Projectile Points (projectile + point)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Evolutionary archeology: Current status and future prospects

EVOLUTIONARY ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 1 2002
Michael J. O'Brien
Abstract Darwinian evolution can be defined minimally as "any net directional change or any cumulative change in the characteristics of , populations over many generations,in other words, descent with modification"1 (p. 5). In archeology the population comprises artifacts, which are conceived of as phenotypic.2,4 Extension of the human phenotype to include ceramic vessels, projectile points, and the like is based on the notion that artifacts are material expressions of behavior, which itself is phenotypic. Archeology's unique claim within the natural sciences is its access to past phenotypic characters. Thus, historical questions are the most obvious ones archeologists can ask, although admittedly this is hardly a strong warrant for asking them. But if the issue is evolution, then historical questions must be asked. Posing and answering historical questions is the goal of evolutionary archeology.5. [source]


Freshwater availability as the constraining factor in the Middle Paleoindian occupation of North-Central Florida

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2009
David K. Thulman
The locations of reliable surface water exposures during the Middle Paleoindian period (10,800,10,200 14C yr B.P.) in north-central Florida are reconstructed and compared to the concentrations of Middle Paleoindian projectile points. Estimates of water table levels and surface water flow in Florida's karst geology confirm prior climate reconstructions for that time indicating the area was arid and supported a xeric ecology in most upland locales. Surface water flow data from recent extreme droughts and water table estimations are used to identify the areas of highest probability for surface water availability. The distribution of the highest concentrations of Middle Paleoindian points correlates with the areas of highest probability, indicating that scarce surface water sources were the strongest constraint on occupation location during that time. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Geochemical comparisons of silicified rhyolites from two prehistoric quarries and 11 prehistoric projectile points, Socorro County, New Mexico, U.S.A.

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 3 2004
Robert D. Dello-Russo
This paper documents the results of nondestructive X-ray fluorescence (XRF) geochemical analyses and comparisons of silicified rhyolites from the Black Canyon and Sedillo Hill prehistoric quarries near Socorro, New Mexico, and subsequent comparisons of the quarry rhyolites with 11 temporally diagnostic projectile points. At the current level of analysis, findings indicate that (1) the two quarries are chemically distinct and (2) the lithic materials of two projectile points match the silicified rhyolite from the Black Canyon quarry, suggesting quarry use during the Early Archaic period (4800,3200 B.C.) and the Late Archaic period (1800,800 B.C.). A close match between the Black Canyon rhyolite and one other point provides tentative support for use of the quarry during the Clovis Paleoindian period (9500,9000 B.C.). Additional geochemical analyses of the two quarries and other regional sources should be undertaken to verify these results and further expand our understanding of prehistoric mobility in the Southwest. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Palaeoindian occupation of the Atacama Desert, northern Chile,

JOURNAL OF QUATERNARY SCIENCE, Issue 7-8 2005
Martin Grosjean
Abstract Palaeoindian occupation of the Atacama Desert in northern Chile has been found between 12,600 and 10,200,cal.,yr,BP. The new site at Salar Punta Negra (24°28,S/60°53,W/2976,m) includes about 1000 classifiable, mostly unifacial artefacts and, uniquely, three different diagnostic types of early projectile points. Two of the Lateglacial/early Holocene projectile types have wide distribution and are known from different geographical areas in South America: the Palaeoindian ,Fell' fish-tail point mainly from the southern cone of South America, and the triangular ,Tuina' points typical of the Puna of the south-central Andes in northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. In addition, we found a third type, a stemmed point typical for the Salar Punta Negra. Filling a large geographical gap of ,Fell' occupation, the site at Salar Punta Negra provides evidence for generally much higher mobility and diversity of early cultures, and supports an Andean-Pacific route for early human exploration of South America to the south through the desert at intermediate altitudes. Contemporaneous high-amplitude climatic changes were fundamental preconditions to provide adequate environments and habitats, and to make Palaeoindian hunting-gathering occupation possible in the Atacama Desert. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Osteobiographic analysis of skeleton I, Sítio Toca dos Coqueiros, Serra da Capivara National Park, Brazil, 11,060 BP: First results

AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY, Issue 2 2002
Andrea Lessa
Abstract This paper presents an osteobiographic analysis of a single skeleton found in a small rock shelter known as Toca dos Coqueiros, Piauí, Brazil. This find is of interest because of an exceptionally old radiocarbon date associated with it. The date (11,060 BP) was obtained from charcoal associated directly with the skeleton. This is an interesting find because of the rarity of osteobiographic studies of skeletons of such antiquity. Despite the existence of two projectile points in association with the burial, the morphological and molecular analyses of the skeleton demonstrated that this was a female. She was about 35,45 years of age at death. The skeleton exhibited acute and chronic bone lesions. Oral pathology was also observed, including an interproximal dental groove, probably caused by the therapeutic use of a cactus thorn. This could be one of the oldest cases of an analgesic plant used in the prehistoric Americas. Am J Phys Anthropol 118:99,110, 2002. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


« Un chef est un requin qui voyage par terre » : fonctions et statuts des armatures de projectile en dent de Carcharhinus leucas et aiguillon caudal de raie dans l'Arabie des VIe-IIIe millénaires av. notre ère

ARABIAN ARCHAEOLOGY AND EPIGRAPHY, Issue 1 2009
Vincent Charpentier
During the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age, many teeth of large sharks (Carcharhinus leucas) and stingray spines were transformed into projectile points in south-eastern Arabia. These points were probably used for fishing. Deriving from dangerous and/or toxic animals, shark teeth and stingray spines were certainly markers of prestige. [source]