Early Paleo-Indian

Sarah Berry

≥14,000–10,200 BP (≥15,500–12,500 cal BP)

The amount of Carbon-14 (radiocarbon) in the atmosphere has fluctuated through time and differs between the hemispheres. To more accurately reflect calendrical dates, radiocarbon dates must be adjusted or calibrated (the Southern Hemisphere requires a separate calibration curve, as do dates for organic remains originating in a marine environment). Unless otherwise indicated, uncalibrated radiocarbon years BP (RCYBP) are used throughout. For example, most Clovis sites date between 11,500 and 10,800 BP, or between 13,400 and 12,800 cal BP.

The oldest unambiguous cultural tradition in the Americas, the Early Paleo-Indian precedes the Late Paleo-Indian and all other subsequent traditions.

The American continents from Alaska in the north to Tierra del Fuego in the south; excludes the Caribbean.

Assemblages are characterized by: bifacial and unifacial tools such as scrapers, knives, gravers, and burins; blades struck from prepared cores; red ochre; and ground, incised, cut, or flaked ivory and bone tools. Distinctive projectile points include: in North America the fluted Clovis and the Chindadn point; in South America the Fishtail, El Jobo, and Paijan points. Characteristic sites include the kill and scavenging sites of large herbivores (those featuring subsequently extinct Pleistocene megafauna—such as mammoth, mastodon, camel, and horse—are unambiguously diagnostic), high-quality stone procurement and workshop sites, short-term habitations, base camps, and caches.

Clovis, El Jobo, Gainey, Goshen complex, Ibicui Phase, Itaparica, Nenana, Old Amazonian Collecting-Hunting, Old South American Hunting-Collecting, Pluvial Lakes Tradition (Great Basin), Pre-Clovis, Uruguai Phase, Western Stemmed tradition (WST).

Alice Boër, Anzick site, Arc, Arroyo Seco 2, Ayer Pond, Blackwater Draw, Bostrom, Broken Mammoth, Burning Tree, Charlie Lake Cave, Cuncaicha rock shelter and workshop sites, Dietz Site, El Fin del Mundo, Emanon Pond, Guitarrero Cave, Hebior Site, Hiscock, Huaca Prieta (Chicama Valley, Peru), Jake Bluff, Kimmswick, Lamb, Lapa do Boquete, Lapa Vermelha IV, Los Toldos Cueva 3, Manis site, Meadowcroft Rockshelter, Mockingbird Gap, Monte Verde, Murray Springs, Nobles Pond, Paisley Caves, Pedra Furada, Pedra Pintada, Piedra Museo, Pucuncho workshop, Quebrada Jaguay, Ready, Schaefer site, Shawnee-Minisink, Sunrise, Tagua-Tagua, Taima-Taima, Thunderbird, Toca do Sitio do Meio Cave, Topper, Triquet Island, Vail, Vermillion Lakes, Walker Road, Wally's Beach

Although, in general, the climate was cooler, Early Paleo-Indians would have encountered the full range of climates now existing within the Americas, just not necessarily in their present-day locations. The interior of North America would have had a more continental climate with warmer summers and colder winters; winter sea ice was found as far south as Los Angeles. The North American glaciers shifted atmospheric circulation patterns to the south, such as the polar jet stream and the intertropical convergence zone, so that precipitation and wind patterns would have differed somewhat from today. For example, greater precipitation along with cooler temperatures and therefore less evaporation in the Great Basin of the United States created numerous pluvial lakes in areas that now are desert. Cooler and dryer conditions were experienced in the north and northeast, while the Southeastern United States was warmer and wetter. Among more local effects, strong winds consisting of cold, dense air flowing off glaciers created dry tundra nearby and carried loose sediments near the glaciers to form loess deposits such as those seen in the Missouri and Mississippi river valleys and in the Pampas of South America. Aridity and increased winds also created active sand dunes, such as the Sand Hills in Nebraska and in an area from northeastern Venezuela to Brazil.

