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204 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
dor to the Northern Plains at such an early date.
The Sandia Cave dates, upon which Miiller-Beck
derives his basal age for older Llano, are not
considered reliable (Stevens and Agogino,
1975:22).
The concept that the Aurignacoid industries
gave rise to late Eskimo and Aleut traditions is
supported by recent excavations at Dry Creek,
Alaska (Powers and Hamilton, 1978), Onion Portage,
Alaska (Anderson, 1970) and at Bluefish
Cave, Yukon Territory (Cinq-Mars, 1979). All
support a minimal age of 11,000 years for the
American Paleo-Arctic tradition.
MacNeish divides the human occupation of
the New World into four hypothetical stages
(MacNeish, 1978, 1979a). These stages are divided
on the basis of technological attributes of
artifacts into "undated probable," "possible,"
and "dated probable" complexes, based on
MacNeish's assessment of the reliability of data
from various New World sites.
STAGE I (MacNeish's "Undated Probable").—
The big game collectors dates from around 70,000
to 30,000 years old and is characterized by crude,
large bifacial choppers, cleavers, concave-sided
unifaces, and retouched flakes. Sites included in
this stage and which will be discussed in this
paper are the Ayacucho Pacaicasa, Old Crow,
Santa Rosa Island, Lewisville, Levi Rock Shelter
(stratum IV), Tlapacoya, El Bosque, and Tagua-
Tagua.
STAGE II ("Possible").—Unspecialized hunters,
dates as old as 28,000 years in North America
and lasts up to 10,000 years ago in South America.
It includes such sites and assemblages as the
El Homo locality at Valsequillo, the Ayacucho
complex at Pikimachay Cave and the lowest level
at Meadowcroft Rock Shelter, and Los Toldos
Cave. Characteristic implements include unifacial
projectile points, burin-like tools, large flat
flakes with retouched and denticulated edges, as
well as bone tools.
STAGE III ("Dated Probable").—Specialized
hunters, dates from 20,000 years old in North
America to 11,000 years old in South America. It
is characterized as having bifacial leaf-shaped
projectile points, blades, and burins. Sites included
in this stage are Meadowcroft Rock Shelter,
Wilson Butte Cave, Hueyatlaco locality and
Unit E at Valsequillo, and Taima-Taima.
STAGE IV.—Ecozonal specialized hunters,
dates between 13,000 and 10,000 years ago. Included
in this stage are all of the widely recognized
Paleo-Indian complexes of North and
South America.
Although MacNeish (1979a:2) admits that the
evidence for demarcation of these stages is poor,
he feels, that the data are sufficient to cause a
rethinking of concepts about early man in the
Americas.
Alan Bryan (1965, 1977a, 1978, 1979) presents
a model of multilinear evolution in which there
are independent lines of development of Paleo-
Indian technologies. He feels these technological
traditions are the result of responses to different
environments found in the Western Hemisphere.
Bryan's major traditions consist of (1) the Fluted
Point, (2) the Stemmed Point, and (3) the
Notched Point traditions. All are thought to have
evolved from a generalized technological pattern
that had its roots in an Old World Paleolithic
core, flake, and bone-working technology. This is
evidenced in such sites as Texas Street and Calico
Hills, both in California.
Thus, there is little disparity among the major
interpretations for New World origins as briefly
outlined above. Major differences that are initially
apparent rest almost entirely with the quality
of data that various investigators will accept
as evidence for a human occupation site. However,
most researchers agree that an early cultural
tradition that developed in Asia moved into the
Americas with a relatively simple lithic and bone
technology.
Criteria for Acceptable Archeological Evidence
The major problems surrounding hypothetical
early man sites are the reliability of the radiometric
dates, the lack of (or inadequately understood)
stratigraphy, and the identification of artifacts
or of pseudo-artifacts.