Identification of a Palaeoindian occupation in compressed stratigraphy: A case study from Ahai Mneh (FiPp-33)

Abstract

The 2010 University of Alberta Institute of Prairie Archaeology field school produced thousands of artifacts including diagnostic projectile points that provide evidence of multiple occupations spanning a 10,000 year period. As is typical of archaeological sites with limited surface deposition, a lack of visible stratigraphy makes it difficult to associate the assemblage with these temporal and cultural diagnostics, or assess changing occupation patterns over time. The authors present here a method reliant upon diligent attention to three-point proveniencing and analysis using low-cost, easily accessible software to complement the otherwise weak stratigraphic record; the resulting empirically segretated data show multiple components, the earliest of which correlates with an Agate Basin/Hell Gap complex occupation.