Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T05:49:29.673Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Geoarchaeology and Geochronology of the Miami (Clovis) Site, Southern High Plains of Texas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Vance T. Holliday ,
C. Vance Haynes Jr. ,
Jack L. Hofman  and
David J. Meltzer
Vance T. Holliday
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706
C. Vance Haynes Jr.
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721
Jack L. Hofman
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045
David J. Meltzer
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Miami site, excavated in 1937, is in a small "playa" basin on the High Plains surface. The site is one of the earliest documented co-occurrences of Clovis points and mammoth. Reinvestigation of the site and related collections was undertaken to better understand the stratigraphy, geochronology, and archaeology. The basin, 23 m diameter × 1.6 m deep, filled with (1) dark gray silty clay, and (2) near the top of the section, a lens of well-sorted silt or loess. The basin started to fill ca. 13,700 yr B.P., the loess dates to ca. 11,400 yr B.P., and the bone bed probably dates to ca. 11,400-10,500 yr B.P. The loess may be the local manifestation of a "Clovis drought." The partial remains of five mammoths (three adults and two juveniles) were recovered in 1937; no other animal remains are known. The bone is heavily weathered and there are no clear indications of human modification. Artifacts found at the site include three Clovis points and a scraper found among the bones and two flakes and a scraper found on the surface near the playa. The origins of the bone and stone assemblage are uncertain but four scenarios are offered: a successful mammoth kill, an unsuccessful kill with wounded animals dying at the watering hole, opportunistic scavenging following natural deaths, or a palimpsest of multiple deaths following both natural and human causes.

Type
Articles
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , March 1994 , pp. 234 - 244
Copyright
University of Washington

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, B. L. Harris, B. L. Davis, K. R., and Miller, G. B. (1972). “The Mineralogy and Chemistry of High Plains Playa Lake Soils and Sediments.” Texas Tech University Water Resources Center Publication 72–4.Google Scholar
Banks, L. D. (1990). “From Mountain Peaks to Alligator Stomachs: A Review of Lithic Sources in the TVans-Mississippi South, the Southern Plains, and Adjacent Southwest.” Oklahoma Anthropological Society Memoir 4.Google Scholar
Cotter, J. L. (1938). The occurrence of flints and extinct animals in pluvial deposits near Clovis, New Mexico. Part VI. Report on Field Season of 1937. Proceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences 90, 113–117.Google Scholar
Ferring, C. R. (1990). The Aubrey Clovis site. In “Late Quaternary Geology and Geoarchaeology of the Upper TVinity River Drainage Basin, Texas” (Ferring, C. R., Ed.), pp. 68–74. Geological Society of America Field Trip Guidebook.Google Scholar
Fisher, J. W. Jr., (1992). Observations on the Late Pleistocene bone assemblage from the Lamb Springs site, Colorado. In “Ice Age Hunters of the Rockies” (Stanford, D. J. and Day, J. S., Eds.), pp. 51–81. Denver Museum of Natural History and University Press of Colorado, Niwot, Colorado.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C. (1974). “The Casper Site.” Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Frison, G. C. (1989). Experimental use of Clovis weaponry and tools on African elephants. American Antiquity 54, 766–784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frison, G. C. and Todd, L. C. (1986). “The Colby Mammoth Site: Taphonomy and Archaeology of a Clovis Kill in Northern Wyoming.” University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque.Google Scholar
Haury, E. W. (1953). Artifacts with mammoth remains, Naco, Arizona: Discovery of the Naco mammoth and the Associated projectile points. American Antiquity 19, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr., (1975). Pleistocene and Recent stratigraphy. In “Late Pleistocene Environments of the Southern High Plains” (Wendorf, F. and Hester, J. J., Eds.), pp. 57–96. Publication of the Ft. Burgwin Research Center 9.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr., (1979). Archaeological investigations at the Murray Springs Clovis site, Arizona, 1970. National Geographic Society Research Reports, 1970 Projects, pp. 261–267.Google Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr., (1982). Were Clovis progenitors in Beringia? In “Paleoecology of Beringia” (Hopkins, D. M. Matthews, J. V. Schweger, C. E., and Young, S. B., Eds.), pp. 383–398. