Reduce, reuse... rebury?

Have you ever wondered what Clovis-age tools were used for? That's an interesting question, given the high-level of skill that went into producing many of the finely worked bifaces that are associated with that industry. Studies of blood proteins recovered from the edges of points collected during excavation of some Clovis sites were used to process or hunt an range of animals. At Wally's Beach (Alberta), for instance, such analyses revelaed evidence that they were used on equids, musk oxen and/or bison (Kooyman et al. 2001). In more recent Paleoindian assemblages, such studies have shown that points were associated with the processing of large mammals including, among others, mammoth (Loy and Dixon 1998), as well as both large and -very interestingly - small game at Noble's Pond (Seeman et al. 2008).

One thing that's always fascinated me about Clovis industries, however, is the fact that it is associated with 'caches' of artifacts, the nature of which has been debated over the years. Some interpret them as deposits of tools Clovis foragers would stockpile at given points on the landscape, so as to be able to depend on them in landscapes with which they were unfamiliar or that were devoid of dependable sources of good lithic raw materials. Others have preferred to attribute to caches a ritual or symbolic function, although exactly what that function would have been is rarely discussed. Although largely unproven (and unprovable?), this notion of caches of symbolically-loaded, very well-made bifacial Clovis artifacts has occasionally been picked up on by scholars to infer similar functions to other well-made bifacial artifacts, for instance some MSA points. Villa et al. (2009), however, have shown that even thin, very well-made Paleoindian points were likely used in hunting/processing activities.

Well, we now have news that a cache of 83 Clovis artifacts recovered in the great state of Colorado, in Boulder to be precise, and protein analysis has shown that at least some of them were employed in processing now extinct camelids and equids. This comes as a surprise since the investigators "initially suspected that the Mahaffy Cache might be ritualistic rather than a utilitarian." That said, they also emphasize that "There are so few Clovis-age tool caches that have been discovered that we really don't know very much about them."



Now, this being a press release, the details are scant, but we know that the cache included "salad plate-sized, elegantly crafted bifacial knives and a unique tool resembling a double-bitted axe to small blades and flint scraps." So there is no telling yet exactly which implements were associated with these residues, or whether they are also associated with a wider range of exploited genera. What is clear, however, is that this discovery provides important new data about Paleoindian artifact caches, and strongly suggests that at least some of them were not necessarily only ritual in nature. Of course, nothing precludes the disposal of used artifacts in a ritualistic way, but it does disprove the notion that people of the Paleoindian manufactured and discarded their best, most spectacular tools only in ritualistic contexts.

One odd thing about the news report, however: "Mahaffy said the artifacts will likely wind up in a museum except for a few of the smaller pieces, which will be reburied at the cache site." That's odd - what's the point of this? It's not like we're dealing with human remains. Whatever... I guess it goes to shows how lithics can be reduced, reused... and reburied!

References:

Kooyman, B., M.E. Newman, C. Cluney, M. Lobb, S. Tolman, P. McNeil, and L.V. Hills. 2001. Identification of horse exploitation by Clovis hunters based on protein analysis. American Antiquity 66: 686-691.

Loy, T.H., and E.J. Dixon. 1998. Blood residues on fluted points from eastern Beringia. American Antiquity 63:21–46.

Seeman, M.F., Nilsson, N.E., G.L. Summers, L.L. Morris, P.J. Barans, E.Dowd, and M.E. Newman. 2008. Evaluating protein residues on Gainey phase Paleoindian stone tools. Journal of Archaeological Science 35: 2742-2750.

Villa, P., M. Soressi, C.S. Henshilwood, and V. Mourre. The Still Bay points of Blombos Cave (South Africa). Journal of Archaeological Science 36:441-460.