The early Paleoindian period is viewed as a time of widespread similarity in artifact styles and lithic technology, while later in the Paleoindian period the archaeological record is marked by distinctive region-specific artifact styles that apparently correspond with other changes in human adaptations. Two sets of hypotheses have been put forward to explain these changes: climate forcing and the demographic-adaptation model. This study represents a first-order test of these hypotheses. A regional sample of projectile points was organized using a paradigmatic classification and subjected to a series of phenetic and phylogenetic analyses.;The phylogenetic tests detected a historical relationship among most of the projectile point classes, but one group of points might represent diffusion into the study area. An examination of prey choice and point style did not reveal significant patterns of association between those two variables. However, late in the Paleoindian period there is some indication of niche separation. The spatial distribution of point styles does not follow a simplified reading of either model but more closely resembles the expectations of the demographic-adaptation hypothesis. Overall, we must conclude that the evidence fits the demographic-adaptation model better than the climate forcing model. However, there are considerable gaps in the data available to test these hypotheses. Consequently, the results of this study come with some caveats, but the results also undoubtedly help us understand correlates of variability which give a first approximation of what these might mean in terms of late Pleistocene and early Holocene hunter-gatherer adaptations and cultural transmission processes. More importantly, this research project contributes to broader questions about the relative influence of ecology and social dynamics in long-term, regional scale change as we see it in the archaeological record.
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