The Palaeoindian-Archaic transition in NohAmerica: new evidence from Texas

C. BRrIT BOUSMAN, MICHAEL B. COLLINS, PAuL GOLDBERG,THOMAS STAFFORD, JAN Guy, BARRY W. BAKER,

D. GENTRY STEELE, MARVIN KAY, ANNE KERR, GLEN FREDLUND,PHIL DERING, VANCE HOLIDAY, DIANE WILSON, WULF GOSE,

SusAN DIAL, PAUL TAKAC, ROBIN BALINSKY, MARILYN MASSON& JOSEPH F. POWELL*

The transition from Palaeoindian to Archaic societies in North America is often viewedas a linear progression over a brief but time-transgressive period. New evidence from the

Wilson-Leonard site in Texas suggests social experimentation by Palaeoindians over a2500-year period eventually resulted in Archaic societies. The process was neither shortnor linear, and the evidence shows that different but contemporaneous lifeways existed

in a variety of locales in the south-central US in the Early Holocene.

Key-words: North America, Palaooindian, Arclhaic, terminal Pleistocene, Early Holocene, cultural transitions

The Wilson-Leonard site in Central Texas (FIG-URE 1) provides a record of human occupa-tions spanning -13,500 years (Collins 1998).Between -9500 and 8250 cal BC (10,000-9500BP) hunter-gatherers at this site manufacturedstemmed projectile points, supported them-selves with a broad-spectrum economy andburied their dead.' This stemmed projectilepoint occupation, known as Wilson, is strati-fied between Early and Late Palaeoindian oc-

1 Palacoindian archaeologists often do not use the cali-brated radiocarbon time scale, because many believe thatthe calibrations are still too imprecise to warrant usingcalibrated dates. For this reason, both calibrated anduncalibrated scales are used in this paper.

cupations. Wilson points, typical of Archaicdesigns, pre-date established Early Archaicoccupations in the south central US by 2500years (Collins 1995; Prewitt 1985). Addition-ally, the Wilson occupation burial (WL-2) isone of the oldest and most complete humanskeletons in the Western Hemisphere (Steele& Powell 1992). Unlike most Late Pleistoceneand Early Holocene human remains recov-ered in North America, it,is securely datedby radiocarbon and stratigraphically associ-ated with an occupation. The Wilson-Leonardsite contains unique clues regarding the tran-sition from Palaeoindian to Archaic societiesin North America.

* Bousman, Center for Archaeological Studies & Departmont of Anthropology, Soutlhwest Texas Stato University, SanMarcos TX 78666, USA. Collins, Guy, Dial & Takac, Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas atAustin, Austin TX 78712, USA. Goldberg, Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston MA 02215, USA.Stafford, Stafford Laboratories, Inc., Boulder CO 80301, USA. Baker, US National Fish & Wildlife Forensics Laboratory& Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Southern Oregon University, Ashland OR 97520, USA. Steele & Dering,Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843, USA. Kay, Department ofAnthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR 72701, USA. Kerr, Center of Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State

University, Alpine TX 79832, USA. Fredlund, Department of Geogrophy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee,Milwaukee WI 53211, USA. Holliday, Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721, USA.

Wilson, Geography/Anthropology Department, University of Southern Maine, Gorham MA 04104, USA. Gose &Balinsky, Department of Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA. Masson, Department ofAnthropology, SUNY-Albany, Albany NY 12222, USA. Powell, Department of Anthropology, University of NewMexico, Albuquerque NM 87131, USA.

Received 15 January 2002, accepted 14 March 2002, revised 27 August 2002

ANTIQUITY 76 (2002): 980-90

THE PALAEOINDIAN-ARCHAIC TRANSITION IN NORTH AMERICA

1.oo'w 95W

35°N

30°N

100.w 951W

Archaeological backgroundTo understand this transition, we examine thedistinctions between the Palaeoindian and Ar-chaic stages in North America. Willey & Phillips(1958: 107-11) in their classic Method andtheoryin American archaeology systematicallydefine the Archaic and Palaeoindian stages.They state that the Archaic Stage differs fromthe Palaeoindian Stage in nine aspects:1 shift from large animal hunting to exploita-

tion of a variety of smaller animals,2 increase in plant food use & gathering,3 increase in the use of plant processing and

other ground stone tools,4 greater number and variety of chipped stone

tools some of which appear to have beenused for working wood,

5 manufacture of stemmed, corner-notched orside-notched projectile points,

6 greater stability of population with less evi-

35°N

FIGURE 1. Location ofterminal PleistocenelEarly HolocenePalaeoindian andEarly StemmedProjectile Point sites

30 N Southern Prairie-Plains. Open circlesrepresent sites withearly stemmedprojectile points;triangles representpalaeoenvironmentallocales. (Mercatorprojection.)

dence for high residential mobility,7 greater use of organic materials for tool manu-

facture,8 systematic burial of the dead, and9 intensive use of stone for cooking in ovens.Many of these distinctions are still valid today(Fiedel 1992); however, the transition variesregionally within North America. Below webriefly review the archaeological record of thistransition for the regions surrounding theWilson-Leonard site.