In South America the most recent glacial period ended between 14,000-12,000 years ago. The continent also experienced returns to a colder climate after 14,500 cal BP known as the Antarctic Cold Reversal, and the Huelmo Mascardi Cold Reversal that started about 13,400 calendar years ago, somewhat earlier than the Northern Hemisphere’s Younger Dryas. The Huelmo Mascardi Cold Reversal and the Younger Dryas both ended about the same time. During this transition period some of the South American continent became drier to the degree that some rivers on the western slopes of the Andes in southern Peru and northern Chile ceased to flow. In the Southern Cone the oceans’ influence created a milder environment than would otherwise be expected at such latitudes, so there was no tundra or permafrost outside the higher altitudes or north of 51° S, although there are indications of stronger, more persistent winds.

In North America the climate started to warm around 18,000 years ago, causing the glaciers to begin to recede. There were three major cooling periods during this warming trend at the end of the last glacial maximum. The last cooling trend, known as the Younger Dryas, occurred in the Northern Hemisphere from 12,900-11,600 calendar years ago, when the glaciers advanced and even tropical areas of North America experienced drier conditions. These brief returns to a colder climate were also found at the end of other glacial periods during the Pleistocene. The Younger Dryas may have been anomalous. The Younger Dryas boundary impact hypothesis cites evidence of a cosmic impact event in the Northern Hemisphere that may have triggered large scale wildfires, blocking sunlight, and leading to an “impact winter.” The Pleistocene and last glacial period ended between 11,000-10,000 years ago in North America.

Topography varied from seacoasts with sea levels that were 110-115 meters below today’s, to mountains with glacier-covered peaks. The first settlers ventured into virtually all types of settings other than the glaciers covering much of Canada and the southern Andes.

Before the glaciers started to recede 15,000 years ago there were vast coastal plains that are now submerged. Off eastern South America the shoreline generally extended for more than sixty miles beyond its current position, and as much as 280 miles at the mouth of the Amazon River. The continental shelf on the Pacific side is narrower, so the shoreline was generally only thirty miles farther out. Some shorelines in North America were almost seventy-five miles beyond those of present day; as much as a hundred miles around the much reduced gulfs of Mexico, Maine and of California. Use of these coastal plains by various fauna has been found when offshore dredgers and deep sea fishermen have hauled up mammoth, mastodon, and walrus teeth and bones from the continental shelf of North America.

The speed of sea level rise varied, and the shoreline may have receded by as much as fifty meters per year due to a rise of over four centimeters in sea level. The rate didn’t slow until after 10,000 years ago. There also were temporary reversals when glaciers advanced, sea level fell, and more land would have been available, such as during the Younger Dryas. Some coastlines have changed little during the Pleistocene, due to rebound from the removal of glacial weight, or to the steepness of the continental shelf.

Glaciers covered most of Canada and the southern Andes, although areas of the latter were ice-free due to dry conditions. Glaciers impacted less than twenty percent of South America. On both continents there would have been post-glacial rebound, with the land rising after the weight of the glacial ice was removed.

Early Paleo-Indians obtained high-quality chert, flint, obsidian, quartz, quartzite, hematite, and other rock and mineral resources from a broad range of geological formations, sometimes from sources that were long distances from where the artifacts were ultimately deposited. This is evident at Quebrada Jaguay on the southern Peruvian coast where the obsidian came from the Andes more than 200 kilometers away, and at Paleo Crossing, Ohio where the majority of stone used for tools came from outcrops 600 kilometers to the southwest, in Indiana and Kentucky.

