Paleoindian & Other Archaeological Stuff

Tony Baker   August 10, 2010 last update

I began creating this WEB site in 1996 to share my ideas and knowledge of the Paleoindians, the Archaic and archaeology of mostly the southwest. I have added a new document to the site every three to six months. Since that beginning, I have also been reading, attending conferences and meetings, communicating with colleagues, and visiting old and new archaeological sites around the world. Therefore, my own intellectual growth has not been stagnant and many of my ideas have evolved during this time. The evolution of ideas is apparent in documents at this site because all the previous documents have been retained. I considered removing the older ones that no longer reflect my current thinking to maintain an internally consistent WEB site. But I chose not to because the evolution is as informative as the theories. Changing one's beliefs (theories) when the data demands the change is healthy, normal and the way science works.

NEW STUFF

Paleoindian and Other Archaeological Stuff/ The Blog -- This is a sister Blog to this webpage where members can comment.(8/10/10)

QUICK AND DIRTY STUFF -- My opinions in concise form on Paleoindians, lithics, and other related archaeological issues. (12/11/07)

FOLSOM STUFF

The Invisible Signature of the Folsom Point Knapper -- Did each Folsom hunter make their own points? Or, was there a craftsman in the group who made all the points for the group? (6/28/10)
A Simple Request -- An article about finding my first Folsom point, which first appeared in Prehistoric American. (March 2008)
Contrasting the Lithic Technologies of Mesa and Folsom -- A paper written by Michael Kunz and me and presented at the 2003 Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. (April 2003)
The 1999 Folsom Point Replication Workshop -- A report on the second workshop held in March 1999. This is a follow-up to the original one in 1997. Many images and some slow loading pages. (April 1999)
Folsom Point Manufacture -- Extremely detailed discussion. Many images. (August 1998).
Art and The Folsom Point -- Discussion on the purpose of the Folsom Flute. No images. (November 1997)
The Folsom Workshop -- Report on the First Annual Folsom Point Replication Workshop. Many images. (April 1997)

CLOVIS STUFF

I Forgot to Remember to Forget: 1st Peoples in the New World -- A review of some of my previous ideas with some new new thoughts and data. (3/25/09)
The Clovis First/ Pre-Clovis Problem -- Revisited 2004. -- A follow-up to the original paper written in 1997. The ideas here are radically different from the original. (September 2004)
The Clovis/Folsom Transition -- Some very radical ideas that some will like and others will not. Many images and slow loading. (December 2000)
The Clovis First / Pre-Clovis Problem -- My opinions on the subject. One (1) image. (November 1997).

PALEOLITHIC STUFF

The Acheulean Handaxe at Boxgrove -- A follow-up to my Acheulean Handaxe paper. Contains more discussion about the dichotomy of the handaxe as desired-product versus by-product.(5/30/07)
The Acheulean Handaxe -- A proposal, with justification, that the handaxe was the by-product of flake extraction and not the desired final product. (1/27/06)

NORTH SLOPE, ALASKA STUFF

Lithic Artifacts from North of the Arctic Circle -- A webpage depicting artifacts from the North Slope of Alaska. (September 2008)
North Slope Slide Show -- A slide show of random images from the North Slope of Alaska. (4/16/06)