Between 11,500-7000 cal BC (11,500-8000BP) in the Southern Prairie-Plains, many Palaeo-indian groups exploited megafauna at sites suchas Aubrey, Blackwater Draw, Bonfire Shelter,Cooper, Horace Rivers, Lipscomb, Lubbock Lake,Miami and Plainview, even though this periodwitnessed the extinction of numerous speciesof megafauna at the end of the Pleistocene(Bement 1999; Bouldurian & Cotter 1999; Dib-

981

BOUSMAN ETAL.

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ble & Lorrain 1968; Ferring 2001; Hofman etal. 1991; Holliday et al. 1994; E. Johnson 1987;Knudson et al. 1998; Mallouf & Mandel 1997;Sellards et al. 1947). Non-local lithic materi-als from sources such as Alibates in the TexasPanhandle and the Edwards Plateau in Cen-tral Texas reflect the extensive exploitation oflarge territories by Palaeoindian hunter-gath-erers (Amick 1999). Early Archaic groups re-placed Palaeoindians in the SouthernPrairie-Plains by 7000 cal BC (8000 BP). Theycontinued to hunt bison, but began to processplants in bulk at sites like Lubbock Lake (E.Johnson 1987). Late Pleistocene and EarlyHolocene skeletal remains are extremely rarein this region (Young 1988; Wendorf et al. 1955).

Palaeoindians in the US Southwest also huntedPleistocene megafauna (Haury et a. 1959; Haynes& Hemmings 1968). A few sites with unclearcultural associations and economic evidence dateto the terminal Pleistocene and earliest Holocene,but by 8250-7000 cal BC (9000-8000 BP) in south-ern Arizona and by 6400 cal bc (7500 BP) in north-western New Mexico Archaic societies hadreplaced Palaeoindians groups (Huckell 1996;Irwin-Williams 1979). This shift is accompaniedby the exploitation of small game and plant use,but clear evidence of the exact timing of this eco-nomic transition is lacking (Vierra 1994). No LatePleistocene or Early Holocene human burials havebeen discovered in the US Southwest.

In the Eastern US, although still not unani-mously accepted, the earliest Palaeoindian oc-cupation is at Meadowcroft Shelter (Adovasioet al. 1990). Although the radiocarbon recordis weakest in the east, Anderson et al. (1996)believe that Palaeoindians occupied the regionuntil -9500 cal BC (10,000 BP). However, manyEastern Palaeoindians exploited a wide rangeof animal and plant resources (Meltzer 1988),and non-local raw material use indicatesPalaeoindians exploited large territories and/or maintained extensive exchange networks(Meltzer 1989). Early Archaic groups replacedEastern Palaeoindians between 9500-8250 calBC (10,000-9500 BP) at sites such as Dust Cavein Alabama, St Albans in West Virginia andRodgers Shelter in Missouri (Broyles 1971;Driskell 1996; Kay 1982; Wood & McMillan1976). Eastern Early Archaic groups continuedto hunt diverse animal species (Meltzer & Smith1986). Late Pleistocene human remains areabsent, but systematic burial of the dead dur-ing the Early Archaic Period is wide spread ineastern North America and a few true cemeter-ies are known (Doran et al. 1990).

The Wilson-Leonard SiteThe Wilson-Leonard site (30°32.14'N,97°46.68'W) is 65 km north of Austin on BrushyCreek, a tributary of the Brazos River, a fewkilometres west of the Balcones Escarpment.

982

THE PALAEOINDIAN-ARCHAIC TRANSITION IN NORTH AMERICA

This escarpment forms the eastern edge of theEdwards Plateau. Brushy Creek deposited al-luvial sediments to a thickness of 6-7 m at thesite in the Late Pleistocene and Holocene. Threeprimary deposits (Units I-III) and eight sub-units were identified (FIGURE 2).

Fifty-five 14C assays fix the chronology of thesite's deposits (TABLE 1). These represent a se-lection from 96 assays (Collins 1998) of the mostparsimonious dates based on stratigraphic con-straints and comparisons with the radiocarbonrecord from other sites in the region (Collins1995; Prewitt 1985). TABLE 1 lists the calibratedintercepts and 2-sigma calibrated age range foreach radiocarbon assay (Stuiver et al. 1998).

