Can't We All Just Get Along? Weaponry Standardization and Sharing at the Agate Basin Site

Abstract

This study explores weaponry design as it relates to the organization of technology at the Agate Basin site. Specifically, I examine potential sharing of weaponry elements during communal hunts, and the implications of such sharing as they pertain to overall technological organization of Agate Basin hunting groups. By looking at sharing, this study represents a departure from typological lithic analyses and explores a behavioral aspect of Paleoindian technological organization. K-means cluster analysis is utilized to determine whether hafted-area morphologies on Agate Basin points are standardized and consistent with expectations we might have if sharing of weaponry elements was planned for in preparation for a communal hunt. It is argued that standardization and sharing of weapons was a reliable organizational technique potentially employed by Paleoindian hunters during seasonal aggregations that served to secure critical resources during a time when failure during a hunt would prove catastrophic.