Describe People Living In Oklahoma During Paleo-Indian Period (Essay Sample)

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Paleoindian Period in Oklahoma
Human migration into North America is thought to have begun after the Pleistocene extinctions, which was a period of extreme weather characterized by an extensive cover of ice and glaciers. Anthropologists believe that the Paleoindian period commenced around twelve thousand years ago when humans thought to be from Asia migrated to North America via a land-bridge or merely crafted water vessels (Goebel, Waters and Rourke 1497). In fact, Archeologists suggest that between 11,000 and 8000 B.P., which was in the Paleoindian period, Native Americans occupying the vast prairie region plains of North America Great Plains utilized bifacial-shaped flaked stone technology (Bamforth 55). There is also evidence showing that the people inhabiting North American Great Plains depended on stone tools to sharpen and mold tools that helped them to hunt wild animals and access raw materials (Bamforth 55). Accordingly, this analysis will review evidence obtained in various sites that support the Paleoindian period in Oklahoma.
Goebel, Waters, and Rourke (1497) suggested that in the past people believed that the first migrants into America might have roamed through the Great Plains nearly thirteen thousand years ago. Accordingly, scientists concur that the Great Plains of North America’s early inhabitants may have come from Asia through the Bering Strait as a land-bridge formed that and allowed them to traverse across the Arctic Ocean and make way into America (Goebel, Waters and Rourke 1497). They also have uncovered evidence of fluted and non-fluted spear points, which matched Paleoindian cultures that lived in the middle and the end of the Paleoindian period (Hofman et al. 26).
The Pre-Clovis Culture
There have been a few debates that tend to find out whether the Great Plains were inhabited initially by another culture before the Clovis people. Some experts believe that some evidence obtained from pre-Clovis sites could be the answer to this fact-impeding query. In Kiowa County, Oklahoma, the Cooperton site located the Southwestern part of the state may have provided evidence of Pre-Clovis culture, where the remains of a corpse belonging to an immature male mammoth were found in the alluvial deposits. Various cobbles were found near the carcass remains, and the archeologists interpreted them as hammerstones. A boulder, which was relatively small was also located near the site, and it was suggested that it was an anvil (Hofman et al. 27).
The mammoth’s remains showed that the bones might have been intentionally broken by individuals who may have wanted to extract the bone marrow for food or may have utilized them as tools. However, no evidence was gathered to support that the mammoth was hunted by human beings (Hofman et al. 27). The bone remains of the mammoth were taken through a series of radiocarbon dating, which showed that the carcass was aged between 17,000 and 21, 000 years before present. The fractures on the mammoth’s bones may have been as a result of trampling, and experts suggest that the site could have been a location for bone quarrying or human scavenging during the pre-Clovis era (Hofman et al. 28).
In Oklahoma, there were some pre-Clovis sites that were exposed in the northern part. These sites have brought forth numerous debates about the topic of pre-Clovis evidence in the state. In Woodward County, the remains of a mammoth’s skeleton that had spiral fractures were found at a site named, the Bartow mammoth site (Stout 17). Nevertheless, there were no diagnostic artefacts at the location mentioned above. Still, in Woodward County, a second pre-Clovis site was exposed, and it consisted of a skeleton from the extinct bison. With the bison frame, archeologists found what they considered to be human-made flakes. However, the site could not provide evidence of any cultural affiliation (Stout 18).
The Clovis People
The start of the Paleoindian period was exhibited by the occupation of the earliest humans to be documented in North America, the Clovis people. Although there has been evidence of older occupations in other parts of the America continents, many archeologists agree that the Clovis persons were the first inhabitants of the Great Plains (Stout 22). In fact, many archeological sites support the finding because so many artifacts have been identified in various places ranging from New Mexico to Canada.
The Blackwater Draw Locality in New Mexico was the first site that provided objects that proved that the Clovis people inhabited North America during the Paleoindian period (Stout 22). Typical Clovis fashioned tools that exhibited lanceolate points with flutes and basal grinding were located near mammoth remains in the Northern part of New Mexico. Tools with fluted ends have been uncovered in some sections of the Atlantic coast and California. However, most of the Clovis sites are concentrated in the vast prairie regions of North America (Hofman et al. 29).
