Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-t5tsf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T07:29:48.324Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trampling Experiments in the Search for the Earliest Americans

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Neal H. Lopinot  and
Jack H. Ray
Neal H. Lopinot
Affiliation:
Center for Archaeological Research, Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri 65897 ([email protected])
Jack H. Ray
Affiliation:
Center for Archaeological Research, Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri 65897 ([email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Experiments were undertaken to evaluate a natural versus cultural origin for a set of modified pebbles and cobbles found in pre-Clovis-age contexts at the Big Eddy site (23CE426) in southwest Missouri, U.S.A. Two experiments involving Asian elephants and American bison provided evidence that pre-Clovis-age modified cobbles, pebbles, and flakes probably were produced by the trampling of large mammals traversing alluvial gravel bars in search of food and water in a riparian environment. The production of “zoofacts” and behavioral aspects of elephants are described with respect to research on the earliest Americans.

Résumé

Résumé

Experimentos fueron emprendidos para evaluar el origen natural verus el origen cultural de un grupo de piedras y guijarros modificados que fueron encontrados en un contexto de la edad pre-Clovis en el sitio llamado Big Eddy en la región Suroeste del estado de Misuri, EE.UU. Dos experimentos que incluyen elefantes asiáticos y bisontes americanos proveyeron evidencia de que las piedras, los guijarros y las astillas modificadas de la edad pre-Clovis fueron probablemente producidos por el pisoteo de mamíferos grandes mientras cruzaban las barras de grava aluvial en busca de alimento y agua en un ambiente ribereño. La producción de “datos zoológicos” y de aspectos de comportamiento de los elefantes son descritos en cuanto a que se refieren a la investigación relacionada a los americanos originales.

