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

Abstract

<jats:p>Paleoindian archaeology on the Great Plains is often characterized by the investigation of large mammal kill/butchery bonebeds with relatively high archaeological visibility. Extensively documented aspects of Paleoindian behavioral variability include the form and composition of weaponry systems, hunting strategies, carcass exploitation, and hunter mobility. Non-hunting oriented aspects of settlement and subsistence behavior are less documented. Information from Component 2 at the O.V. Clary site, in Ash Hollow, western Nebraska, lessens this imbalance of knowledge. It provides a fine-grained, spatially extensive record of Late Paleoindian (Allen Complex) activities at a winter base camp occupied for 5-7 months. This paper highlights elements of site structure and activity organization, emphasizing domestic behaviors including hearth use, site maintenance, and hide working. ArcGIS 9.3.1 (ESRI) and GeoDa 0.9.5-1 (Anselin 2003; Anselin et al. 2006) are employed in conjunction with middle-range observations and expectations to document and interpret spatial patterning in the distribution of over 57,000 artifacts, ecofacts, and red ochre nodules. More broadly, results are related to two models of Paleoindian residential mobility: the place-oriented model and the high-tech forager model. Rather than mutually exclusive scenarios, Component 2 indicates that these models reflect complementary structural poses within the overall behavioral system.</jats:p>

In situ evidence for Paleoindian hematite quarrying at the Powars II site (48PL330), Wyoming

“…11,000 cal B.P., and it appears to have possessed a wide range of functions, both symbolic and prosaic, within Paleoindian society ( 23 ). Hematite has been recovered in virtually every Paleoindian archaeological context, including caches ( 24 ), burials ( 25 , 26 ), animal kills ( 27 ), adhering to hide working tools ( 28 , 29 ), and in campsites ( 30 – 33 ) ( Fig. 1 ).…”

Cody Complex foragers and their use of grooved abraders in Great Plains and Rocky Mountains of North America

“…The O.V. Clary site, an Allen campsite in Nebraska, also produced a u-shaped grooved abrader (Hill et al., 2008, 2011). Like Hell Gap, this specimen exhibits grooves on both faces.…”

Fogones, combustible óseo y procesamiento faunístico en el sitio de Huencú Nazar (Sistema Lagunar Hinojo-Las Tunas, región pampeana, Argentina): Implicancias para el uso del espacio por cazadores-recolectores

“…La relevancia del fuego en la ecología humana posee evidencias para el proceso de poblamiento de toda América. Se ha reconocido la utilización de fogones como centro de las actividades domésticas (Frank 2012; Hill et al 2011; Krasinski y Yesner 2008), la gestión social de diferentes clases de combustible (Caruso Fermé y Civalero 2019; Kedrowski et al 2009; Marconetto y Lindskoug 2015) y el incremento en el registro sedimentario de semillas carbonizadas o carbones de incendios que señalan la influencia humana en la configuración de los ambientes habitados (Gnecco y Aceituno 2004; Pinter et al 2011).…”