Technological Similarities Between ~ 13 ka Stemmed Points from Ushki V, Kamchatka, Russian Far East, and the Earliest Stemmed Points in North America

Abstract

We provide the first 2D and 3D digital characterizations of stemmed projectile point technologies from Layer VII at the Ushki V site, in Kamchatka, Russia dating to13,3–12,580 ka (thousand years) BP (all radiocarbon dates are calibrated, unless designated as 14C). Stemmed points are widely distributed in late Paleolithic contexts around the northern Pacific Rim, including Korea, the Japanese archipelago, Kamchatka, and western North America. We focus on cultural elements of technological design, manufacture, and use reflected in the morphometric form of this projectile weaponry in Layer VII and compare those elements to similar patterns at the earliest stemmed point sites in the Americas. These characterizations are derived from digital 3D point clouds that are processed using GLiMR geometric morphometric software that yields quantitative measurements of stone tools in ways that far exceed traditional manual techniques. The earliest occupants of Ushki V made stemmed points with very tightly constrained 3D tolerances of design form in the blades, haft collars, and hafts, as did those who made the early stemmed points at Cooper's Ferry and the Gault sites. Points from the Ushki site and from Pit Feature A2 at the Cooper's Ferry site were preferentially made with an axial twist in their blades by using single beveled blade designs. Such an axial twist produces a rotational shift when impacting prey animals, increasing lethality.