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NUMBER 30 209
as hearths, along with several artifacts including
a Clovis point, a chopper, and several flake tools.
Faunal and floral remains indicate a variety of
time horizons. Numerous radiocarbon dates indicate
that the burned features were essentially
devoid of radioactive carbon and were thus over
40,000 years old (Crook and Harris, 1962).
The Clovis projectile point at Lewisville was
presumed to have been a plant. Some prehistorians
have suggested that the hearths really represent
burned pack rat nests (Heizer and Brooks,
1965) or even burned tree stumps. The remaining
"artifacts" were considered to have been washed
into the soil matrix from higher terraces. The site,
inundated by reservoir waters during excavation,
has been controversial for twenty years.
In 1978 a drought in central Texas brought the
level of Lewisville Lake down below the level of
the hearth area. At that time, Larry Banks and
Robert Burton of the United States Army Corps
of Engineers made additional discoveries that led
me to reexcavate the site in 1979 and 1980.
Research was terminated when heavy rainfall
brought a rise in the water level. However, the
brief excavation did yield some interesting data
which will allow for tentative interpretations.
Two independent laboratory analyses, one
from the University of Illinois at Urbana and one
from Harvard University, indicate that the
burned areas contained lignitic coal. Thus, the
early ^^C dates can be rejected. Lignite is found
in the Woodbine formation one-quarter mile to
the west and may have been brought to the site
by man.
Additional faunal and floral remains were
found in and around the hearth areas. Several
small flakes made of local quartzite, Edwards
Plateau chert, and Alibates dolomite from the
Texas Panhandle were also found associated with
the burned areas. The cross-sections of the burned
areas indicate they are indeed hearths. I think
that the stone artifacts found by Crook and Harris
are associated with these hearths, and the Lewisville
site is probably a Clovis campsite.
Intensely worked localities in southern California
include Texas Street (Carter, 1957), and Cal­
ico Hills (Leakey et al., 1968; Simpson, 1978).
Major problems with the sites center around the
age of the deposits and the doubtful status of the
recovered specimens as artifacts (Haynes, 1973).
Suffice to say that a few of these stone objects
do resemble artifacts (Leakey et al., 1968; Bryan,
1978). Given the nature of the chert-bearing deposits,
however, they must be viewed with a
certain amount of skepticism. Publication of definitive
geological work, sound dates, and evidence
for hearths would allow definitive statements.
The Channel Islands off California have also
been described as having early fire hearths associated
with the burned bones of Pleistocene fauna
dating between 11,000-37,000 years ago (Orr,
1968). However, the finds may be situated in a
redeposited context. The weathered bedrock sediments
have been oxidized to the same color as
burned earth, making it difficult to distinguish
hearth features. Further, the alluvial sequences
on Santa Rosa Island contain abundant charcoal
from natural fires (Johnson, 1980a: 110-111;
1980b: 117-118). As the mammoth bones, stone
tools, and putative hearths were also found on
erosional unconformities, additional work is
needed to clarify the nature of the human occupation
of the Channel Islands.
At the Manis site, on the Olympic Peninsula,
a bone object tentatively identified as a projectile
point was found inbedded in a mastodon rib
(Gustafson et al., 1979). Although bone growth
around the intrusive object indicated that the
wound was inflicted a number of months before
the animal died, the remains appeared to have
been butchered. Along with the butchered remains,
a cobble spall tool was recovered.
Two radiocarbon dates suggest that the site is
around 12,000 years old. These dates were derived
from seeds, wood, and other vegetal remains that
were found in the bone-bearing alluvium.
If the association of the cobble tool, the presumed
projectile point and the organics (presumably
accurately dated) can be demonstrated, then
there is a clear-cut case for hunting mastodon in
the Pleistocene of the Northwest Coast. It is not