The Patagonian Ice Sheet covered all of southern Chile into Argentina; the rest of southern Argentina was spared due to aridity. In North America the Laurentide ice sheet covered eastern Canada and much of the northern United States from northern New Jersey to northern Iowa and most of the Dakotas, while the Cordilleran ice sheet covered western Canada and the United States Rockies of northern Montana and Washington. Sometime between 13,000-12,000 cal BP an area free of ice emerged on the eastern side of the Rocky Mountains. This ice-free corridor would have been periodically blocked by large glacial lakes, making human passage through this periglacial landscape difficult to impossible as it would have contained few plants or animals to exploit. Steppe vegetation, bison, and mammoth only appear around 12,600 cal BP, when the bottleneck caused by Glacial Lake Peace started to recede. The first evidence of humans in this steppe tundra environment dates to 11,000 years ago at the site of Charlie Lake Cave in northeastern British Columbia, with indications the area was colonized from south to north, first by bison and then by humans. Some glacial lakes drained suddenly when their dams of ice or moraine failed, creating massive outburst floods and carving new river channels. Wind-blown soil from the drained lake beds contributed to dune fields and loess formation. Many modern river systems didn’t assume their present channels until well into the Holocene.

Many areas in the Americas are prone to earthquakes, particularly at the continental plate subduction zones along the Pacific coast. Consequently, many western mountain ranges are volcanic and there were large eruptions during the Early Paleo-Indian period, such as at Glacier Peak in Washington State 13,100 years ago. Although artifacts at Monte Verde II in Chile were found to have coatings of ash, and numerous archaeological sites in both hemispheres contain tephra lenses in their stratigraphy, it is assumed eruptions generally had little effect on sparse Early Paleo-Indian populations beyond impacting their movements.

Mammals that became extinct during the Early Paleo-Indian period in both hemispheres include saber-toothed cats, short-faced bears, ground sloths, gomphotheres (Cuvieronius hyodon), and horses. Taxa found only in North America include mammoths (Mammuthus primigenius and Mammuthus columbi) and mastodons (Mammut americanum). Unique to South America were Glyptodon,a relative of the armadillo, Toxodon sp., a hoofed mammal, Notiomastodon platensis , a gomphothere, and Macrauchenia patachonica, a type of ungulate. Horses, and camelids other than Lama sp. and Vicugna sp. became extinct in both continents two centuries before mammoths and mastodons. [ocm]132 133 136[ocm/] The vast glaciers in North America generated different distributions of biota. Bird ranges in North America likely changed the most as the glaciers occupied areas that are currently summer breeding grounds and precluded many migration routes for summering in Beringia. Instead, birds would have migrated to tundra environments south of the glaciers, migrated along the Pacific Coast, and some presently migrating species may have been more residential during the Late Pleistocene. Charlie Lake Cave, along the Peace River in British Columbia near the ice-free corridor, has few waterfowl in the earliest levels, which may indicate current migratory routes were not established until 9500 RCYBP or, alternatively, that there were no locally productive wetlands there yet. The Great Basin, now mostly desert, appears to have been a rich migratory waterfowl area with many lakes and marshes. Arctic birds wintered on the Channel Islands in southern California—taxa found in archaeological deposits include white-fronted goose (Anser albifrons), Canada goose (Branta canadensis), snow goose (Chen caerulescens), a now extinct flightless duck (Chendytes lawi), and an albatross (Phoebastria sp.)—indicating an environment like present-day coastal Alaska and British Columbia.

The plant, animal, and insect communities that existed at the end of the Pleistocene are not directly comparable to any modern biomes. Furthermore, the composition and abundance of plant and animal species and their ranges changed continuously throughout the Early and into the Late Paleo-Indian period. In general, there was a shift in species ranges toward the poles in both hemispheres. Multiple megafauna genera became extinct during this time (12,000-10,000 RCYBP, or 13,800-11,400 cal BP), many around the start of the Younger Dryas, including some hunted or scavenged by humans. Increased aridity, ecosystem changes, a cosmic impact, perhaps human over-predation, or a combination of factors may have contributed to megafauna extinctions at the end of the Pleistocene. Some Pleistocene megafauna in South America, like the giant ground sloth (Megatherium sp.) and a giant armadillo (Eutatus seguini), survived into the early Holocene, coexisting three to four thousand years with humans.

