Hell Gap: Paleo-Indian Occupation on the High Plains

Abstract

A resume of archaeological investigations in the Hell Gap Valley of southeastern Wyoming is presented. This research produced a detailed sequence of Plains PaleoIndian occupation of this section of the High Plains. from about 9000 to 5500 B.C. Identifiable complexes recognized include Goshen, Midland, Folsom, Agate Basin, Hell Gap, Alberta, Cody, and Frederick. Materials recovered represent camping activities rather than the better known game kills, and add dimension to our knowledge of Plains Paleo-Indian cultures.     

The Rio Grande Complex and the Northern Plains

Abstract

The earliest component at the La Bolsa site in the Galisteo Basin of north-central New Mexico is an early manifestation of what is defined in this paper as the Quemado Phase of the proposed Rio Grande Complex. Relatively dated to about 7000 to 6000 years ago, this Proto-Archaic Phase is postulated to be ultimately rooted in the Agate Basin Complex of the northern Plains.     

A Paleo-Indian Point From Henry County,Missouri

Abstract

A Paleo-Indian point, probably assignable to the Plano Tradition, was recently collected in Henry County, Missouri. Although unfluted, it otherwise compares favorably both morphologically and technologically with several published samples of PaleoIndian points. The upland location also compares . favorably with known Paleo-Indian site locations; however, geomorphic processes may have biased recording of Paleo-Indian sites.     

Notes on the White Earth Creek Site (32MN2)

Abstract

The White Earth Creek Site, partially excavated by Thad. C. Hecker in 1938, is important because of its location well north of most other fortified sites in the northern Great Plains. The site is also unusual in that it consists of a fortification without any indication of permanent structures within the ditch and palisade. Data collected by Hecker are discussed in terms of the contribution which they can make to our picture of North Dakota aboriginal life outside the main valley of the Missouri River.     

Cody Knives and the Cody Complex in Plains Prehistory: A reassessment

Abstract

Discovery of the oldest dated Cody Knife in the New World calls for a redefinition of the Cody Complex in High Plains prehistqw. Its greater antiquity plus its association with an earlier culture gives new insight into the developmental sequence of certain Paleo-Indian tools.     

Landscape genetics reveal broad and fine‐scale population structure due to landscape features and climate history in the northern leopard frog (Rana pipiens) in North Dakota

Prehistoric climate and landscape features play large roles structuring wildlife populations. The amphibians of the northern Great Plains of North America present an opportunity to investigate how these factors affect colonization, migration, and current population genetic structure. This study used 11 microsatellite loci to genotype 1,230 northern leopard frogs (Rana pipiens) from 41 wetlands (30 samples/wetland) across North Dakota. Genetic structure of the sampled frogs was evaluated using Bayesian and multivariate clustering methods. All analyses produced concordant results, identifying a major east–west split between two R. pipiens population clusters separated by the Missouri River. Substructuring within the two major identified population clusters was also found. Spatial principal component analysis (sPCA) and variance partitioning analysis identified distance, river basins, and the Missouri River as the most important landscape factors differentiating R. pipiens populations across the state. Bayesian reconstruction of coalescence times suggested the major east–west split occurred ~13–18 kya during a period of glacial retreat in the northern Great Plains and substructuring largely occurred ~5–11 kya during a period of extreme drought cycles. A range‐wide species distribution model (SDM) for R. pipiens was developed and applied to prehistoric climate conditions during the Last Glacial Maximum (21 kya) and the mid‐Holocene (6 kya) from the CCSM4 climate model to identify potential refugia. The SDM indicated potential refugia existed in South Dakota or further south in Nebraska. The ancestral populations of R. pipiens in North Dakota may have inhabited these refugia, but more sampling outside the state is needed to reconstruct the route of colonization. Using microsatellite genotype data, this study determined that colonization from glacial refugia, drought dynamics in the northern Great Plains, and major rivers acting as barriers to gene flow were the defining forces shaping the regional population structure of R. pipiens in North Dakota.     

A Possible Paleo-Indian and Archaic Site in the Swan Valley,Manitoba

Abstract

An archaeological site uncovered in the Swan Valley of Manitoba during road construction yie1ded a small group of artifacts including a Paleo-Indian projectile point and side-notched Archaic points. The site is significant as it lies in a corridor which probably served as a vital migration route between the Northern Plains and the diminishing lakes within the Lake Agassiz Basin.     

The Sister’s Hill Site: A Hell Gap Site In North-Central Wyoming

Abstract

The cultural horizon at the Sister’s Hill Site has produced typical Hell Gap points and a small group of associated artifacts. The radiocarbon date of 9650 ± 250 B. C. is in agreement with late Agate Basin or early post Agate Basin sites in the High Plains. On the basis of the current data, Hell Gap points appear to have developed from Agate Basin styles and seem to be developmental to Alberta, Scottsbluff and Eden types.     

