Cylindrical beveled bone rods, upon their initial discovery in 1936 at the Clovis type-site (Blackwater Locality No. 1, NM), were recognized as a component in the subsistence technology of Paleoindian groups. Additional specimens from across North America have since expanded our knowledge of Clovis lifeways. Repeatedly it has been suggested that long bone from either mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius, M. columbi, M. jeffersonii) or American mastodon (Mammut americanum) was used in rod manufacture. This notion is logical, given that these artifacts have a dense, massive structure, and remains of both megamammals occur at Clovis sites. Proboscidean limb bone as material for making beveled rods, while likely, remains an untested assumption. This report demonstrates that cortical bone from Elephas maximus (Asian elephant) femur serves well in simulating manufacture of the uni-beveled rod (36-19-6) from Blackwater Draw.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
BoasF.1899Property Marks of Alaskan Eskimo, American Anthropologist (New Series), 1:4, pp. 601–613.
2.
BoldurianA. T. and CotterJ. L.1999Clovis Revisited: New Perspectives on Paleoindian Adaptations from Blackwater Draw, New Mexico, University of Pennsylvania Museum Publications. Monograph 103.
3.
BonnichsenR.1979Pleistocene Bone Technology in the Beringian Refugium, National Museum of Man Mercury Series, Archaeological Survey of Canada, Paper 89.
4.
BordesF. and CrabtreeD. E.1969The Corbiac Blade Technique and Other Experiments, Tebiwa, 12:2, pp. 1–21.
5.
CallahanE.1979The Basics of Biface Knapping in the Eastern Fluted Point Tradition: A Manual for Flintknappers and Lithic Analysts, Archaeology of Eastern North America, 7:1, pp. 1–180.
6.
CotterJ. L.1937The Occurrence of Flints and Extinct Animals in Pluvial Deposits near Clovis, New Mexico, Part IV: Report on the Excavations at the Gravel Pit in 1936, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 89, pp. 1–16.
7.
CrabtreeD. E.1966A Stoneworker's Approach to Analyzing and Replicating the Lindenmeier Folsom, Tebiwa, 9, pp. 3–39.
8.
CrabtreeD. E.1972An Introduction to Flintworking. Occasional Papers of the Idaho State University Museum, No. 28, Pocatello, Idaho.
9.
FlennikenJ. J.1978A Reevaluation of the Lindenmeier Folsom: A Replication Experiment in Lithic Technology, American Antiquity43, pp. 473–480.
10.
FrisonG. C.1989Experimental Use of Clovis Weaponry and Tools on African Elephants, American Antiquity, 54, pp. 766–784.
11.
FrisonG. C. and StanfordD. J.1982The Agate Basin Site: A Record of the Paleoindian Occupation of the Northwestern High Plains, Academic Press, New York.
12.
GormanF.1969The Clovis Hunters: An Alternate View of Their Environment and Ecology, Kiva, 35:2, pp. 91–102.
13.
GramlyR. M.1993The Richey Clovis Cache: Earliest Americans Along the Columbia River, Persimmon Press Monographs in Archaeology, Buffalo, New York.
14.
HesterJ. J.1972Blackwater Locality No. 1: A Stratified Early Man Site in Eastern New Mexico, Fort Burgwin Research Center, Publication No. 8, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.
15.
HuckellB. B.1979Of Chipped Stone Tools, Elephants, and the Clovis Hunters: An Experiment, Plains Anthropologist, 24, pp. 177–189.
16.
HuckellB. B.1982The Denver Elephant Project: A Report on Experimentation with Thrusting Spears, Plains Anthropologist, 27, pp. 217–224.
17.
JohnsonE.2001Mammoth Bone Quarrying on the Late Wisconsinan North American Grasslands, in The World of Elephants: Proceedings of the 1st International Congress, CarravettaG.GiolaP.MussiM., and PalomboM. R. (eds.), pp. 439–443, Rome, Consiglio Nazionale della Ricerche—Roma, October 16-20.
18.
JohnsonE.2003Mammoth Bone Technology and Subsistence Strategies in the Late Pleistocene North American Grasslands, paper presented at the 3rd International Mammoth Conference, Yukon Territory, Canada, May 24-29.
19.
JohnsonE. and HollidayV. T.1997Analysis of Paleoindian Bonebeds at the Clovis Site: New Data from Old Excavations, Plains Anthropologist, 42, pp. 329–352.
20.
JonesS. and BonnichsenR.1994The Anzick Clovis Burial, Current Research in the Pleistocene, 11, pp. 42–44.
21.
KellyR. L. and ToddL. C.1988Coming into the Country: Early Paleoindian Hunting and Mobility, American Antiquity, 53, pp. 231–244.
22.
LahrenL. and BonnichsenR.1974Bone Foreshafts from a Clovis Burial in Southwestern Montana, Science, 186, pp. 147–149.
23.
MontaliR. J. and MillerM.2003Elephant Necropsy Protocol (Elephas maximus and Loxodonta Africana). The American Zoo and Aquarium Association, Elephant Species Survival Plan.
24.
PearsonG. A.1999North American Paleoindian Bi-Beveled Bone and Ivory Rods: A New Interpretation, North American Archaeologist, 20, pp. 81–103.
25.
RedmondB. G. and TankersleyK. B.2005Evidence of Early Paleoindian Bone Modification and Use at the Sheriden Cave Site (33WY252), Wyandot County, Ohio, American Antiquity, 70, pp. 503–526.
26.
SaundersJ. J. and DaeschlerE. B.1994Descriptive Analyses and Taphonomical Observations of Culturally-Modified Mammoths Excavated at “The Gravel Pit,” near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1936, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 145, pp. 1–28.
27.
SpiessA. E.1984Arctic Garbage and New England Paleoindians: The Single Occupation Option, Archaeology of Eastern North America, 13, pp. 280–285.
28.
StanfordD. J.1991Clovis Origins and Adaptations: An Introductory Perspective, in Clovis: Origins and Adaptations, BonnichsenR. and TurnmireK. L. (eds.), pp. 1–14, Center for the Study of the First Americans, Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon.
29.
ThomasC. L., editor 1981Taber's Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary (Edition 14), F. A. Davis Company, Philadelphia.
30.
WarnicaJ. M.1966New Discoveries at the Clovis Site. American Antiquity, 31, pp. 345–357.
31.
WilkeP. J.FlennikenJ. J., and OzbunT. L.1991Clovis Technology at the Anzick Site, Montana, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 13, pp. 242–272.
32.
WilmethR.1968A Fossilized Bone Artifact from Southern Saskatchewan. American Antiquity, 33, pp. 100–101.