Valley scouring marks the initial alluvial eventat the Wilson-Leonard site and correlates todrought conditions identified at nearby BoriackBog (Bousman 1998) and Halls Cave (Toomey etal. 1993) between 13,700 and 12,100 cal BC(13,000-12,000 BP). At this time, erosion of allu-vial sediments in valley bottoms is wide spreadin central Texas (Blum et al. 1994). The basal UnitIgl gravels, with Clovis artefacts, were depositedafter this event. Above the gravels, silty deposits(Isl) contain the Early Palaeoindian occupationknown as the Bone Bed Component. Quantita-tive analysis of a regional sample of Palaeoindianprojectile points indicates the single lanceolateprojectile point from the Bone Bed Component(FIGURE 3a) is most similar to Plainview forms(Kerr 2000). Unit Icl, above the Bone Bed Com-ponent, interfingers with the upper portion ofUnit Isi. Unit Icl consists of clayey cienega (marsh)deposits, and produced the oldest radiocarbonassays. These assays show that the Bone BedComponent predates -11,200 cal BC (11,200 BP).

Capping the cienega deposits, a cumulic A-horizon, known as the Leanne Soil (Unit Isi-c),formed. The Leanne Soil dates between -9500and 8250 cal BC (10,000-9500 BP). A thin dis-continuous silt deposit (Unit I-d) caps the LeanneSoil. Unitl-d, undatedby radiocarbon, must haveaccumulated immediately after the formation ofthe Leanne Soil. Units Isi-c and 1-d contain theWilson Component. This component is distinc-tive because of the manufacture of stemmed Wilsonprojectile points (FIGURE 3b-e). Erosion at -8250cal BC (9500 BP) marks an unconformity at thetop of Unit I and corresponds to a second dryperiod identified in the phytolith and charcoalrecords at the Wilson-Leonard site and the BoriackBog pollen spectra (Bousman 1998).

Unit II consists of undivided colluvial andalluvial deposits. Overlap with the youngestUnit I and oldest Unit II radiocarbon dates sug-gests that Unit II began to accumulate at -8250cal BC (9500 rP). The youngest 14C assays indi-cate that Unit II sediments continued to accu-mulate until at least -8000 cal BC (8800 BP) andpossibly as late as 7050 cal BC (8050 BP). Abun-dant Late Palaeoindian artefacts were excavatedfrom Unit II sediments. These include projec-tile points (Golondrina, Barber, St Mary's Hall,Scottsbluff, Big Sandy, San Patrice and Angos-tura, FIGURE 3f-i), bifaces, gouges, drills, burins,spurs, scrapers and net sinkers. A few Wilsonpoints were also excavated from the lower por-tion of Unit II, but definition of individual com-ponents in Unit II was not possible due to mixingand compressed stratigraphy.

Sediments that form Unit III date between-7500-7050 cal BC (8400-8050 BP) and present.A complete sequence of Early (Unit Mla), Mid-dle (Unit ib), and Late Archaic (Unit Mc) com-ponents as well as Late Prehistoric (Unit IIIc)occupations were recovered.

The Wilson ComponentThe Leanne Soil encases Wilson artefacts scat-tered around 10 small stone-lined hearths, twoor possibly three small pits of unknown func-tion and a single human grave. Archaeomagneticanalysis (Gose 2000) of burned stone from twohearths in the Leanne Soil, seven hearths inUnit II and numerous burned rock features,including two large ovens, in Unit HI demon-strates that these features cooled in place andremained in situ. The vertical distribution ofanimal bone, stone artefacts and hearths showsat least two superimposed Wilson occupations.

Nine stemmed Wilson projectile points wererecovered amongst the 10,953 pieces of lithicdebris and cores and 186 other stone tools inthe Leanne Soil. These points, with thick ex-panding stems and ground edges, reflect newhafting and possibly hunting strategies notpresent amongst Palaeoindian groups. Thesenew hunting strategies may include the use ofatlatls although direct evidence is lacking. Wearon Wilson points shows their use as projectilesand knives, and they did not break as frequentlyas Late Palaeoindian lanceolate forms. Wilsonhunter-gatherers intensively resharpened manypoints to exhaustion, and recycled afew into othertools such as burins or end scrapers. It is possi-

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ble that Wilson points were more flexible in afunctional sense but they certainly were moredurable than Palaeoindian lanceolate forms.

