Variation in the Early Paleoindian Economies of Late Pleistocene Eastern North America

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Abstract
The nature of Early Paleoindian economies in late Pleistocene eastern North America has been extensively debated by archaeologists. To better understand paleoeconomies we need to examine intraregional and interregional diversity in the production, consumption, distribution, and exchange of materials that sustained or reproduced early Paleoindian livelihoods. Coarse-grained comparisons drawn on the composition of flaked-stone tool assemblages from early Paleoindian sites in the Northeast (western New York State) and the western Midwest (the confluence area of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois rivers) show varying degrees of homogeneity and heterogeneity in the use of tool stone. Statistically significant patterns from stone procurement and tool manufacturing sites, base camps, and food procurement and processing sites are presented in support of a pancontinental model of flexible economies during a period of rapid and dramatic environmental change.