochre.
 semi-circular stone
lined structure
 Reiner site, Wisconsin
bigblueglobe.blogspot.com cremation burial with
projectile points
 Heron Eden

Cody Fletcher
Napao Niska

Complex
10,000 TO 9,200 RCYBP

dy Complex in Alberta and Saskatchewan

FLETCHER
SITE
9,380±110 BP
HERON-
EDEN SITE
CA. 9000 BP
SW SASKATCHEWAN
HERON
EDEN



bison kill site - trap
3 Scottsbluff points in situ
 4 Scottsbluff points and 1
Eden on surface

Dates
 S–3114: 8930±120 on
unburned bison bone
 S–3308: 9210±110 on
unburned bison bone
 S–3309: 8920±130 on
unburned bison bone
NISKA SITE
CODY COMPLEX
SW SASKATCHEWAN
NISKA SITE
 surface collection of
Scottsbluff points and
Cody knives
 excavations – point base
and flaked tools of
comparable material
 limited amount of faunal
material
 date of 10,880 from
charcoal from a hearth
somewhat old
Napao
CODY COMPLEX
SW SASKATCHEWAN
 Napao
 64 hectares -10 km
west of the Town of
Ponteix
 artifacts, butchered
bone and hearths
 Scottsbluff and older
Plano points
 materials uncovered
by cultivation
 PROBLEMS
1. initial peopling of the plains Early Prehistoric Period Points

2. pre-Clovis occupations on the Charlie Lake Cave

Plains

3. site recognition and discovery,

geomorphology

4. large-scale excavations

5. more regional studies

6. dating of Paleo-Indian sites

7. issues of artifact and site typology

8. classification of archaeological
complexes

9. symbolism and ideology