Publications
Prismatic Blade Production at the Sinclair Site, Tennessee: Implications for Understanding Clovis Technological Organization
The Tennessee Division of Archaeology documented an extensive Paleoindian lithic quarry and workshop at the Sinclair site in Tennessee in 2008. We present the first detailed description of the lithic assemblage here, which focuses on aspects of its pris- matic blade technology. Quantitative and qualitative attributes of 117 blades are assessed to characterize the assemblage and investigate human behaviors related to its formation. We then compare the blades from Sinclair to other blade assemblages. Blades at Clovis workshop sites are large and generally unstandardized. Mobile Clovis bands selected long, highly standard- ized blades from workshop sites, cached them as resource insurance, and crafted and used them as tools at campsites. The prismatic blade assemblage at Sinclair and other sites throughout the Midsouth suggests that this region played an important role in the development of prismatic blade technology at the end of the Pleistocene.
American Antiquity 87(3):601-610
The American Southeast at the End of the Ice Age
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The Colonization of Ireland: A Human Ecology Perspective
Human migration throughout northern Europe following the Last Glacial Maximum is an ideal situation to investigate human colonization and adaptation in new landscapes. This is particularly so in Ireland, which possesses a distinctly compressed archaeological record compared to the rest of Europe. While various periods of Paleolithic occupations are well-documented throughout Europe, including Britain, the initial colonization of Ireland appears to be delayed until the Early Holocene. An assessment of archaeological and paleoenvironmental data suggests that inhospitable environmental conditions, specifically the absence of mature woodland ecosystems, substantially delayed the human colonization of Ireland. Once Mesolithic peoples reached Ireland, the absence of familiar fauna led them to quickly modify existing technologies. These local adaptions are reflected in the discontinuation of composite microlith technologies that characterize the rest of the European Mesolithic record. Within 1,000 years of colonization, Mesolithic hunter-gatherers developed a uniquely Irish macrolith-based technology. Quaternary Science Reviews 249 (pdf) |
Hunter-Gatherer Occupation of the Central Colorado Plateau during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition
The central Colorado Plateau contains an exceptional density of cultural resources. Historically, however, archaeological investigations have overlooked the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene record of this region. As such, there is currently a biased understanding of the earliest human occupations and adaptations. Projectile point typologies, toolstone selection, and site distributions are studied here to characterize the land use patterns used by the region’s earliest inhabitants. Results suggest that as early as ca. 13,000 cal BP Clovis groups were familiar with the lithic landscape and habitually make use of local materials. Subsequent Paleoindian populations maintained relatively consistent levels of occupation throughout the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. Finally, the presence of classic Southwest, High Plains, and Great Basin-related lithic technologies suggests that the central Colorado Plateau was part of early interregional land use strategies. American Antiquity 85(3):573-590 (pdf) |
Crescent Bifaces from Southeastern Utah and the Eastern Periphery
Evolving out of a student mentoring project, Dr. Tune and Jon Fox conducted a study of crescent bifaces from the eastern periphery of their geographic distribution. Crescents are an enigmatic stone tool that were used at the end of the Pleistocene and often found in environmental contexts near paleo-wetlands and pluvial lakes in the Great Basin and California. This project documented the only crescent currently known from the Northern Colorado Plateau, which shares unique similarities to other specimens found east of the Great Basin. PaleoAmerica 6(2) (pdf) |
Variation in Fluted-point Technology: Investigations across Space and Time
Drs. Jesse Tune (Fort Lewis College) and Heather Smith (Eastern New Mexico University) organized a special thematic issue for the journal PaleoAmerica. Papers in this issue investigated Late Pleistocene lithic technologies throughout the Americas. The 16 contributors on the project came from 13 universities and research institutes and represent some of the leading scholars on early hunter-gatherer archaeology in the Americas. PaleoAmerica 5(2); https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/ypal20/5/2?nav=tocList |
Assessing the Proposed Pre-LGM Human Occupation of North America at Coats-Hines-Litchy, Tennessee, and Other Sites
Dr. Tune and colleagues published the results of a multi-year, interdisciplinary research project focused on assessing possible evidence of human occupation in North America prior to the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) ~20,000 years ago. This project incorporated archaeological, geological, and paleontological research at the Coats-Hines-Litchy site in Tennessee, as well as an evaluation of recent research conducted at other potential ice age sites throughout the continent. Results show no support for human occupation of North America prior to the LGM. Quaternary Science Reviews 186:47-59 (pdf) |
When the Levee Breaks: How an Ant Hill and a Deer on a Mound Made Us Re-Think the Effect of the Younger Dryas
The archaeological record at the end of the last ice age may seem a strange place to discuss human behavior at the scale of a single day. For instance, we cannot discuss “the Last Thursday of the Clovis Culture ~12,700 years ago” for many reasons, the most obvious of which being that the archaeological data are much too coarse to see such a small slice of time. It was this situation that led Drs. Jesse Tune (Fort Lewis College) and Shane Miller (Mississippi State University) to contributed a chapter to the 2018 volume Investigating the Ordinary: Everyday Matters in Southeastern Archaeology. In this chapter, they address the “palimpsest problem” and suggest a reorientation of theoretical positioning in the archaeology of ice age hunter-gatherers. They present three case studies from the archaeological record of the Southeast United States to make their case. Investigating the Ordinary: Everyday Matters in Southeastern Archaeology (edited by S. E. Price and P. J. Carr, and published by the University Press of Florida) (pdf) |
The Clovis-Cumberland-Dalton Succession: Settling into the Midsouth United States During the Pleistocene-to-Holocene Transition
Dr. Tune's research is focused on how early hunter-gatherers learned new landscapes and adapted to resources during the Pleistocene-Holocene transition ~16,000 to 10,000 years ago. Some research suggests that human populations at that time were experiencing extreme environmental changes happening at a rapid pace. Tune found that in the Midsouth United States, human populations were less affected by those environmental changes, and more directly influenced by resource distributions and colonization processes. PaleoAmerica 2(3):261-273 (pdf) |
Characterizing Cumberland fluted biface morphology and technological organization
Cumberland bifaces are frequently referenced in discussions of fluted point technology, Paleoindian chronologies, and Younger Dryas adaptations. However, due largely to the absence of stratified, datable components, limited information exists about Cumberland lithic technology. Morphological and technological similarities to other fluted biface types, as well as bracketing radiocarbon ages, suggest that Cumberland bifaces likely date to the early Younger Dryas. Cumberland appears to represent a maintainable technology used by people adapted to an environment with predictable resources. Reconstructing artifact life histories suggests Cumberland technology was related to a logistically mobile settlement strategy. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 6:310-320 (pdf) |