Other tool forms, typical of Archaic lithicassemblages such as gouges, burins, and scrap-ers, are present in the Wilson Component. Theseforms suggest the regular manufacture ofwooden, hide, and bone artefacts. However, onlytwo fragments of ground stone were excavatedfrom the Wilson occupations and this couldbe due to limited plant food processing at thesite. Many Early Archaic sites in Central Texascontain abundant ground stone artefacts (L.

Johnson 1987), and their scarcity in the WilsonComponent is inconsistent with Archaic tech-nological and economic strategies.

The presence of lithic materials from a vari-ety of sources in the Edwards Plateau demon-strates that the Early Palaeoindians exploiteda wider range of non-local materials, and therewas a gradual and steady increase in the use ofhighly local materials from the Early Palaeo-indian to the Middle Archaic (FIGURE 4). Aslocal raw material use increased, this probablyreflects the gradual reduction in the size of theexploited territories of these respective groups.

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THE PALAEOINDIAN-ARCHAIC TRANSITION IN NORTH AMERICA

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Drought conditions were most severe duringthe Middle Archaicperiod (Bousman 1998), andit appears that these Middle Archaic hunter-gatherers were tethered strongly to local reli-able waterholes along the Balcones escarpment.

Wilson peoples excavated a shallow grave,WL-2, in the Leanne Soil (FIGURE 5). Radiocar-bon assays of burial pit sediments (Tx-4787,Tx-4793) and charred tree roots grown over theWL-2 burial pit (CAMS-14807, CAMS-14805)provide a minimum age for the grave (see TA-BLE 1). However, the top of the grave originatedwithin the lower portion of the Leanne Soil (UnitIsi-c) and extended into the underlying cienegadeposits (Unit Ic) indicating the actual age ofthe grave is between 9500 and 9230 cal BC(10,000-9750 BP).

The individual buried in the grave was rep-resented by a crushed but almost complete skulland post-cranial skeleton. The remains werethose of a -25-year-old female of average height(-158 cm) lying in a flexed position on her rightside. Cause of death could not be determined.A detailed assessment of her biological affin-ity was not possible because of the crushed anddistorted skull. In life, she would have had arelatively longer and narrower brain case andface and slight prognathism of the front teethand supporting bone. She is similar to other

7Large FaunaNISP in 114'screenMedium & LargeFauna NISP in118 ScreenSmall FaunalNISP in 114Screen

-0- Highly Local LithicMatedal

females of comparable antiquity in NorthAmerica (Steele & Powell 1992).

A large unmodified subangular Cretaceouslimestone cobble, a feldspathic sandstone grind-stone-chopper, and a Cretaceous-aged fossilshark tooth were in the burial pit. Found nearthe neck, the fossil shark tooth probably repre-sents a portion of an ornament, and it couldhave been collected from Edwards Plateau lime-stone. The purpose of the limestone cobble isunknown. It might have held down an objectsuch as a skin wrap covering the body. The feld-spathic sandstone originated in the mineraldistrict of Central Texas, but these occur as

FIGuRE 5. W-L Burial 2 and grave pit.

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BOUSMAN ETAL.

cobbles in the Colorado River terraces as closeas 15 km.

Microscopic pits and moderate to largestriations on the teeth of the WL-2 Burial re-sulted from masticating a varied diet that in-cluded hulls or hard seeds (Powell & Steele1994). This wear pattern would be expectedamongst Archaic hunter-gatherers, but notPalaeoindians. Bone collagen was too dia-genetically altered for stable isotope analysis;however, bone apatite produced a 813C valueof-11.2%o. Krueger & Sullivan (1984) argue thatcarbon in human bone apatite is acquired mostlyfrom plant carbohydrates, then less from meatlipids and only small amounts from meat pro-tein. This implies that the diet from the WL-2Burial probably included a mix of C3, C4 andperhaps CAM plants.

Edible plant remains in the Wilson Compo-nent were extremely scarce. We found only onecharred black walnut shell Uuglans major). Liveoak (Quercus virginiana) and juniper (uniperussp.) charcoal was also present, but we do notknow if acorns or juniperberries were consumed.Evidence for intensive plant-food collection,processing and cooking is not present until theEarly Archaic occupations in Unit ma, where twolarge Early Archaic stone-lined ovens containedcharred wild hyacinth (Camassia scilloides) bulbsand a wide variety of animal remains.

