PEOPLING OF THE NEW WORLD: A GREAT PLAINS PERSPECTIVE

The North American Plains has yielded many discoveries crucial to understanding the peopling of the New World, including the Blackwater Draw, Folsom, Hell Gap, and Lindenmeier sites. Temporal and spatial patterns of Clovis and later Paleoindian occupations are presented as a basis for current models on the peopling of the Western Hemisphere. We review sites with potential pre-Clovis (PC) archaeology and present a landscape model used to identify landform sediment assemblages (LSAs) that may harbor Paleoindian and pre-11.5 ka cultural deposits.

Chronometric data and the distribution of Clovis evidence suggest that the Clovis complex originated in the southern Plains or Southeast and spread northward across the Plains. This assumes traditional age-area models in anthropology and biology. In contrast, there is abundant evidence for post-Clovis occupation throughout the Plains. However, temporal and spatial patterns of Paleoindian occupation were undoubtedly shaped by landscape evolution, human behavior, and research bias.

Arguments for PC occupation in the Plains are based on a number of sites (e.g., La Sena, Kanorado, Burnham, Gault), and if any of these or others dating between ca. 12 to 20 ka are accepted, key issues regarding Plains and New World archaeology must be addressed. These issues become critical to designing and implementing archaeological research in the region. Research concerning PC archaeology in the Plains region must consider technologies used during PC time, when people first enter the Plains, and the direction of their entry. There is no a prior reason to assume strong links with Clovis technology for the first Plains occupants. We assume people possessed at least an "Upper Paleolithic" level of technology when moving into and spreading throughout the New World. Current models support the peopling of the Plains from the north, south, east, or west. Hence, in addressing PC research in the region, we lack fixed references to the technology, timing, or direction of this process.

Ongoing geoarchaeological research in the region is focusing on 10 to 20 ka LSAs, with emphasis on buried soils. We are also concentrating on key terrain features, including playas, springs, and lithic sources, that hold potential for recurrent use by prehistoric people and for stratified Paleoindian and PC cultural deposits.