Type
Reports
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 72 , Issue 4 , October 2007 , pp. 771 - 782
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Agenbroad, Larry D. 1989 Spiral Fractured Mammoth Bone from Nonhuman Taphonomic Processes at Hot Springs Mammoth Site. In Bone Modification, edited by Robson Bonnichsen and Marcella H. Sorg, pp. 139–147. Center for the Study of the First Americans, University of Maine, Orono.Google Scholar
Ahler, Stanley A. 2000 Use-Wear Evaluation of Five Rock Specimens. In The 1999 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426), edited by Neal H. Lopinot, Jack H. Ray, and Michael D. Conner, pp. 230–236. Special Publication No. 3. Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.Google Scholar
Anderson, Adrian D. 1975 The Cooperton Mammoth: An Early Man Bone Quarry. Great Plains Journal 14:130–164.Google Scholar
Andrefsky, William Jr. 1998 Lithics: Macroscopic Approaches to Analysis. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Ascher, Robert A. 1961 Experimental Archaeology. American Anthropologist 63(4):793–816.Google Scholar
Baird, David C. 1962 Experimentation: An Introduction to Measurement Theory and Experimental Design. Prentice-Hall, Inglewood Cliffs, New Jersey.Google Scholar
Bement, Leland C. 1986 Excavation of the Late Pleistocene Deposits of Bonfire Shelter, Val Verde County, Texas. Archeology Series Paper No. I. Texas Archeological Survey, University of Texas, Austin.Google Scholar
Buss, Irven O. 1990 Elephant Life: Fifteen Years of High Population Density. Iowa State University Press, Ames.Google Scholar
Charlton, Thomas H. 1981 Archaeology, Ethnohistory, and Ethnology: Interpretive Interfaces. In Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 4, edited by Michael B. Schiffer, pp. 129–176. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coles, John 1973 Archaeology by Experiment. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York.Google Scholar
Dillehay, Tom D. 2000 Preliminary Micro-Use-Wear of Four Pre-Clovis-Age Objects. In The 1999 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426), edited by Neal H. Lopinot, Jack H. Ray, and Michael D. Conner, pp. 221–229. Special Publication No. 3. Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.Google Scholar
Douglass, Matthew J. 2002 Post-depositional Modification of Chipped Stone Materials as a Result of Trampling. Poster presented at the 60th Annual Plains Conference, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.Google Scholar
Douglass, Matthew J., Dooley, Mathew A., and Koziol, Benjamin W. 2003 The Formation of Edge Damage: An Experiment in Cattle Trampling. Poster presented at the 61st Annual Plains Conference, Fayetteville, Arkansas.Google Scholar
Fiorillo, Anthony R. 1989 An Experimental Study of Trampling: Implications for the Fossil Record. In Bone Modification, edited by Robson Bonnichsen and Marcella H. Sorg, pp. 61–71. Center for the Study of the First Americans, University of Maine, Orono.Google Scholar
Flenniken, J. Jeffrey, and Haggerty, J. 1979 Trampling as an Agency in the Formation of Edge Damage: An Experiment in Lithic Technology. Northwest Anthropological Research Notes 13:208–14.Google Scholar
Gifford-Gonzalez, Diane P., Damrosch, David B., Damrosch, Debra R., Pryor, John, and Yhunene, Robert L. 1985 The Third Dimension in Site Structure: An Experiment in Trampling and Vertical Dispersal. American Antiquity 50:803–818.Google Scholar
Hajic, Edwin R., Mandel, Rolfe D., Ray, Jack H., and Lopinot, Neal H. 1998 Geomorphology and Geoarchaeology. In The 1997 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426) in Southwest Missouri, edited by Neal H. Lopinot, Jack H. Ray, and Michael D. Conner, pp. 74–110. Special Publication No. 2. Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.Google Scholar
Haynes, Gary 1991 Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior, and the Fossil Record. Cambridge University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Haynes, Gary 2002 The Early Settlement of North America: The Clovis Era. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom.Google Scholar
Ingersoll, Daniel W., and Macdonald, William K. 1977 Introduction. In Experimental Archeology, edited by Daniel W. Ingersoll, John E. Yellen, and William K. Macdonald, pp. xi-xviii. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Ingersoll, Daniel, Yellen, John E., and Macdonald, William 1977 Experimental Archeology. Columbia University Press, New York.Google Scholar
Johnson, Eileen, and Holliday, Vance T. 1987 Lubbock Lake Artifact Assemblages. In Lubbock Lake: Late Quaternary Studies on the Southern High Plains, edited by Eileen Johnson, pp. 100–119. Texas A&M Press, College Station. Kay, Marvin Google Scholar
Johnson, Eileen, and Holliday, Vance T. 2000 Use-Wear Analysis. In The 1999 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426), edited by Neal H. Lopinot, Jack H. Ray, and Michael D. Conner, pp. 177–220. Special Publication No. 3. Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.Google Scholar
Lopinot, Neal H., Ray, Jack H., and Connor, Michael D. (editors) 1998 The 1997 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426) in Southwest Missouri. Special Publication No. 2 Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopinot, Neal H., Ray, Jack H., and Connor, Michael D. (editors) 2000 The 1999 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426). Special Publication No. 3 Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.Google Scholar
McKay, George M. 1973 Behavior and Ecology of the Asiatic Elephant in Southeastern Ceylon. Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology No. 125. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C. CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meltzer, David J. 1991 On “Paradigms” and “Paradigm Bias” in Controversies Over Human Antiquity in America. In The First Americans; Search and Research, edited by Tom D. Dillehay and David J. Meltzer, pp. 13–49. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida.Google Scholar
Muybridge, E. 1899 Animals in Motion. 1957 Reprint. Dover, New York.Google Scholar
Poole, Joyce 1996 Coming of Age with Elephants: A Memoir. Hyperion, New York.Google Scholar
Pryor, John 1988 The Effects of Human Trample Damage on Lithics: A Consideration of Crucial Variables. Lithic Technology 17(1):45–50.Google Scholar
Ray, Jack H., and Lopinot, Neal H. 2000 Excavations of Pre-Clovis-Age Deposits. In The 1999 Excavations at the Big Eddy Site (23CE426), edited by Neal H. Lopinot, Jack H. Ray, and Michael D. Conner, pp. 82–111. Special Publication No. 3. Center for Archaeological Research, Southwest Missouri State University, Springfield.Google Scholar
Ray, Jack H., Lopinot, Neal H., Hajic, Edwin R., and Mandel, Rolfe D. 2000 Possible Pre-Clovis-Age Artifacts from the Big Eddy Site. Current Research in the Pleistocene 17:69–71.Google Scholar
Roocroft, Alan, and Zoll, Donald A. 1994 Managing Elephants: An Introduction to the Training and Management of Elephants. Fever Tree Press, Ramona, California.Google Scholar
Schnurrenberger, Douglas, and Bryan, Alan L. 1985 A Contribution to the Study of the Naturefact/Artifact Controversy. In Stone Tool Analysis: Essays in Honor of Don E. Crabtree, edited by Mark G. Plew, James C. Woods, and Max G. Pavesic, pp. 133–159. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Shackley, Myra L. 1974 Stream Abrasion of Flint Implements. Nature 248:501–502.Google Scholar
Stanford, Dennis 1979 The Dutton and Selby Sites: Evidence for a Possible Pre-Clovis Occupation on the High Plains. In Pre-Llano Cultures of the Americas: Paradoxes and Possibilities, edited by R. L. Humphrey and D. Stanford, pp. 101–125. Anthropological Society of Washington, Washington, D.C.Google Scholar
Stanford, Dennis 1983 Pre-Clovis Occupation South of the Ice Sheets. In Early Man in the New World, edited by Richard Shutler, Jr., pp. 65–72. Sage Publications, Beverly Hills, California.Google Scholar
Tringham, Ruth 1978 Experimentation, Ethnoarchaeology and the Leapfrogs in Archaeological Methodology. In Explorations in Ethnoarchaeology, edited by Richard A. Gould, pp. 169–199. University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Villa, Paola, and Courtin, Jean 1983 The Interpretation of Stratified Sites: A View from Underground. Journal of Archaeological Science 10:267–281.Google Scholar
Wilk, Richard, and Schiffer, Michael B. 1978 The Archaeology of Vacant Lots in Tucson, Arizona. American Antiquity 44:530–536.Google Scholar
Young, David E. 1989 How Powerful Are Archaeological Inferences Based on Experimental Replication? In Bone Modification, edited by Robson Bonnichsen and Marcella H. Sorg, pp. 53–60. Center for the Study of the First Americans, University of Maine, Orono.Google Scholar