David J. Meltzer’s research while affiliated with Southern Methodist University and other places

... We analyze projectile points because they are one of only a limited range of formal stone tools made by Clovis people that are conducive to comparative analyses (Eren & Buchanan, 2016), and because projectile points have a fairly restrictive functional range as weapons or butchering tools (e.g. Eren & Buchanan, 2016;Eren et al., 2024aEren et al., , 2024bGramly, 1999;Gramly & Yahnig, 1991;Jennings & Smallwood, 2019;Meltzer, 1993Meltzer, , 2021Smallwood, 2015a;Tune, 2016;Waters et al., 2011) or, for some specific forms, possibly used solely as knives (e.g. Buchanan et al., 2018;Jennings, 2013;Lyman et al., 1998;Thurmond, 1990). ...

Reference:

The Functional Use of Quartz Crystal Points in Clovis Technology

... Ethnographic and experimental data help us build robust links with human behaviours in the deep past (Eren & Meltzer, 2024); yet following fundamental scientific principles (whether statistically led or otherwise) analogical tools and archaeological data can only be used to support or reject hypotheses but never to prove. Quantitative and qualitative Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. ...

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In Search of the Origins of Distance Hunting—The Use and Misuse of Tip Cross-sectional Geometry of Wooden Spears

... In addition, relatively low Si/Al ratios indicate low productivity (Vyse et al. 2020), with relatively high detrital input indicated by Zr values . These conditions of low productivity and relatively high detrital input fit well to the initial dyede stage of alaas lake development Fedorov 2022). ...

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Past and present environmental conditions in Yakutia - a (palaeo)ecological study using lake sediments

... A histogram of patination stages on all bifacial tools, for example, demonstrates a bimodal distribution dividing heavily weathered tools (Lower Palaeolithic handaxes) and lightly 3 Cores and tools may be more relatively 'mobile' on a site compared to debitage, depending on the location of specific activities. Alternately, it is possible that temporally later people reused cores and tools produced by earlier peoples (Boulanger et al., 2022), moving them across a site from their original discard location. A number of cores at TH.419 exhibited older sheared surfaces indicative of recycling. ...

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Mapping lateral stratigraphy at Palaeolithic surface sites: A case study from Dhofar, Oman

... A lack of preservation hinders archaeologists' current geo-temporal understanding of when and where the javelin and the atlatl/dart were used in the past, but technological parsimony and current archaeological findings suggest the javelin was probably invented first (Milks 2018a;2018bMilks et al. 2019; see also Baldino et al., 2023;Boëda et al., 1999;Conrad et al. 2023;Coppe et al. 2019Coppe et al. , 2023Eren et al. 2022a;Hutchings 2016;Julien 2016:V;Langley 2016a:3;Langley 2016b:152-154;Leder et al. 2024;Lombard 2023;Oakley et al. 1977;Rots 2016;Sahle and Brooks 2019;Salem and Churchill 2016;Shea 1997Shea , 1998Shea and Sisk 2010;Shea et al. 2001;Shea 2009, 2011;Tejero 2016;Thieme, 1997;Whittaker 2010Whittaker , 2016Wilkins et al. 2012). In some contexts, Paleolithic people potentially used both weapon systems concurrently, a phenomenon documented ethnographically (Julien 2016:VI;Kamp and Whittaker 2020;Lombard and Wadley 2016;Milks 2020;Whittaker 2010:197). ...

Reference:

The gravity of Paleolithic hunting

... En Fuego-Patagonia no existen evidencias que permitan explicar la ocupación de nuevos espacios por causas demográficas. Por ello, ante la disminución de las presas de ranking alto en los loci ocupados, puede implementarse un orden diferente en el ranking del mismo set de recursos (Cannon y Meltzer 2022). Dado que no todo espacio nuevo es atractivo, ni resulta necesario su uso inmediato ni recurrente, esto demoraría la decisión de trasladarse. ...

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ISLAS DENTRO DE ISLAS. PERSPECTIVAS BIOGEOGRÁFICAS Y TAFONÓMICAS SOBRE LA ARQUEOLOGÍA DEL NORTE DE TIERRA DEL FUEGO // ISLANDS WITHIN ISLANDS. BIOGEOGRAPHIC AND TAPHONOMIC PERSPECTIVES ON NORTHERN TIERRA DEL FUEGO ARCHAEOLOGY

... At the Paleo Crossing site in northeastern Ohio, Brose (1994) reported two groups of radiocarbon ages: one with a weighted mean of 12,150 ± 75 14 C years BP and the other a weighted mean of 10,980 ± 75 14 C years BP. However, three recent and separate attempts to replicate these dates have all failed (Eren et al., 2018a(Eren et al., , 2018bMeltzer et al., 2021). Meltzer et al. (2021) therefore suggest that "the radiocarbon age of the Clovis occupation at the [Paleo Crossing] site should be considered unknown." ...

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Late Holocene radiocarbon dates for the Welling site (33CS441): A multi-component site in Coshocton County, Ohio

... Studies have demonstrated the utility of sedaDNA in understanding the longterm dynamics of aquatic (marine and lacustrine) ecosystems in Antarctica, specifically by detecting biological responses of productivity to past climate and environmental change events [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] . However, compared with permafrost soils and sediments from the northern hemisphere boreal regions, which have been a major focus of ancient DNA research since the mid-1990s [21][22][23] , sedaDNA from analogous terrestrial substrates at southern high latitudes have received relatively little attention 24 . This is despite the extensive application of environmental DNA (eDNA) tools to the characterisation and monitoring of modern Antarctic biota in terrestrial environments 25 . ...

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Sedimentary DNA insights into Holocene Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) populations and ecology in the Ross Sea, Antarctica

... First introduced by Hughes (1998), TCSA has been widely explored by archaeologists as a proxy to infer differences between weapon delivery systems, as well as the penetrative effectiveness of weapon points (e.g. Eren et al., 2021;Grady & Churchill, 2023;Lazuén, 2012;Lombard, 2021Lombard, , 2022bLombard et al., 2022;Sahle et al., 2013;Salem & Churchill, 2016;Sano, 2016;Shea, 2006;Shea & Sisk, 2010;Shea et al., 2001;Sisk & Shea, 2011;Sitton et al., 2020Sitton et al., , 2022Villa & Lenoir, 2009;Villa & Soriano, 2010). In the original publication, Hughes (1998, p. 350) emphasises that four variables influence projectile penetration including mass, velocity, tip cross-sectional area, and projectile shape. ...

Reference:

In Search of the Origins of Distance Hunting—The Use and Misuse of Tip Cross-sectional Geometry of Wooden Spears

... Four families have been extirpated (Equidae, Camelidae, Elephantidae and Megatheriidae), though numerous species were lost from within the surviving genera , 2016. It has been of particular interest that these extinctions took place at the end of the Last Glacial Period (MIS2), coinciding with the time when environments were rapidly changing and when humans were entering the Americas (Chatters et al., 2014;Waters and Stafford, 2013;Waters, 2019;Prates, et al., 2020;Willerslev and Meltzer, 2021). This has led to much debate regarding the role of our species (e.g. through direct hunting or modification of the environment) and/or changing climate in the demise of these megafauna (Bergman et al., 2023). ...

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A critical review of Late Pleistocene human-megafaunal interactions in Mexico