Added February 28, 1998. Updated February 14, 2006, 16:10 -6 GMT.

Mammoth 1, Moos 0

Ancient DNA from Blood on Alaska's fluted Points.

Prehistoric big-game hunters are thought to have crossed the Bering Strait from Asia (Russia) into North America (Alaska) via a land bridge available around 21 000-11 000 BC. From Alaska an ice-free corridor led via Canada to the modern US border around 11 000 years ago. Associated with this corridor are neatly crafted American fluted points from 32 sites, belonging to the Llano complex. This complex includes Clovis (9500-9000 BC) and Folsom (9000-8000 BC) points. The older artifacts were first found in association with mammoth remains near Clovis (New Mexico). The younger points were first discovered at Folsom (New Mexico) in association with buffalo (bison). The older points had small flutes, i.e. flakes were removed longitudinally from the base toward its tip. The later, more advanced tools had a more pronounced fluting, running along nearly the entire length of the artifact. Fluting is an American invention that probably improved the hafting of the projectile points to the shaft of a spear. (There is also evidence that the tools were used as knives.)

Analyses of blood residues on these ancient fluted points found in eastern Alaska, reported by Loy and Dixon 1998, resulted in the identification of mammoth, (Mammuthus primigenious), Bison (Bison bison), sheep (Ovis dalli), bear (Ursus arctos), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), and musk ox (Ovibos moschatus). The represented species are most typical of an arctic steppe environment. The absence of moos blood may be due to hunting preferences, or the fact that this animal usually prefers a forest environment, but the sample size of artifacts with preserved and analyzable blood residue was relatively small.

References and credits

Loy, Thomas and E. James Dixon

1998 Blood residues on fluted points from eastern Alaska. American Antiquity 63/1:21-46.

Hester, James

1972 Blackwater Locality No. 1: A stratified, early man site in eastern New Mexico. Fort Burgwin Research Center, Inc. Southern Methodist University. Burgwin Research Center, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.

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