There would have been a wide diversity of vegetation across the continents, ranging from tundra and boreal forest near the glaciers to tropical deserts, high altitude grasslands, and rainforests. Like faunal assemblages, floral assemblages of the last deglaciation, especially between 17,000-9,000 years ago, were different from those occurring today. For instance, northern spruce trees grew with temperate hardwoods such as ash, oak and elm (a species mix not seen today), and where spruce and alder grow in Alaska today there would have been woodlands of birch and poplar. Many vegetation communities may have been ecotones, i.e. mixtures of what are now adjacent but separate zones, such as a mixture of deciduous and tropical forests. The loss of keystone megafauna herbivores contributed to a restructuring many plant communities, especially herbivore-edible hardwoods. As the hardwood forest expanded there would have been an increased fuel load leading to more wildfires, at least in eastern North America.

Initial human migration and colonization of the hemisphere occurred during the Early Paleo-Indian tradition, and by 13,000 cal BP people already were widespread, utilizing different technologies and subsistence strategies, all indicating an increase in population. Genetic evidence points to either a minimum of two pulses of migration south of Canada (i.e. south of the Late Pleistocene ice sheets) since before 15,000 years ago, or to a long, relatively continuous period of gene flow from Beringia or northeast Asia. Linguistic evidence, however, suggests the hemisphere was colonized before the last glacial maximum, or before 17,000 BP, taking 7,000 years to reach southern South America. Linguistic evidence also points to two distinct populations that may have followed separate migration routes—one along the Pacific Coast and one inland—with the coastal route having a stronger and more varied impact on the dissemination of languages throughout the Americas than the interior immigration.

An apparent lack of early sites in some areas may be due to a relative lack of exploration by scientists and avocational archaeologists and therefore not strictly attributable to poor preservation or absence of settlement. There is the additional problem of recognition: early sites are hard to detect since people were highly mobile, left behind sites with a low density of remains and a wide diversity of tool types, and there were almost no temporally diagnostic artifacts prior to the Clovis period in North America. Early artifacts in South America are equally undiagnostic.

How people first entered and settled the Americas from Asia is unknown, but they could have easily traveled along the resource-rich coasts. Many of the earliest sites are found near coastlines that haven’t changed appreciably over the last 20,000 years, and many contain evidence that the inhabitants ate marine foods. Actual colonization likely predates the earliest known sites by a few thousand years, as people were present in most unglaciated areas of the continents by 15,000 years ago. What is certain is that both continents were contemporaneously occupied by the time of the Clovis subtradition at 13,000 cal BP, with South American assemblages having no affinity to Clovis. Examples of early sites include: Triquet Island in British Columbia dated to 14,000 years ago; Monte Verde and Chinchihuapi on the coast of Chile dated to 14,000-15,000 cal BP; and Taima-Taima, a 14,000 BP gomphothere kill site in Venezuela near the Caribbean coast. Later coastal sites include Huaca Prieta between 14,000-13,000 cal BP, and Quebrada Jaguay around 13,000 cal BP, both in Peru. Additionally, Paleo-Indian artifacts have been found submerged offshore in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico along the paleochannel of the Aucilla River, and near Valparaíso in central Chile at the late Pleistocene site GNL Quintero 1 (GNLQ1). Sites have been found on islands that were never connected to the mainland during the Terminal Pleistocene, indicating the use of boats and the probable exploitation of marine resources on these islands. A good example of an early inland site is Meadowcroft Rockshelter in the western mountains of Pennsylvania. Permanent settlement at very high altitudes did not clearly begin until after 10,500 years ago, although the Cuncaicha rock shelter, a temporary base camp at 4500 meters altitude in the Pucuncho Basin of Peru, dates to about 12,400 years ago.