According to the evidence obtained from various places, anthropologists infer that the primary economic activity of the Clovis persons seemed to concentrate on hunting mammoths. In Oklahoma, different archeological sites provide varying evidence supporting the occupation of Clovis people during the Paleoindian period (Hofman et al. 29). The artifacts retrieved from these sites usually indicate an age ranging between 12,000 to 10,000 years. The age corresponds to the appearance of the Clovis people and the extinction of the mammoth species (Stout 23).
The Domebo site is located in Caddo County, which is in the Southeastern part of Oklahoma and it offers great insight into the Clovis culture. Adrian Anderson and Buck Patterson found parts of the remains of a mammoth’s vertebrae, skull, and tusk that were revealed in a fine sedimentation of bluish-gray silt. The mammoth’s remains were discovered in a spring-fed river’s bank. Other bones were revealed when heavy rains destroyed a dam and caused the bottom of a deep ravine to be exposed. Near the mammoth’s carcass, fluted points that resembled those utilized by the Clovis people were unearthed. Additionally, other fluted points were discovered with the mammoth’s skeletal material (Stephens 153).
Calvin Graybill Site
According to Thurmond (291), a Clovis archeological site was exposed in Dewey County in southwestern Oklahoma, which is known as the Calvin Graybill. As explained by Thurmond, the site was located in the uplands close to the ridge that divides the Canadian and Washita rivers in the western part of Oklahoma. There were flake tools that were discovered on the surface and the fact that the tools showed functional harmony in the assemblage and the lack of campsite debris indicated that the tools belonged to a culture that existed during the Paleoindian period (Thurmond 291).
According to Stout, the site contained one tooth fragment and many lithic materials indicating evidence of the Clovis cultures (Stout 23). When the site was discovered about six decades ago, four lithic tools and a projectile point belonging to the Clovis community were found by the team of archaeologists in the area (Stout 24). Thurmond shows that the site was highly disturbed as various constructions had been carried out near the site and most of the artifacts may have been destroyed (Thurmond 291).
During the Paleoindian period, some of the tools were composed of non-local materials such as Ogallala, Dakota quartzite, and dolomite (Stout 24). The site provided tools that were made from dolomite that was Alibates agatized. These tools included several flakes and a projectile. Two flakes made from Dakota and Ogallala quartzite were found together with scrapers that were retooled and altered (Stout 24). The scrapers seemed to be composed of different materials, which included Dakota and Ogallala quartzite. All the tools resembled and pointed to those utilized by Paleoindian hunters. They epitomized a Paleoindian’s equipment that had the same scrapers, knives, and projectile sections.
According to Stout (24), the Alibates equipment had been utilized substantially, and experts guess that the tool creators had may not have visited the Alibates excavation location once more (Stout 24). In fact, many of the relics uncovered at the Calvin Graybill area symbolized the distinctive Clovis culture. Besides, they resembled others discovered in various Clovis areas throughout the North American Great Plains. As suggested by Stout, these tools may have been used by the Clovis people in the Paleoindian period to hunt animals and aid in processing the animals’ remains (Stout 24).
Jake Bluff Site
Carlson, Bement, Culleton and Kennett describe the Jake Bluff site, which is in the northwestern part of Oklahoma along the Beaver River, where evidence of Clovis-aged bison bones was found dispersed along a floodplain (Carlson et al. 201). The plain is famous for its abundance of artifacts resembling other tools from Paleoindian sites hence showing proof of hunting sites around that area (Stout 25). As Carlson et al. shows, the Jake Bluff site was very close to the Cooper site where Folsom materials had been excavated (Carlson et al. 201). The bluff where the bison bones were discovered overlooks the floodplain adjacent to the Beaver River, and the bones had accumulated on the rim of a paleo-arroyo (Stout 25). The bison bones were concentrated in a four square meter unit, where the identifiable components included lumbar vertebrae, femur, sacrum, carpal, and ulna (Carlson et al. 202). A thorough examination of the bison bones revealed that they belonged to an extinct animal labeled Bison antiquus, a species of the bison genus that existed in the Paleoindian period (Stout 25).
The lithic artifacts found at Jake Bluff location were similar to th...