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr., (1991). Geoarchaeological and paleohydrological evidence for a Clovis age drought in North America and its bearing on extinction. Quaternary Research 35, 438–450.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr., (1992). Contributions of radiocarbon dating to the geochronology of the peopling of the New World. In “Radiocarbon After Four Decades” (Taylor, R. E. Long, A., and Kra, R. S., Eds.), pp. 355–374. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, C. V. Jr. Donahue, D. J. Jull, A. J. T., and Zabel, T. H. (1984). Application of accelerator dating to fluted point Paleo-Indian sites. Archaeology of Eastern North America 12, 184–191.Google Scholar
Haynes, G. (1985). Age profiles in elephant and mammoth bone assemblages. Quaternary Research 24, 333–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, G. (1987). Proboscidean die-offs and die-outs: Age profiles in fossil collections. Journal of Archaeological Science 14, 659–668.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, G. (1990). The mountains that fell down: Life and death of the heartland mammoths. In “Megafauna and Man: Discovery of America’s heartland” (Agenbroad, L. D. Mead, J. I., and Nelson, L. W., Eds.), pp. 22–31. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc., Scientific Papers 1, Hot Springs, South Dakota.Google Scholar
Haynes, G. (1991). “Mammoths, Mastodonts, and Elephants: Biology, Behavior, and the Fossil Record.” Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hemmings, E. T. (1970). “Early Man in the San Pedro Valley.” Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona.Google Scholar
Hofman, J. L., and Wyckoff, D. G., (1991). Clovis occupation of Oklahoma. Current Research in the Pleistocene 8, 29–32.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. (1983). Stratigraphy and soils of the B.F.I. and Gentry pits and along Running Water Draw. In “Guidebook to the Central Llano Estacado” (Holliday, V. T., Ed.), pp. 107–126. Friends of the Pleistocene South-Central Cell Field Trip. ICASALS and The Museum, Texas Tech University, Lubbock.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. (1985). Holocene soil-geomorphological relations in a semi-arid environment: The Southern High Plains of Texas. In “Soils and Quaternary Landscape Evolution” (Boardman, J., Ed.), pp. 325–357. Wiley, New York.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. (1989). The Blackwater Draw Formation (Quaternary): A 1.4 plus M.Y. record of eolian sedimentation and soil formation on the Southern High Plains. Geological Society of America Bulletin 101, 1598–1607.2.3.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Holliday, V. T. (1990). Soils and landscape evolution of eolian plains: The Southern High Plains of Texas and New Mexico. In “Soils and Landscape Evolution” (Knuepfer, P. L. K. and McFadden, L. D., Eds.), pp. 489–515. Elsevier, New York.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T. (1993). Late Quaternary stratigraphy of the Southern High Plains. In “Ancient Peoples and Landscapes” (Johnson, E., Ed.). Texas Tech University Press, in press.Google Scholar
Holliday, V. T., and Welty, C. (1981). Lithic tool resources of the eastern Llano Estacado. Bulletin of the Texas Archeological Society 52, 201–214.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. (1989). Human-modified bones from early southern Plains sites. In “Bone Modification” (Bonnichsen, R. and Sorg, M. H., Eds.), pp. 431–471. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Orono.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. (1991). Late Pleistocene cultural occupation on the Southern Plains. In “Clovis Origins and Adaptations” (Bonnichsen, R. and Tbmmire, K., Eds.), pp. 215–236. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Orono.Google Scholar
Johnson, E. Holliday, V. T. Ralph, R. W. Knudson, R., and Lupton, S. (1987). Ryan’s site: A Plainview occupation on the Southern High Plains, Texas. Current Research in the Pleistocene 4, 17–18.Google Scholar
Judson, S. (1953). Geology of the San Jon site, eastern New Mexico. Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections 121, 1–70.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J. (1986). The Clovis Paleoindian occupation of Texas: Results of the Texas fluted point survey. Bulletin of the Texas Archeo-logical Society 57, 27–68.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J. (1989). An update on the Texas Clovis fluted point survey. Current Research in the Pleistocene 6, 31–34.Google Scholar