Studies of settlement systems in several areas indicate that by 13,000 years ago people were becoming less mobile and were practicing recurrent seasonal movements within established territories. The Mockingbird Gap Clovis site in the Rio Grande Rift region of New Mexico was serially occupied, and its tool stone came almost entirely from within the rift. In the central United States, Alibates chert from quarries in the Texas Panhandle is found in caches in Kansas and Oklahoma, and at mammoth kill sites in Oklahoma and Texas. Refitting of stone tools at Noble’s Pond in Ohio suggests that it was a rendezvous site where multiple groups met and interacted, perhaps trading tools and information, and encountering potential marriage partners. Caching of tools and foods, such as mammoth in kettle ponds, suggests hunters intended to revisit productive hunting areas, especially those distant from lithic sources. In Peru, Alca obsidian from the Andes was being used 200 kilometers away on the coast. Cuncaicha rock shelter is 40-50 kilometers distant from elevations below 2500 meters where the majority of sites are located; it must have been a base camp to exploit vicuña and the nearby Alca obsidian source. These examples of land use suggest people quickly settled in more favorable areas rather than constantly moving through the landscape with little revisiting of previous locations.

Early Paleo-Indian sites are often located near landscape features such as springs, streams, ponds, marshes, and game overlooks or crossings. The sites can be sorted into four major types: 1) places where stone was procured and/or tools were manufactured or replaced, including quarries; 2) base camps, usually located near multiple resources and with extended or repeated occupation, revealing domestic activities such as hearths; 3) locations where food was hunted, scavenged, collected, and/or processed or butchered; and 4) caches that may contain raw materials, tools, weapons, and/or food. In addition, there are a seemingly limitless number of other smaller and more limited activity areas, including rare burials and ceremonial sites.

A few areas appear to have been locally abandoned during the colder climate of the Younger Dryas. This is seen in the extreme north, such as the western Great Lakes region of North America. This abandonment may have been in response to the area becoming drier, rather than to glacial advance or increased cold. In the northeastern United States the Younger Dryas cold promoted an open spruce woodland habitat favored by caribou. The Clovis people appear to be colonizers who followed the caribou into this area and were capable or exploiting widely-spaced resources. Otherwise, the effects of the Younger Dryas on hunter-gatherer behaviors were localized and minor.

Judging from tool stones found far from their sources, Early Paleo-Indian settlement mobility was probably greater than that found among any modern hunter-gatherers, although trade between groups may explain some of the pattern. Paleo Crossing in Ohio, perhaps an early colonization site dating to 13,000 years ago, contains tools made from stone quarried more than 500 kilometers away as the crow flies; at least 800-1000 kilometers by foot. The site has been interpreted as a large meeting place for several different bands.

Unlike later sites, Early Paleo-Indian sites contain no evidence of formal houses, and many do not contain refuse or features such as pits or fireplaces. Post molds and artifact scatters indicate temporary shelters usually were built in a circular form. Tents also would have been used, and at Monte Verde in Chile tent pegs, pole frames, and fragments of animal skins likely used to cover the frames have been found. An interesting and unique feature at Blackwater Draw, New Mexico was a hand-dug water well that dates to the Clovis period, the oldest known in the Americas.

Archaeological sites are mostly small, with a low density of artifacts, and are scattered across the landscape, suggesting Early Paleo-Indian populations likewise were small and widely dispersed. However, there is evidence there may have been a population decline, as fewer sites date to the start of the Younger Dryas. The numbers of sites and, presumably, population started to rebound a few hundred years later. Very few burials from the entire Paleo-Indian period have been found, perhaps due to mortuary practices that included cremation or exposure of the corpse, in addition to overall low population density. Clues to paleodiet or paleonutrition are likewise rare. Anzick-1, a burial of a Clovis infant 1-2 years old, showed no obvious signs of ill health or malnutrition. It is reasonable to assume, as seen in human remains from later traditions in the Pleistocene and into the early Holocene, that Early Paleo-Indian adults often suffered from abscessed teeth worn down from chewing plant fibers to make rope, using their teeth as tools, and eating foods contaminated with grit and sand.