OTHER STUFF

The Antler Foreshaft -- The Original Shrink Wrapped Package -- Report on experimental work of softening antler by soaking it is water. Additionally, an argument is made that all Paleoindian points may have been hafted the same way. (8/1/09)
Dear Arrowhead Hunter -- A letter asking Arrowhead Hunters to contribute their data to the Paleoindian Database of the Americas (PIDBA). (July 1, 2008)
Marvin McCormick--The First Modern Fluter -- Information about a modern knapper with nine slides of him making a Folsom point. (April 2008)
Pleistocene Bones and Stones in the New World -- An argument for a late entry into the New World based on the archaeological record and population dynamics. (12/11/07)
Meet the Flintstones -- An article about my work with the BLM in Alaska. It was written by Steve Rinella and published in Outside Magazine. Please let me know if the link ceases to work.(8/10/07)
Recycling -- A paper about visually different surfaces on artifacts and what they mean. (2/12/07)
THE FLAKE: Stepchild of Lithic Analysis -- A argument for the flake being the desired product instead of the byproduct of tool or core manufacture. (11/21/06)
The Elephant in the Parlor -- Another story about Sandia Cave based on an interview of an individual who excavated in the Cave. (5/1/05)
Bruce Bradley Has Gone Academic. -- A short, non-techical piece that I am calling a QuickHit. (2/21/05)
Late Pleistocene and early Holocene hunter-gatherers of the Pampas and Patagonia, Argentina and Chile -- A paper written by Jason LaBelle that I believe contains valuable information that should be shared. It is long and slow loading. (May 2002)
Variation in Paleoindian Lithic Assemblages Through Time. -- A paper I presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. (March 2002)
Transporting and Caching Lithic Material in Biface Form -- A 100 year old account of a large biface cache. (January, 2001)
The New Mexico Archaic / The Oshara Tradition -- Some basic background to the Archaic in Central New Mexico with images of San Jose, Bajada and Jay points. 30 images.(August 2000).
The Belen Point: Plainview Variant?? -- Discussion of the Belen point type with 10 examples. (September 1997)
The Paleo End Scraper -- Description and discussion of this tool. Numerous images. (January 1997)
Projectile Refurbishing -- Discussion on how resharpening modifies point shape. Numerous images. (July 1996)
Images of the Asia Steppe -- six (6) images I thought the readers might enjoy. (June 1996)

FAMILY STUFF

My Parents, The Archaeologists -- Short biography of my parent's archaeological career. (January 2001)
"Uncle Bill" and Panhandle Paleoindians -- A paper, by Jason LaBelle, about my grandfather. Several images. (December 1997)

FLAKE MECHANICS STUFF

The Lithic Containers of the Archaeological Record -- A paper unifying the manufacture of biface, Levallois, and blade (macro & micro) cores that are found near quarries sites. (4/12/04)
A Theory for Flake Creation -- A mathematical connection between percussion and pressure flaking is offered in this paper. This is a continuation of my research into flake mechanics, which began in 1998. (12/21/03)
Static and Dynamic Loading Modes -- Four days after I went public with this paper, I knew it had some serious problems. Today, its value is like the other earlier papers in this section; they are rough drafts of the ones that follow them. This is a rough draft to "A Theory for Flake Creation." By keeping these earlier papers here, the reader can get a glimpse of how these ideas have evolved. (September 2003)
Flakes from Flat Surfaces -- A report written by Jim Winn on his experimental knapping with flat surfaces. This is an extremely informative paper if one is into lithics or knapping. (January 2003)
An Unifying Theory for Flake Mechanics. -- This is an introduction to a new paradigm for flake mechanics. The Folsom preform is the subject of this page. (November 2001)
Digital Crabtree: Computer Simulation of Folsom Fluting. Second status report on my research with Finite Element Analysis. It is not as technical as the first report. (March 2000)
Application of Finite Element Analysis to the Understanding of Flake Formation -- This is heavy stuff and only those interested in lithics and knapping, or nerd engineers, will find this interesting. (November 1998).

I occasionally receive comments from the readers. I treasure these and keep them in hard copy form in a notebook. If you want to join the honored few that are in my notebook, please email me at tabaker@ele.net with your comments and/or questions. For the reader who is interested I have a short autobiography at Tony's Autobiography

I want to thank Connie Adkins, Doug Land, Phil LeTourneau and Bob Patten for editorial help on my pages. It takes time and effort to clean up behind me and these individuals have done the lion's share of this work. At times I have chosen to ignore their recommendations, so all the mistakes and bad archaeology are mine.

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