Meltzer, D. J. (1993). Is there a Clovis adaptation? In “From Kostenki to Clovis: Upper Paleolithic-Paleo-Indian Adaptations” (Soffer, O. and Praslov, N. D., Eds.), pp. 293–310. Plenum, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
O’Connell, J. F. Hawkes, K., and Blurton-Jones, N. G. (1992). Patterns in the distribution, site structure and assemblage composition of Hadza kill-butchery sites. Journal of Archaeological Sciences 19, 319–345.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oliver, J. S. (1989). Analogues and site context: Bone damages from Shield Trap Cave (24CB91), Carbon County, Montana, U.S.A. In“Bone Modification” (Bonnichsen, R. and Sorg, M. H., Eds.), pp. 73–98. Center for the Study of the First Americans, Orono.Google Scholar
Pollock, J. A. (1978). Processes of gleying. In “Soil Groups of New Zealand. Part 3. Gley Soils” (Rijkse, W. C., Ed.), pp. 33–39. New Zealand Society for Soil Science.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C. Jr., (1976). Quaternary stratigraphy and geological history of the Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico. In “Quaternary Stratigraphy of North America” (Mahaney, W. C., Ed.), pp. 213–234. Dowden, Hutchinson & Ross, Stroudsburg, PA.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C. Jr., (1990). A proposed sequential development of lake basins, Southern High Plains, Texas and New Mexico. In “Geologic Framework and Regional Hydrology: Upper Cenozoic Blackwater Draw and Ogallala Formations, Great Plains” (Gustavson, T. C., Ed.), pp. 209–232. The University of Texas at Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology.Google Scholar
Reeves, C. C. Jr., and Parry, W. T. (1969). Age and morphology of small lake basins, Southern High Plains, Texas and eastern New Mexico. Texas Journal of Science 20, 349–354.Google Scholar
Roberts, F. H. H. (1942). Archaeological and geological investigations in the San Jon District, Eastern New Mexico. Smithsonian Miscel-laneous Collections 3, 1–39.Google Scholar
Roper, D. C. (1976). Lateral displacement of artifacts due to plowing. American Antiquity 41, 372–375.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Saunders, J. J. (1980). A model for man-mammoth relationships in Late Pleistocene North America. In “The Ice-Free Corridor and Peopling of the New World” (Rutter, N. W. and Schweger, C. E., Eds.), Canadian Journal of Anthropology 1, 87–98.Google Scholar
Saunders, J. J. (1990). Immanence, configuration, and the discovery of America’s past. In “Megafauna and Man: Discovery of America’s Heartland” (Agenbroad, L. D. Mead, J. I., and Nelson, L. W., Eds), Scientific Papers 1, pp. 136–143. The Mammoth Site of Hot Springs, South Dakota, Inc., Hot Springs, South Dakota.Google Scholar
Schwertmann, U., and Taylor, R. M. (1989). Iron oxides. In “Minerals in Soil Environments” (second ed.), (Dixon, J. B. and Weed, S. B., Eds.), Soil Science Society of America Book Series 1, pp. 379–438.Google Scholar
Sellards, E. H. (1938). Artifacts associated with fossil elephant. Geological Society of America Bulletin 49, 999–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sellards, E. H. (1952). “Early Man in America.” University of Texas Press, Austin.Google Scholar
Singer, M., and Janitzky, P. (1986). “Field and Laboratory Procedures Used in a Soil Chronosequence Study.” U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1648, 49 p.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff (1951). “Soil Survey Manual.” U.S. Department of Agriculture Handbook 18.Google Scholar
Soil Survey Staff (1990). “Keys to Soil Taxonomy” (4th ed). Soil Management Support Services Technical Monograph 19, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, VA.Google Scholar
Stafford, T. W. Jr. Hare, P. E. Currie, L. Jull, A. J. T., and Donahue, D. J. (1991). Accelerator radiocarbon dating at the molecular level. Journal of Archaeological Science 18, 35–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wendorf, F., and Hester, J. J., (1962). Early man’s utilization of the Great Plains environment. American Antiquity 28, 159–171.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyckoff, D. W. Brakenridge, G. R. Buehler, K. Carter, B. J. Dort, W. Jr. Martin, L. D. Theler, J. L., and Todd, L. C. (1991). Inter-disciplinary research at the Burnham site (34W073), Woods County, Oklahoma. In “A Prehistory of the Plains Border Region” (Carter, B. C. and Ward, P., Eds.), pp. 82–121. Guidebook, 9th Annual Meeting, South-Central Friends of the Pleistocene. Oklahoma State University, Agronomy Department, Stillwater.Google Scholar
Wyrick, J. C. (1981). “Soil Survey of Roberts County.” U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Service.Google Scholar
Wormington, H. M. (1957). “Ancient Man in North America.” Denver Museum of Natural History, Popular Series 4.Google Scholar