The Red River Valley In The Prehistory Of The Northern Plains

Abstract

Archaeological reconnaissance in the valley of the Red River of the North indicates a heavy utilization of this area by Late Woodland peoples, especially manufacturers of Sandy Lake pottery. Artifact style, raw materials procurement, and the general pattern of northern Plains trade suggest the Red River area was integrated into a larger reticulum joining the northern Midwest woodlands with the northern Plains. Referring to this region as a “periphery” is acceptable only in a geographic sense, not a cultural-historical sense.     

Knife River Flint

Abstract

Twenty-four Knife River F I int quarries have been newly discovered in Dunn County, North Dakota. Five were previously known in Mercer County. The flint occurs as pebbles, cobbles, and boulders in alluvial, slope-wash, and colluvial lag deposits of Pleistocene age. The flint in these deposits was originally derived from a silicified lignite bed in the Golden Valley Formation of Eocene age and possibly also from other lignite-bearing formations. The flint has a characteristic petrography and can be readily distinguished from all other commonly used rock types in North Dakota and adjacent areas.     

关于北京人遗址第13层发现的石制品

关于北京人遗址第13层发现的两件石制品的性质,在中国学术界存在不同意见。本文作者认为:人工打制的石片和石器形式多种多样,有典型的,也有不典型的;自然营力能使石块破碎,甚至“加工”出具有一定形状的“石器”,但同样也是形式多种多样,有典型的和不典型的。对待这类问题,要从多方面去考虑,认识才较为客观,较为全面。     

Lithic Resource Utilization Patterns in the Middle Missouri Subarea

Abstract

Some years ago Donald Lehmer (1954) suggested, on the basis of data from sites near the Oahe Dam, that Middle Missouri Tradition and Coalescent Tradition populations practiced distinctly different lithic resource exploitation patterns. This study attempts to evaluate and expand upon Lehmer’s observations using data from four archaeological sites near Mobridge, South Dakota. An underlying premise is that studies of lithic resource exploitation must be grounded in a firm understanding of the geologic and geographic parameters of the natural resource base. Toward this end, field reconnaissanceand geologic information are used to define 12 stone types which occur in high frequency in the chipped stone artifact assemblages and which have reasonably well defined natural source locations and conditions. Comparisons of the four site assemblages according to the frequency of occurrence of these stone types supports Lehmer’s observations, and illustratescontrastive patterns of resource exploitation associated with the two cultural traditions. Coalescent populations relied heavily on several stone types occurring naturally in the Big Badlands and Black Hills of South Dakota, while Middle Missouri populations generally ignored these sources and relied heavily on Knife River Flint as a major lithic resource. These contrastive exploitation patterns appear to have remained relatively constant through time and across considerable space.     

Cord-Roughened Pottery in North Central North America

Abstract

Basic data are offered on 2 pottery bearing localities in the Souris Basin, North Dakota. Additional data from adjacent areas are introduced to support the assertion that there was a relatively heavy occupation of the Northern Plains by a number of closely related groups which manufactured only slightly differentiated cordroughened pottery. The presence of this pottery reveals that the Woodland occupation of the Northern Plains was far more intensive and extensive than might be suspected from the extant literature.     

Some Important Developments in Northern Plains Prehistory, 1942-1967*

Abstract

The area of the Northern Plains is defined as by Wedel in his 1961 synthesis. For the period under consideration, the “process” of archeological work is presented in terms of two main areas of growth--the River Basin Survey Program and the opening up of intensive work in Canada. Also for the period considered, the “results 11 of archeological work are presented in terms of the following eight areas of both fact and theory development: 1) The Middle Missouri “Plains Village” development; 2) Paleo-Indian diversity; 3) Meso-Indian gap filling; 4) Projectile points as diagnostics; 5) Functional interpretations; 6) Ecological prespectives; 7)Relationships outsidethePlains; 8) Broad-ranging synthesis. Future developments are seen in the need and possibilities for historic work, preparation of syntheses and the deeper development of micro-analytic approaches.     

The Alkire Mound (32SI200)

Abstract

The Alkire Mound Site, located on the west bank of the Missouri River in southernmost North Dakota, appears to be one more manifestation of the Woodland occupation of the northern Plains. The low earthen mound, some 90 feet in diameter at the time of excavation, was built over a log-covered burial chamber which contained five bundle burials and one extended innumation. The artifact yield was negligible, but the one projectile point found is of the sort usually associated with Woodland manifestations in the area. Estimates of the labor required to build the mound indicate that the people responsible for its construction had an economy which permitted spending an appreciable amount of time in nonsubsistence activities.     

