CHOOSING A PLACE TO LIVE 10,000 YEARS AGO OR MORE: UNDERSTANDING PALEOINDIAN SETTLEMENT PATTERNS BASED ON THE MODERN DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES

Three important Paleodindian lifeway variables include access to lithic material for tool production, access to water, and access to transportation corridors. The distribution of recorded Paleoindian archaeological sites in Pennsylvania was analyzed in respect to these variables using GIS to understand patterns of settlement and mobility. The analysis indicates differential land-use patterns across Pennsylvania that may relate to regional and/or temporal variation in subsistence strategies.

Individually, the majority of Paleoindian sites are located close to low-order streams. However, site clusters on high-order waterways, such as the Susquehanna River, may indicate their use as transportation corridors. Some site clusters occur at a distance from high-order streams, possibly indicating distinct settlement patterns. Sites in southern Pennsylvania are typically within one day’s travel (30 km) of a quarry, while sites to the north are as far as six days (180 km) away from a quarry. Quarry locations were taken from Custer (1996) and Carr and Adovasio (2002). There is an absence of lithic quarries in the northern portion of the state, which was circumscribed by the southern extent of Laurentide ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum. Site distribution and subsistence patterns in northern Pennsylvania may be different from those witnessed in the south.