Additional dietary information from theWilson Component comes from 15,612 bonesand bone fragments. These include snakes(Colubridae and Viperidae), fish(Chondrichthyes), turtles (Kinosternidae andEmydidae), rodents (Blarina sp. Spermophilusmexicanus, Sigmodon hispidus, Microtus sp.,Oryzomys palustris, Geomys sp. and Neotomasp.), unidentified birds and bird eggs, hares(Lepus californicus), rabbits (Sylvilagus sp.),squirrels (Sciurus sp.), raccoons (Procyon lotor),deer (Odocoileus sp.) and bison (cf. Bisonantiquus sp.). If all or even a majority of theseremains represent human food refuse (67-5 %were burned, 1-1% had spiral fractures, andnone gnawed by carnivores), NISP frequenciessuggest these people were generalized hunterswho focused their exploitation efforts uponrabbit, hare, turtle and deer.

A comparison with the other major compo-nents at Wilson-Leonard (see FIGURE 4) indi-cates that Early Palaeoindians in the Bone BedComponent exploited the highest frequency of

large-sized animals such as bison and horse.Wilson groups increased their diet breadth byutilizing more medium-sized animals, such asdeer or antelope. Early Archaic groups exploitedthe greatest number of small-sized animals, suchas rabbits and reptiles, and had the greatest dietbreadth. Middle Archaic peoples shifted backto medium-sized animals. Late Archaic and LatePrehistoric groups increased their exploitationof large-sized fauna. It is well known that bi-son population densities in the Southern Plainswaxed and waned throughout the Holocene andthat these changes occurred in concert withclimatic changes (Dillehay 1974; McDonald1984). The faunal changes at the Wilson-Leonardsite are probably due, in large part, to bisonavailability.

DiscussionBeginning at 9500 cal BC (10,000 BP) and forthe next 1250 years, Wilson hunter-gatherersmanufactured expanding stem projectile points,buried their dead with offerings and exploiteda wide range of animals, and possibly plants,within moderate-sized territories. Occupationsin the Southern Prairie-Plains, correlated to thePalaeoindian interval, with stemmed or notchedprojectile points are known from sites like Devil'sMouth, Wharton County, Quince, Horn Shel-ter, Buckner Ranch and Packard Johnson 1964;Patterson & Hudgins 1985; Perttula et al. 1994;Redder 1985; Sellards et al. 1940; Sorrow 1968;Wyckoff 1985). However, often their chronolo-gies are imprecise and their significance isunclear because unmixed cultural componentscould not be isolated stratigraphically.

In Texas, most early sites with stemmed ornotched projectile points are limited to the south-ern half of the State (see FIGURrE 1). The north-western extent of their distribution reflects aculturalboundarywith coevalPalaeoindian groupsliving a very different lifestyle in the SouthernPlains (E. Johnson 1987; Knudson et al. 1998).

At Rodgers Shelter in Missouri, DaltonPalaeoindian occupations, dating between10,500-8250 cal BC (10,500-9500 BP), are fullycontemporary with the Wilson Component atthe Wilson-Leonard site (Kay 1982: 103). How-ever, Lopinot et al. (2000) excavated stemmedprojectile points similar to Wilson points andpossibly of a similar age at the nearby Big Eddysite. This site might extend the range of Wilsongroups to the northeast. Wilson points are strik-

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THE PALAEOINDIAN-ARCHAIC TRANSITION IN NORTH AMERICA

ingly similar to Early Archaic Kirk points fromthe Southeastern US (Anderson & Sassaman1996), but the oldest Kirk occupations post-datethe earliest Wilson occupation at the Wilson-Leonard site by 1250 years (Anderson et al.1996). At the Wilson-Leonard site, after 8250cal BC (9500 BP) Late Palaeoindian societies re-placed Wilson groups, and Early Archaichunter-gatherers followed them after 7500-7050cal BC (8400-8050 BP).

Wilson occupations at the Wilson-Leonardsite signify that the transformation fromPalaeoindian to Archaic strategies began by thebeginning of the Holocene, but the Wilson Com-ponent pre-dates the full set of Archaic behav-iours in the region by 2500 years. This studyindicates that hunting-gathering societies inCentral Texas responded to dramatic environ-mental changes at the Pleistocene-Holoceneboundary with multiple, diverse strategies. Overthis 1000-2500-year period, Native Americansexperimented with various ways of coping withaltering environmental conditions in terms ofsubsistence, stone-tool designs and settlement/mobility patterns, and the end result was theArchaic adaptation. Archaeologists must bet-ter understand these transformations, becausethis period sets the stage for the developmentof greater social complexity first witnessedduring the Middle Archaic at Southern US siteslike Watson-Brake (Saunders et al. 1997).

SummaryAs discussed in the beginning of this paper,the hallmarks of Palaeoindian and Archaic so-cieties differ in significant ways. Few sites inNorth America provide detailed evidence of the

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