Hunter-gatherer technological organization: The Archaic Period in northern New Mexico

The goal of this dissertation is to document and investigate the causes of variation in lithic tool technology during the Archaic Period in the northern Southwest of North America. Changes in the composition of Archaic Period (ca. 8000--1600 BP) lithic assemblages from northwestern New Mexico are argued to be the result of changes in how the technology of the local hunter-gatherers was organized, and how that organization was integrated into the larger cultural system. Variation in lithic technology during the Archaic Period is examined from the perspective of economic efficiency, using several of the original Archaic Oshara Tradition type-sites (Irwin-Williams 1973). An in depth description and analysis of several of these previously unpublished sites, including the Collier Dune and Ojito Dune sites, is presented and the findings are compared to more recently excavated material from the region. Issues of projectile point typology and chronology are also addressed. The chipped-stone tool technology is shown to have changed considerably between the Early Archaic (8000--5000 BP) and the Late Archaic (3500--1600 BP). These changes are argued to have been the result of higher regional population densities, reduced group mobility and a decrease in the importance of large game hunting. Beginning in the late Middle Archaic there is an increase in expedient, short use-life, tool types and alternative subsistence technologies, such as ground stone, fire-cracked quartzite and percussive tools. These changes in technology are the result of shifts in the tool design strategies and objectives of the tool users, and were brought about by changes in the social and environmental constraints acting upon the local cultural system.