Papers by Ashley Smallwood
Scientific Reports, Nov 2, 2023
Southeastern Archaeology, Jan 2, 2023
The MIT Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2018
Southeastern Archaeology
In this paper, we use GIS and 2D geometric morphometrics to explore landscape use and social inte... more In this paper, we use GIS and 2D geometric morphometrics to explore landscape use and social interaction among Kirk Cluster populations in the lower Ohio River valley. Using cultural transmission as a theoretical foundation, we develop models for identifying assemblages produced by macroband aggregations. We show that two distinct populations occupied northern Indiana and southwestern Kentucky. Intensively occupied sites in these areas are situated in near-upland settings in close proximity to a variety of resources including chert, higher order rivers, and sinkholes. In contrast, the Butterfield site in central Kentucky lies in the lowlands with the Green River as the only obvious resource. Analyses reveal that Butterfield was a macroband aggregation site visited by populations from Indiana, but groups from southwestern Kentucky only minimally participated in aggregations at Butterfield. Results further show that the Ohio River was not a barrier to social interaction in the Early Holocene.
The MIT Press eBooks, Apr 20, 2018
Scientific Reports, 2023
Approximately 9000 years ago at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa, forager communities ... more Approximately 9000 years ago at the Andean highland site of Wilamaya Patjxa, forager communities interred female and male individuals with projectile points, suggesting that large-mammal hunting may have been a gender neutral activity among that community. We report a lithic usewear analysis, which confirms that the ostensible projectile points were indeed used as projectile points. The data further reveal evidence of cutting and hide scraping consistent with animal processing activities. A new radiocarbon date shows that the female and male individuals were contemporaries, or nearly so, sometime between 9.0 and 8.7 cal. ka. These findings support a model of early subsistence practices in which both female and male individuals at Wilamaya Patjxa hunted large mammals.
Early Human Life on the Southeastern Coastal Plain, 2018
<p>The state of South Carolina is examined by the physiographic provinces of Mountains, Pie... more <p>The state of South Carolina is examined by the physiographic provinces of Mountains, Piedmont, and Coastal Plain using established Paleoindian projectile point types and their geographic distributions by raw materials. Foraging ranges are reconstructed. There is a substantial drop in post-Clovis point frequencies, as seen elsewhere in the Southeast, with a great increase by Dalton times. Younger Dryas age environmental changes are reviewed, with late Pleistocene flora and fauna changes noted. Starting in Dalton times, sea level rise appears to have affected settlement strategies due to the inundation of the primary resource habitats of the Coastal Plain. The Piedmont Transhumance hypothesis is offered as an explanation of these changes.</p>
Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 2020
Abstract At the end of the Pleistocene, Dalton hunter-gatherers substantially altered their techn... more Abstract At the end of the Pleistocene, Dalton hunter-gatherers substantially altered their technology by crafting points with serrated, beveled, and tapered blade margins. The functions of these attributes have been the focus of a long-held debate. Some archaeologists argue that the variation was the result of resharpening and use in varied tasks, like cutting—showing an adaptive shift to processing smaller game like deer. Other researchers suggest these new attributes were designed from the outset for the single functional use as projectiles. In this study, we use actualistic experiments to build analogues for interpreting microscopic usewear traces on an archaeological Dalton point assemblage from the Brand site, Arkansas. We then consider changes in point functionality within the broader context of the organization of Dalton lithic technology and how these changes reflect adaptations to the emerging Holocene environment.
Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 2013
This paper reports an experimental program designed to record microscopic use-wear traces obtaine... more This paper reports an experimental program designed to record microscopic use-wear traces obtained on replica Clovis points and bifaces used in impact, butchering, chopping, and scraping tasks. These experiments established the use-wear type, frequency, and distribution of use-wear traces acquired in bifacial tool tasks. Replica points and bifaces were photo-documented prior to use to monitor the use-wear accrued through multiple episodes and consider if a single tool used in multiple tasks could produce distinct wear patterns that were microscopically distinguishable. Ultimately, the experimental analogues served as the foundation to interpret use-wear traces detected on Clovis bifaces from the Gault site, Texas.
PaleoAmerica, 2015
Abstract Research into the earliest occupations in the southeastern United States has been underw... more Abstract Research into the earliest occupations in the southeastern United States has been underway since the 1930s, when a pattern of large-scale excavations combined with the reporting of surface finds was initiated that continues to this day. Work at Macon Plateau and Parrish Village, excavated during the New Deal, was followed by a series of stratigraphic excavations in floodplains, rockshelters, and other locales from the 1940s onward. These early studies produced a basic cultural sequence, portions of which were defined by cross-dating findings from the Southeast with discoveries made in other parts of the country. The Southeast is unique in that surveys of fluted projectile points have been conducted in every state, some since the 1940s. These surveys now encompass a wider range of projectile points and other tool forms, and the large numbers of Paleoindian artifacts found in the region suggest intensive occupation. Whether these quantities reflect the presence of large numbers of early people, or of modern collectors and extensive agriculture, remains the subject of appreciable debate. The regional radiocarbon record is fairly robust for the latter end of the period, but far more sample collection, analysis, and interpretation is needed. The regional literature is burgeoning, with research being conducted in every state, much of it funded by CRM activity.
Choice Reviews Online, 2015
American Antiquity
Fluting is a technological and morphological hallmark of some of the most iconic North American P... more Fluting is a technological and morphological hallmark of some of the most iconic North American Paleoindian stone points. Through decades of detailed artifact analyses and replication experiments, archaeologists have spent considerable effort reconstructing how flute removals were achieved, and they have explored possible explanations of why fluting was such an important aspect of early point technologies. However, the end of fluting has been less thoroughly researched. In southern North America, fluting is recognized as a diagnostic characteristic of Clovis points dating to approximately 13,000 cal yr BP, the earliest widespread use of fluting. One thousand years later, fluting occurs more variably in Dalton and is no longer useful as a diagnostic indicator. How did fluting change, and why did point makers eventually abandon fluting? In this article, we use traditional 2D measurements, geometric morphometric (GM) analysis of 3D models, and 2D GM of flute cross sections to compare C...
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 2018
North American Archaeologist, 2015
During the late Paleoindian and early Archaic periods, the Southern Plains witnessed a diversific... more During the late Paleoindian and early Archaic periods, the Southern Plains witnessed a diversification in unfluted lanceolate point styles. The classification of these points into distinct and meaningful typological groups continues to play a fundamental role in building an understanding of cultural changes at the end of the last Ice Age. In this study, we analyze a sample of points from the Hogeye site, Texas to explore unfluted lanceolate point classifications. The results suggest the presence of at least three late Paleoindian/early Archaic point hafting traditions in the Southern Plains, an Angostura/Thrall Tradition, a Dalton/Golondrina Tradition, and a Plainview/St. Mary's Hall Tradition.
Uploads
Papers by Ashley Smallwood