An Introduction to the Prehistory of Indiana

A distinctive projectile point form made from chert and chalcedony is widely distributed in North America. The distinguishing characteristics include its lanceolate form, concave base, and basal edges which have been blunted and ground smooth to insure that the hefting material used to bind the point to a spear shaft would not be severed by the sharp edges of the stone. Additionally, a narrow vertical flake was removed from both blade faces to produce grooves or "flutes." [see Fluted Point] This last is the basis for referring to such artifacts as fluted points. These occur with some frequency and variation in various parts of North America.

In a few areas of North America, particularly the High Plains region and portions of the Southwest, fluted points have been recovered in direct association with the remains of extinct forms of mastodon, bison, and other animals that lived in the late Pleistocene environment. These associations combined with cutting marks on the surviving bones clearly indicate that the fluted points were employed to kill and butcher the large beasts. Carbon-14 dates these associations to about 10,000 B.C.

In the eastern United States, similar fluted points have been found in considerable numbers, but only rarely do they occur in good datable contexts and, at least to the present, almost never in association with animal remains, either extinct or modern. They are customarily found on eroded terraces or other old landforms where few if any other artifacts are present; hence the information about this distinctive artifact form from eastern sites is less complete than in the more westerly areas.

There are a few exceptions to this somewhat negative picture. Recently, in eastern Missouri,

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a site has been excavated in which fluted points were found in seeming direct association with mastodon bones (Graham 1981). Also, a few fluted point-producing sites have been dated by carbon-14. The Debert Site in Nova Scotia is about 10,500 years old and seems to have been occupied when the Pleistocene ice mass was only fifty miles or so north of the site (MacDonald 1968). While there is no clear evidence for the type of game that was hunted, it was suggested that caribou could have been utilized. Another dated site with fluted points, Bull Brook in Massachusetts, is over 9,000 years old (Byers 1954, 1955). Similarly, the Thunderbird Site in Virginia has a dated fluted point horizon with an age of about 11,000 years ago (Gardner 1974). Numerous other work stations producing fluted points have been identified in the east, though no datable materials have been recovered.

The fact that good datable contexts have not been common in the eastern United States initially led to other approaches in the effort to determine the time of use of these artifacts. Inferring from the western associations, it was suggested that fluted points were employed during a time when the Pleistocene ice sheets were retreating northward. As a consequence, some areas would have been inaccessible to human use, either because of the presence of the ice mass itself or the marshy conditions that would have been a result of the melting. The absence of fluted points in a particular area might then derive from this glaciation-induced condition, and their period of use would be suggested. Mason (1958) and Prufer and Baby (1963), based upon studies of fluted point distributions in Michigan and Ohio, respectively, believed that such associations could be observed.

In Indiana fluted and derived forms representing the Paleo-lndian Tradition have been found with some frequency in most parts of the state, though never in good context. Customarily a single point will occur as an isolated find or in association with seemingly later materials. Because the discoveries are usually accidental and made by collectors, information concerning such points is sparse and often difficult to acquire. Nevertheless, based upon their typological similarity to dated forms noted above, those in Indiana are thought to be equally old.

Tomak (1980) has described a site in Perry County that has produced a number of artifacts attributable to the Paleo-lndian Tradition, including a fluted point. Subsequent excavation suggested that materials were confined to the disturbed plow zone, however.

Dorwin (1966) studied 195 fluted points from Indiana, the information for which was largely derived from a questionnaire distributed to artifact collectors. More than a third of those reported were from counties in the Ohio Valley proper, and most of the remainder had come from other major stream valleys. Though this distribution undoubtedly reflected a collecting bias with the larger and more productive sites producing the most surface material being located in those areas, the study documented the wide distribution of the fluted point. He also noted that there seemed to be an absence of points in the Allen, Huntington, Wells, and Adams counties area and concluded that this may have been associated with the presence of an ice mass in that area about 14,000 years ago. However, fluted points have more recently been reported from that area.

Fluted points constitute the earliest well-documented evidence for the presence of man in the New World. However, there are some logical arguments suggesting that earlier evidence remains to be recognized. One of the more persuasive of these is that the manufacture of fluted points involved some considerable technical sophistication and, since there are no recognizable antecedents in northeast Asia- the probable place of origin of the first migrants--the earlier developmental steps in the manufacture of the distinctive point must have occurred in the New World. Some support for this assumption is provided by a few carbon-14 dates that are considerably older

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than those generally accepted. However, most of those proposed derive from questionable contexts or, upon further investigation, have been found actually to be in error. Currently, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in southwestern Pennsylvania with dates in excess of 17,000 years ago for its deepest cultural levels is receiving much attention (Adovasio 1979, 1980). However, because the environmental conditions reflected in the archaeological record at the site are entirely modern and not Pleistocene influenced, as one would expect at this early time, it has been suggested that nearby coal deposits may have contaminated the charcoal used for dating. If true, a much too early date would have resulted.

Periodically it has been proposed that migrants from Europe, North Africa, Japan, outer space, a sunken continent, or a "lost tribe" played a positive role in New World cultural development. Such proposals have little to recommend them to the attention of the serious reader.

In sum, man was present in the New World by at least 10,000 B.C. with technological resources to survive and spread over both continents. There are some data from Indiana reflecting upon this early cultural level.