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The Palaeoindian–Archaic transition in North America: new evidence from Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

C. Britt Bousman ,
Michael B. Collins ,
Paul Goldberg ,
Thomas Stafford ,
Jan Guy ,
Barry W. Baker ,
D. Gentry Steele ,
Marvin Kay ,
Anne Kerr  and
Glen Fredlund
...Show all authors
C. Britt Bousman
Affiliation:
Center for Archaeological Studies & Department of Anthropology, Southwest Texas State University, San Marcos TX 78666, USA
Michael B. Collins
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA
Paul Goldberg
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Boston University, Boston MA 02215, USA
Thomas Stafford
Affiliation:
Stafford Laboratories, Inc., Boulder CO 80301, USA
Jan Guy
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA
Barry W. Baker
Affiliation:
US National Fish & Wildlife Forensics Laboratory & Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Southern Oregon University, Ashland OR 97520, USA
D. Gentry Steele
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843, USA
Marvin Kay
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR 72701, USA
Anne Kerr
Affiliation:
Center of Big Bend Studies, Sul Ross State University, Alpine TX 79832, USA
Glen Fredlund
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Milwaukee WI 53211, USA
Phil Dering
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Texas A&M University, College Station TX 77843, USA
Vance Holliday
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson AZ 85721, USA
Diane Wilson
Affiliation:
Geography/Anthropology Department, University of Southern Maine, Gorham MA 04104, USA
Wulf Gose
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA
Susan Dial
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA
Paul Takac
Affiliation:
Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA
Robin Balinsky
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin TX 78712, USA
Marilyn Masson
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, SUNY-Albany, Albany NY 12222, USA
Joseph F. Powell
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque NM 87131, USA
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Abstract

The transition from Palaeoindian to Archaic societies in North America is often viewed as a linear progression over a brief but time-transgressive period. New evidence from the Wilson-Leonard site in Texas suggests social experimentation by Palaeoindians over a 2500-year period eventually resulted in Archaic societies. The process was neither short nor linear, and the evidence shows that different but contemporaneous lifeways existed in a variety of locales in the south-central US in the Early Holocene.

Keywords

North AmericaPalaeoindianArchaicterminal PleistoceneEarly Holocenecultural transitions
Type
Papers
Information
Antiquity , Volume 76 , Issue 294 , December 2002 , pp. 980 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 2002

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