Some specialized hunting techniques were employed. At Jake Bluff in Oklahoma arroyo-style traps (the driving of herd animals into a steep, narrow canyon where can more easily be killed) were used for communal bison hunting; a technique widely used in later traditions. Nets found in coastal Peru probably were used to catch marine birds, and for fishing close to shore for species such as drum and anchovies, the remains of which have been found in various sites. In North America nets appear to have been used late in the period to hunt mountain sheep. Dogs found at Tagua-Tagua in Chile may have been used in hunting. Many researchers believe megafauna were mainly opportunistically hunted or scavenged. However, there are sites where megafauna were cached, probably in the fall, as a source of meat if later hunts were unsuccessful. In the Great Basin and California large waterfowl seasonally rendered flightless by wing molt may simply have been run down or killed with an atlatl or using a stone tool known as a crescent. Crescents disappeared around 8,000 years ago, around the same time as the large waterfowl.

The evidence for reliance on plants is strong in South America. Plant remains recovered from Monte Verde, Chile include edible seeds, berries, stalks and even potatoes, as well as many others that possibly had medicinal purposes. In central Brazil it appears that people were primarily gathers, starting with the Itaparica phase, 13,000-12,500 years ago. At La Elvira, Colombia circa 11,000 BP there is evidence of tree clearance and an artificial concentration of useful plants in certain areas. From lower Central America to Peru deliberate manipulation of plants leading to early domestication of several species can be seen starting around 11,300 cal BP, shortly after the end of the Early Paleo-Indian tradition. Such plants include squash, gourd, arrowroot, manioc, lerén, yam and, probably, maize. In Peru, at the 4500 meter altitude Cuncaicha Rock Shelter dating to 12,400 years ago, there is evidence for the consumption starchy roots and tubers that were carried to the site from lower elevations.

A diversity of sites and artifact assemblages demonstrates that Early Paleo-Indians were versatile hunter-gatherers capable of sustaining themselves in a variety of ways, exploiting whatever natural resources presented themselves, even in landscapes thought to be environmentally stressful such as high altitudes. Most sites indicate opportunistic hunting with few specialized techniques, and there likely was a mixed foraging strategy adaptable to a wide range of environments and to relatively rapid environmental changes ranging from fluctuating sea levels to the extinction of many large mammals such as mammoth, mastodon, gomphotheres, ground sloth, horse, Toxodon, camel, and Glyptodon (a large armadillo). Species exploited run the gamut from fish to mammals, including alligator, antelope, badger, bear, bison, booby, camelids, caribou, cormorants, deer, duck, elk, frog, goose, gopher, ground sloth, grouse, horse, lemming, mountain sheep, muskrat, pelican, prairie dog, proboscideans, ptarmigan, rabbit, raccoon, rat, shellfish, swan, turtle, and wolf. However, it was not megafauna but deer and other artiodactyls that were the mainstay of most early hunter-gatherer economies. There also are sites located on the shores of rivers, springs, lakes, and pluvial lakes where up to forty percent of the meat in the diet came from waterfowl. All five species of American proboscideans were exploited by humans (Mammuthus primigenius, Mammuthus columbi, Mammut americanum, Cuvieronius hyodon), and [i]Notiomastodon platensis[i]), with sites found in a wide range of habitats including savannas, steppes, boreal forest, woodlands, riparian zones, and tropical savanna. Their bones, and the bones of other extinct megafauna, are often fractured in ways indicating marrow extraction was a principle objective, not the manufacture of bone tools.

Remains of edible plants have been found where there is exceptional preservation. In northeastern North America these are usually plants that don’t require processing, including hackberry (Celtis sp.), hawthorn plum (Crataegus sp.), water lily (Nymphaea odorata), various Rubus species such as blackberry; and grape (Vitis sp.). Other plants found in archaeological sites and not as likely to have been consumed may have been used medicinally; they include acalypha (Acalypha virginica), amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), buckbean (Menyanthes trifoliata L.), chenopod (Chenopodium sp.), smart-weed (Polygonum sp.), and winter cress (Barbarea orthoceras). Studies of dental wear indicate a broad diet with large amounts of plant fiber, similar to that found later during the Archaic. Fibrous plants also would have been chewed to prepare the fibers for making rope or twine.

