Early Holocene Paleoindian deposits at Nall Playa, Oklahoma Panhandle, U.S.A.

Abstract

Fieldwork conducted at the Nall North locale and the adjacent playa documents buried Paleoindian deposits and a stratigraphic sequence dating back to the late Pleistocene. Cultural debris recovered from the surface of Nall North includes bone, tools, and lithic flake debris. Two buried paleosols at the locale date to the early Holocene and hold high potential for Paleoindian materials. The Baker paleosol, a stabilized surface above the shoreline of the adjacent playa lake, dated between ca. 6870 and 7740 yr B.P., contains a rich cultural component of tools, flakes, and bone, and represents a potential surface for Angostura and Allen/ Frederick artifacts. Located below the Baker soil is the Nall soil (dated to ca. 9650 yr B.P.) that probably represents a marsh facies of the playa fill. The Nall soil represents a potential surface for Plainview/Goshen-age artifacts, although excavations thus far have recovered no cultural debris. In the playa adjacent to the Nall North locality, a sequence dating between ca. 12,960 and 5310 yr B.P. documents localized spring flow into the playa during the late Pleistocene, followed by several thousand years of playa muds during the early Holocene, and the eventual drying of the playa in the middle Holocene. ᭧

Cool, wet conditions late in the Younger Dryas in semi-arid New Mexico

“…The upper and lower boundaries of the thin beds are irregular and diffuse, probably a consequence of Figure 1. Selected Younger Dryas-age localities with high water table-related wetland deposits, many associated with Paleoindian sites: 1, Murray Spring site (Haynes and Huckell, 2007); 2, Lehner site (Haury et al, 1959;Haynes and Haury, 1982); 3, Naco site (Haury et al, 1953); 4, Wilcox Playa (Haynes et al, 1987); 5, Kaibito Plateau (Cyr, 2004); 6, Red Peak Valley (Karlstrom, 1986); 7, Salt Creek marsh (Love et al, 2011); 8, Water Canyon site (Dello-Russo et al, 2010); 9, Mockingbird Gap site (Holliday et al, 2009); 10, Pounds Playa (Haynes, 2008); 11, Blackwater Draw Clovis site (Haynes, 1995;Haynes et al, 1999); 12, Lubbock Lake site (Holliday, 1985;Haas et al, 1986); 13, Aubrey site (Ferring, 2001;Waters and Stafford, 2007); 14, Domebo site (Leonhardy, 1966); 15, Nall site (LaBelle et al, 2003); 16, Bull Creek site (Bement et al, 2007). Modified from Haynes (2008).…”

Site Structure and Activity Organization at a Late Paleoindian Base Camp in Western Nebraska

“…Each of these formational settings entails differing investigative problems and prospects. Examples of this spatially diffuse residential pattern occur in Moss Agate arroyo (Hill 2008;Sellet 2004), in Cedar Creek canyon (Hofman 1990), around Nail playa (LaBelle 2005;LaBelle et al 2003), and, as discussed below, in Ash Hollow.…”

What's the Point?

“…Large surface collections have been made over the past 100 years, and cultural historical sequences have been built by several research projects. However, many counties have seen limited professional investigation (Figure 2) due to minimal CRM research, lack of interaction with regional universities, and absence of local avocational society chapters, such as the Colorado Archaeological Society (LaBelle 2003). This is especially so for those counties bordering Nebraska and Kansas, given their distance from population centers (Figure 2).…”

“…We think that working with local artifact collectors remains one of the better ways for archaeologists to understand this region (Daniel 2016;LaBelle 2003LaBelle , 2004aPitblado 2014aPitblado , 2014bShott 2017;Shott et al 2018). The place is too large and too far from regional universities (for quick day trips to/from) to explore systematically.…”

“…Playa lakes provided oases while occupying these uplands, offering access to predictable water, smaller game and waterfowl, and diverse vegetation (Haukos and Smith 1994;Litwinionek et al 2003;Wedel 1963). Our understanding of playa use is well established in the Southern Plains, where archaeologists have built an extensive record of playa occupation (Brosowske and Bement 1998;Hartwell 1995;Hill et al 1995;Holliday et al 1994;Hurst et al 2010;LaBelle et al 2003;Mandel and Hofman 2003;Turpin et al 1997). However, little was known about how Native American peoples used these wetland landscapes in the Plains of eastern Colorado prior to our study.…”