Bi-beveled bone rods are sometimes found in association with fluted bifaces. It has previously been proposed that these rods served variously as foreshafts for spears or lances, pressure-flaking tools, butchering tools, sled shoes, composite parts of a longer shaft or rod, and as hafting wedges. The most recent proposal is that they served in pairs as a composite clothes pin foreshaft—a proposal based on their uniquely shaped cross sections and the fact that the angles of the two bevels on each specimen vary. Evaluation of the evidence mustered in support of this proposed model of function indicates the critical data variously 1) do not exist, 2) contradict the model, and 3) are not accounted for by the model.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AckermanRobert E.1996Cave I, Lime Hills, in American Beginnings, WestF. H. (ed.), pp. 470–477, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
2.
BradleyBruce A.1995Clovis Ivory and Bone Tools, in Le Travail et l'Usage de l'Ivoire au Paléolitique Supérieur, HahnJ.TaborinY.WalterP., and WidemannF. (eds.), Actes de la Table Ronde, Centro Universitario Europeo per i Beni Culturali, Ravello, Italy. [available at http://www.primtech.net/ivory/ivory.html]
3.
CallahanErrett1994A Mammoth Undertaking, Bulletin of Primitive Technology, 1, pp. 23–29.
4.
CotterJohn L.1937The Occurrence of Flints and Extinct Animals in Pluvial Deposits near Clovis, New Mexico, Part IV—Report on Excavation at the Gravel Pit, 1936, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia, 89, pp. 1–16.
5.
CressmanLuther S.1956Klamath Prehistory: The Prehistory of the Culture of the Klamath Lake Area, Oregon, Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, 46, pp. 374–513.
6.
DaughertyRichard D.1956Archaeology of the Lind Coulee Site, Washington, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 100, pp. 223–278.
7.
DunbarJames S. and WebbS. David1996Bone and Ivory Tools from Paleoindian Sites in Florida, in The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, AndersonD. G. and SassamanK. E. (eds.), pp. 331–353, University of Alabama Press, Tuscaloosa.
8.
FryxellRoaldBielickiTadeuszDaughertyRichard D.GustafsonCarl E.IrwinHenry T., and KeelBennie C.1968aA Human Skeleton from Sediments of Mid-Pinedale Age in Southeastern Washington, American Antiquity, 33, pp. 511–515.
9.
FryxellRoaldBielickiTadeuszDaughertyRichard D.GustafsonCarl E.IrwinHenry T.KeelBennie C., and KrantzGrover S.1968bHuman Skeletal Material and Artifacts from Pinedale (Wisconsin) Glacial Age in Southeastern Washington, United States, Proceedings of the 8th International Congress of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences, Tokyo, pp. 176–181.
10.
GramlyRichard M.1993The Richey-Roberts Clovis Cache, Persimmon Press, New York.
11.
HaynesC. VanceJr.1982Were Clovis Progenitors in Beringia? in Paleoecology of Beringia, HopkinsD. M.MatthewsJ. V.Jr.SchwegerC. E., and YoungS. B. (eds.), pp. 383–398, New York, Academic Press.
12.
HoukBrett A. and MosesBruce K.1998Scanning Artifacts: Using a Flatbed Scanner to Image Three-Dimensional Objects, Society for American Archaeology Bulletin, 16:3, pp. 36–39.
13.
IrwinAnn M. and MoodyUla1978The Lind Coulee Site (45GR97), Washington Archaeological Research Center, Project Report No. 56, Pullman.
14.
JenksAlbert E. and SimpsonH. H.1941Beveled Artifacts in Florida of the Same Type as Artifacts Found near Clovis, New Mexico, American Antiquity, 6, pp. 314–319.
15.
JonesScott and BonnichsenRobson1994The Anzick Clovis Burial, Current Research in the Pleistocene, 11, pp. 42–44.
16.
LahrenLarry and BonnichsenRobson1974Bone Foreshafts from a Clovis Burial in Southwestern Montana, Science, 186, pp. 147–150.
17.
LymanR. LeeO'BrienMichael J., and HayesVirgil1998A Mechanical and Functional Study of Bone Rods from the Richey-Roberts Clovis Cache, Washington, U.S.A., Journal of Archaeological Science, 25, pp. 887–906.
18.
PainterFloyd1986Pointed Weapons of Wood, Bone and Ivory: Survival Tools of Early Man in North America, Central States Archaeological Journal, 33, pp. 62–76.
19.
PearsonGeorges A.1999North American Paleoindian Bi-Beveled Bone and Ivory Rods: A New Interpretation, North American Archaeologist, 20, pp. 81–103.
20.
RiddellFrancis A.1973Fossilized California Bone Artifacts, The Masterkey, 47, pp. 28–32.
21.
SaundersJeffrey J. and DaeschlerEdward B.1994Descriptive Analyses and Taphonomical Observations of Culturally Modified Mammoths Excavated at “The Gravel Pit,” near Clovis, New Mexico, in 1963, Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 145, pp. 1–28.
22.
StanfordDennis J.1996Foreshaft Sockets as Possible Clovis Hafting Devices, Current Research in the Pleistocene, 13, pp. 44–46.
23.
TaylorDee C.1969The Wilsall Excavations: An Exercise in Frustration, Proceedings of the Montana Academy of Sciences, 29, pp. 147–150.
24.
WheelerRyan J.1994Early Florida Decorated Bone Artifacts: Style and Aesthetics from Paleo- Indian through Archaic, Florida Anthropologist, 47, pp. 47–60.
25.
WilkePhilip J.FlennikenJ. Jeffrey, and OzbunTerry L.1991Clovis Technology at the Anzick Site, Montana, Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 13, pp. 242–272.
26.
WilmethRoscoe1968A Fossilized Bone Artifact from Southern Saskatchewan, American Antiquity, 33, pp. 100–101.