The earliest sites have nondescript, expedient, informal tools and technologies that appear unrelated to later assemblages. Early stone tools were usually made from local lithic sources, not necessarily of the highest quality, unlike many later Clovis tools. The lithics at Arroyo Seco 2 in the Argentinian Pampas are examples of this; they were mostly unifacial, marginally retouched quartzite tools, stratigraphically associated with extinct megafauna. Bifacial work mostly occurs with non-diagnostic projectile points. Other tools include large, thick flakes, flaked cobbles for battering or chopping, simple flakes for cutting, unifacial or edge-trimmed tools, scrapers (perhaps for use on plants or wood), and bone or ivory tools such as the bone point found embedded in a mastodon rib at the Manis Mastodon site in Washington State.

Widespread diagnostic artifacts don’t appear until around 11,000 BP, the time of the Clovis subtradition. Tools were manufactured by the people who used them and were easily portable, reflecting a highly nomadic way of life. Clovis, a North American projectile point type, is thought to have developed either in eastern North America, the southern Great Plains, or northern Mexico. The technology then spread north toward the Canadian glaciers and south toward Central America. Bone technologies reflect an Old World Paleolithic technology, such as Clovis ivory foreshafts comparable to one found near the Yana River in Siberia made from wooly rhinoceros horn. In South America the two main stone tool industries, unifacial and bifacial, occurred contemporaneously, but are usually found on different sites. This could be due to site function as the tools were adapted to resources found in specific habitats, or to the availability of raw materials or, possibly, to separate cultural groups.

Later in the period, bifaces were the single most important North American utensil. Bifacial tools include projectile points, parallel-sided blades or bladelets, and heavy chopping and cutting tools. They were used as weapons, knives, and as a source of flakes that were manufactured into myriad unifacial and bifacial tools such as end scrapers, side scrapers, burins, gravers, perforators, and unretouched large flakes. One rather unique item is the limace—a long, slug-shaped, bipointed stone tool that can be resharpened until quite small—which is found on both continents. Early Paleo-Indians also produced blades struck from prepared cores. Blade cores were large, polyhedral, and conical in shape. Use-wear studies of stone tools show many were used to process plant fibers and animal skins, probably to make sacks, cordage, clothing, shelter, traps, etc. Early Paleo-Indians produced a range of items from bone and ivory; most are cylindrical, beveled on both ends, or beveled on one end with the opposite end shaped conically to a point. The beveled surfaces can display deeply incised cross-hatching. These bone and ivory artifacts were used as projectile points, foreshafts, awls, and, possibly, leisters (multi-pronged spearheads for fishing).

The earliest diagnostic stone projectile point in North America is the Clovis fluted point. Another distinctive stone tool is the crescent, which is associated with waterfowl habitats in the Great Basin and California and it is thought to have been used specifically to hunt and process such birds. It was used into the Archaic period.

Monte Verde, Chile, one of the earliest Early Paleo-Indian sites, had an economy based on collecting plants and hunting, a unifacial industry, bipointed projectile points, bola stones, and a wide variety of wooden objects including parts of tent structures. Net technology and the importance of marine resources are evident in some of the earliest deposits in coastal Peru and northern Chile. Assemblages at Brazilian sites reflect a greater emphasis on plant collecting, with tools such as edge-trimmed flakes, pounders, choppers, and hammers, made of quartz and various other kinds of stone.

El Jobo, a bipointed projectile point, is found mostly in northern South America starting around 14,000 years ago. The other major early projectile point form in South America is the Fishtail, which first appears around the Straits of Magellan 11,600 BP, and was widespread in the southern half of the continent. Some are fluted, but have a very different morphology and reduction sequence compared to the North American Clovis point; both are associated with extinct megafauna. Another point, the Paijan, dating to the Younger Dryas and slightly later, is found in the northern and central Andes, and perhaps as far south as Patagonia.

