Plains Indian Studies - Smithsonian Institution Libraries

212 SMITHSONIAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO ANTHROPOLOGY
and defined Pleistocene lake deposits containing
megafauna in the lowest levels associated with
chips and flakes and possible stone tools. In 1975,
1977, and 1978 Lautaro Nunez, geologist Juan
Varela, and paleontologist Rodolfo Casamiquella
made extensive stratigraphic excavations. I visited
the site in 1976 and later examined the stone
materials and bones and noted possible butchering
marks and evidence of possible breakage by
man. Now six radiocarbon dates based on charcoal
from two different laboratories give a range
of 11,600 to 10,925 B.p. It is hoped that a final
report detailing these interdisciplinary studies of
this locality will soon be forthcoming, which will
allow for careful scrutiny of the significance of
this site.
On the Rio Uruguay along the international
boundary of Argentina and the state of Rio
Grande do Sul, Brazil, Eurico Th. Miller from
1965 to 1979 had found 16 sites where lithic
materials were found in association with extinct
Pleistocene fauna at a depth of 5.5 to 6.8 meters
below the present surface, overlain by a sterile
stratum (Miller, 1969). Nine dates, from six sites,
range from 12,690 to 11,555 to 10,180 B.P. Additional
research is urgently needed in this significant
area since planned hydroelectric dam construction
may threaten the sites involved.
Los Toldos Cave is located in Southern Argentina
(Cardich et al., 1973; Cardich, 1978) and has
produced a long stratified cultural sequence. The
lowest level, contained a number of well-made
unifacial artifacts. One has been described as a
single-shoulder projectile point; however, my
impression from a cursory examination is that it
should be classified as a knife. Nevertheless, these
artifacts were found in clear association with
Pleistocene fauna. Charcoal collected from the
occupation level produced a single radiocarbon
determination of around 12,000 years B.P. Additional
work needs to be conducted in order to
verify this radiometric age determination.
In summary, many of the sites discussed above,
including Calico Hills, Texas Street, Lewisville,
Friesenhahn Cave, El Bosque, and the proposed
Pacaicasa complex of Pikimachay Cave in Peru
have too httle convincing data to be considered
significant in this assessment of the antiquity of
man in the New World. The evidence from the
Dutton, Selby, and Lamb Spring sites in Colorado,
as well as the localities found on the Channel
Islands of California also is extremely tenuous.
If the fractured chert and bone and burned areas
found at these sites can be shown to be by-products
of human activity, they will figure more
significantly into discussions of New World
origins.
The remaining complexes or localities contain
conventionally acceptable archeological assemblages.
However, the critical questions concern
the reliability of the age assessments and the
artifact associations. Future work should more
accurately define their place in New World prehistory.
Speculation about New World Origins
At present this speculation about New World
origins has to be based entirely on technological
attributes of the artifacts that have been recovered
at selected archeological sites. This is at
best a hazardous exercise, inasmuch as the combined
total of all of the tools found at these sites
is extremely small, and all the tools were no doubt
task-specific and were not representative of whole
technologies. Thus, the entire complexion of the
nature of the evidence might change with future
research.
The best evidence for the oldest known New
World occupation comes from Latin America,
where numerous sites seem to date earlier than
Clovis in North America. The date of 20,000
years and the unifacial flake tool assemblage
sequence from Valsequillo (Mexico) indicate that
a core and flake tool technology was used by the
earliest New World culture. A flake/core industry
seems to have persisted for a long time in Latin
America as evidenced by the unifacial tools found
at Pikimachay, Tagua-Tagua, and Los Toldos
Cave in southern South America.
Presumably when a site of the appropriate age
is found in the Arctic, it will contain similar core