甘肃徐家城旧石器遗址石制品拼合研究

徐家城遗址是甘肃省新发现的含丰富旧石器文化遗物的遗址,主要埋藏于水洛河二级阶地上覆的马兰黄土中,年代在距今4.3~2.3万年间。徐家城遗址的拼合分析显示,4B、4C层剥片与石器加工行为是石制品空间分布形成的主要原因,但可能存在遗址使用时古人类对石制品位置改变的行为;4A层石制品零散分布可能反映了此时遗址处于古人类活动的边缘地带。遗址剥片方法以硬锤锤击法为主,石核剥片序列主要以转向为主,古人类对石料进行单层或多层开发;同时部分石器破碎后古人类可能对其进行再利用。平面分布显示发掘区内可能存在两个相对集中的剥片区域,并且古人类在同一区域剥片和加工石器。然因遗址石制品原料性质、发掘面积等局限性,拼合分析的优势并未在此项研究中尽现。今后此类研究应结合其他研究方法,综合多方面信息解释遗址形成过程、石器技术及遗址空间利用方式。     

吉林汪清新兴遗址第1地点调查与试掘简报

新兴遗址第1地点位于吉林省汪清县嘎呀河支流前河北岸的二级阶地,2018年调查发现,2019年对该地点进行了复查和试掘,试掘面积14 m²。采集和试掘发现标本131件,以石制品为主,包括石核、石片、石叶、细石叶、刮削器、砍砸器、尖状器、手斧和磨制石器,此外还发现有少量夹砂陶片。总体来看该遗址包含旧石器和新石器两期文化遗存,其中旧石器时代遗存以石叶和细石叶为主要技术特征,石制品原料以硅质页岩和黑曜岩为主,根据石制品技术特征和地层堆积情况判断,年代与临近的黑龙江穆棱市康乐遗址年代相近,为距今10000年前后;新石器时代文化遗存属图们江流域金谷文化范畴。     

Genetic diversity ofBradyrhizobium japonicum within soybean growing regions of the north-eastern Great Plains of North America as determined by REP-PCR and ERIC-PCR profiling

While soybean (Glycine max [L.] Merr.) has been grown for several decades in several northern states in the United States, the introduction of early maturing cultivars of soybean in western Canada in the late 1990’s has resulted in a exponential increase in soybean production in the region. Soybean grows in a symbiotic association withBradyrhizobium japonicum [Kirchner] Jordan, which carries out biological nitrogen fixation within the plant roots. Previous studies have shown that rhizobia introduced from commercial inoculants tend to evolve quickly in soil. In this study, we examined the genetic diversity of 105B. japonicum isolates from the soybean growing areas of the north-eastern Great Plains of North America by genomic fingerprinting techniques — REP-PCR and ERIC-PCR profiling. High genetic diversity was detected among theB. japonicum isolates sampled across various sites in North Dakota, South Dakota and Minnesota in the United States, and southern Manitoba in Canada. Analysis of the genetic diversity by the unweighted pair group method with an arithmetic mean algorithm(UPGMA) indicated an interesting segregation of isolates between US and Canadian sites. Results of this study also suggest a relatively rapid rate of genetic change within theB. japonicum populations and some evidence that soil texture may influence genetic diversity of the bacterium in the region.     

Peopling of the Americas: paleobiological evidence.

A subjective and bivariate analysis of 8500-10,000-year-old human fossil remains from North America substantiates that the fossils' closest affinities are with Asian populations. Within North American prehistoric Indian populations, increasing brachycephalization and the possible development of a larger, broader face are two structural trends that can be identified. In those respects where Paleo-Indian specimens differ from modern northern Asians and North American Indians, they tend to resemble southern Asian and European populations. These assessments generally support the inference that populations entered the New World relatively recently but before the modern northern Asian and North American features were fully developed. Based on the data examined, no date can be specified for time of entrance of the first populations, nor can the number of founding populations be discerned.     

Switchgrass Biomass Simulation at Diverse Sites in the Northern Great Plains of the U.S.

The Agricultural Land Management Alternatives with Numerical Assessment Criteria (ALMANAC) model, originally developed and tested in Texas, needs to be tested for switchgrass (Panicum virgatum L.) simulation in more northerly locations. The Northern Great Plains of the U.S. has regionally adapted native populations of switchgrass and has excellent potential for growing switchgrass as a biofuel crop. The objective of this study was to adjust switchgrass parameters (potential leaf area index (DMLA) and degree days to maturity (PHU)) for northern sites and populations and to validate the model against switchgrass data from diverse sites in this region. Three or 4 years of measured yield data were used from a ten field sites in North Dakota (ND), South Dakota (SD), and Nebraska (NE). ALMANAC realistically simulated mean annual switchgrass yields ranging from means of 4.75 to 9.13 Mg ha^?1. Mean simulated yields were within 3%, 15%, and 9% of mean measured yields for NE, SD, and ND, respectively. Sensitivity analysis with temperature and rainfall demonstrated variable responses of potential yields depending on whether season duration, soil water, or soil nitrogen was the limiting factor at a site. ALMANAC shows promise as a useful tool for switchgrass evaluation and management in the northern Great Plains and in similar latitudes with low rainfall such as the East European Plain.