The most common ornaments found are beads of bone, ivory, and stone. Mined red ochre (hematite) was extensively used, quite likely for body painting and rock art, and perhaps in preparing hides and a variety of other purposes; it commonly occurs in caches.

Contact between Early Paleo-Indian groups occupying nearby areas would have been vital for maintaining an exchange of information, marriage partners, and raw material. In South America similarities in projectile point forms, unifacial tools, and styles of rock art suggest that at least ideas traveled great distances. Our best indication of Early Paleo-Indian trade is the presence of artifacts manufactured from stone obtained from faraway sources. Some researchers argue that the bulk of exotic tool stone was probably obtained through exchange networks rather than directly by long-distance travel to the sources. Artifacts made from exotic stone are most common at base camps, suggesting that intergroup contact and social interaction were confined to particular sites.

There is no evidence of craft specialization during the Early Paleo-Indian period. Labor probably was divided according to differences in age, gender, and individual ability.

No evidence has been found indicating differential access to, or control of, resources by individuals during the Early Paleo-Indian period.

Early Paleo-Indians lived in nomadic, band-level societies with populations likely under 175 people, hunting animals and gathering plants. They probably moved their camps multiple times a year. It is assumed their camps were typically small, consisting of twenty to fifty people. Some sites appear to have been places where several groups met, perhaps seasonally, to trade tools and information, and to meet marriage partners from other bands, which would have been important for a genetically viable population of colonists.

With so few human remains the evidence for warfare during this earliest New World tradition is inconclusive. There is stronger evidence of conflict during the following Late Paleo-Indian period, when some individuals suffered blows to the head, and Kennewick Man had a hip wound from a projectile point. Nevertheless, such injuries could have been accidental.

The widespread occurrence of red ochre and rock crystal quartz may be evidence of Early Paleo-Indian belief systems. As during the Upper Paleolithic in the Old World, red ochre may be associated with the beliefs and practices of hunting, reproduction, birth, and death. In the ethnographic record for North America crystals are often important components of ritual and ceremonies. Possible ritual activity is indicated by a raven skeleton found with associated artifacts at Charlie Lake Cave in British Columbia dated to 10,500 BP. Ravens are linked with origin myths among historic peoples of the area.

No evidence for organized religions or leaders has been found for the Early Paleo-Indian period.

The finished weapons, other tools, and beads found at red ochre mines suggest that these were places where ceremonies were required and performed. Caches of exquisitely knapped tools made from exotic stone may be interpreted as evidence for ceremonial activities that took place near mortuary sites. Cave paintings in Caverna da Pedra Pintada include hand prints of all sizes, indicating they were made by all members of a group, from the very young to adults.

Early Paleo-Indians made artistic use of bone, ivory, and stone. Decorated antler rods or foreshafts have been found in the Great Basin. Common incised and painted patterns include parallel, zigzag, and/or cross-hatched lines. There are numerous, poorly-dated rock art sites in South America that may belong to this time period, such as Pedra Furada and Pedra Pintada in northern Brazil, with images that include astronomical figures such as the moon and stars, and human figures that are larger than animal representations.

Deliberately buried human remains date to late in the time period. These may be associated with artifacts and, commonly, with red ocher on those artifacts, such as at Anzick-1, the only Clovis site where diagnostic artifacts were found near human remains. The Anzick-1 burial was a child 1-2 years old; a nearby cache contained 115 stone and antler tools dusted with red ocher. Cremated remains have been found at Fishbone Cave in western Nevada, associated with netting, basketry, cordage, matting, and a pelican skin.

Very few human remains dating to the Early Paleo-Indian period have been found, possibly due to mortuary practices of exposure above ground or cremation. Many of the earliest human remains are of corpses accidentally buried through natural geological processes. Two examples are a female teenager researchers named Naia, who likely fell to her death and was found in an underwater cave in the Yucatan Peninsula, and Arlington Springs Man from Santa Rosa Island off the coast of southern California.

This tradition summary was written by Sarah Berry in January, 2018. We thank Peter N. Peregrine for bibliographic suggestions.

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