Buttermilk Creek Complex
Encyclopedia
Buttermilk Creek Complex refers to the remains of a paleolithic
settlement along the shores of Buttermilk Creek in present day Salado, Texas
dated to approximately 15,500 years old. If confirmed, the site represents evidence of human settlement in the Americas that pre-dates Clovis culture
.
has provided archaeological evidence of a human presence in the Americas that pre-dates the Clovis
peoples, who until recently were thought to be the first humans to colonize the New World. The site’s pre-Clovis occupation is supported by numerous lines of evidence including OSL dates ranging from 13.2-15.5 ka, undisturbed stratigraphy, and an extensive stone tool assemblage.
along with a group of graduate and undergraduate students began excavating the Debra L. Friedkin Site in Bell County, Texas in 2006.4 The site is located 250m downstream along Buttermilk Creek from the Gault Site; a Paleo-Indian site excavated in 1998 and found to have deeply stratified deposits including a Clovis
horizon.
Early humans would have been attracted to the area surrounding Buttermilk Creek due its favorable climate, abundance of food resources, a year-round water source, but most importantly because the area was a source of very high quality Edward’s Chert. They would have made tools out of chert
nodules using a technique called flint knapping which employs the striking of hammer stones and antler billets to remove flakes of chert until the nodules are reduced to a bifacial preforms. They would have then used smaller antlers to pressure flake these preforms into spear points, knives, or other tools. Along with bifacial tools they also produced unifacial tools such as blades and bladelets by skillfully working and setting up a platform on blade core and then striking it with an antler billet to remove a blade.
were the Clovis
people who migrated from Siberia across Beringia and down into the Americas from 13.2-12.8 ka. It is believed that Clovis peoples with their characteristic fluted lanceolate-shaped points quickly spread throughout all of North and South America. This theory for the colonization of the New World is known as the “Clovis First” model and has recently come under question by the discovery and acceptance of the Monte Verde
, Chile site which has radio-carbon dates going back to 14.6 ka calibrated. This was the first site widely accepted to have pre-Clovis deposits. The acceptance of Monte Verde
has led to a reevaluation of the “Clovis First” model and helped to lead the way for the acceptance of other pre-Clovis sites. Until the discovery of the Buttermilk Creek Complex, which appears to have unquestionable evidence of pre-Clovis, there has been a lack of indisputable evidence of pre-Clovis in North America
. There are several sites in the US with possible pre-Clovis remains including: Meadowcroft Rock Shelter (Pennsylvania), Topper
(South Carolina), Page-Ladson (Florida), Cactus Hill
(Virginia), Hebior and Shaefer (Wisconsin), Lovewell (Kansas), La Sena (Nebraska), and Paisley Cave (Oregon). Although all of these sites have evidence for pre-Clovis occupations, controversy has surrounded some of them or their findings have yet to be thoroughly published, which has kept them from being widely accepted as pre-Clovis sites. At the Debra L. Friedkin site multiple lines of evidence support its pre-Clovis assignment. The discovery of the Buttermilk Creek Complex has helped archaeologists further their quest to answer who were the first humans to reach the New World, when did they get here, how did they get here, and where did they come from.
floodplain deposits. The pre-Clovis occupation is found within Block A, which consists of 52 adjacent 1x1 m squares. Block A is buried under colluvium
from a nearby slope and 1.4 m of clay sediment deposited gradually during flooding events from nearby Buttermilk Creek. The Buttermilk Creek Complex is found within Vertisols. The stratigraphy
of block A appears to be undisturbed and non-mixed based on multiple lines of evidence including: the lack of artifact
sorting by size from the top to bottom of Block A, pedogenesis
forming calcium carbonate
present only on artifacts in the deepest layers of Block A, and proper chronological ordering of numerous OSL
dates. Block A consists of 9 soil horizons: A1, A2, Bss1, Bss2, Bss3, Bss4, Bss5, Bss6, 2Bk.1 The findings of the excavations were analyzed and interpreted using a holistic approach that featured researchers from many different fields including: Steven L. Forman and James Pierson who are experts in OSL dating; Lee C. Nordt, Steven G. Driese, Joshua M. Feinberg, and Anna Lindquist-who are all geologists or geophysicists; Charles T. Hallmark who is a soil scientist; and archaeologists including Michael R. Waters, Thomas A. Jennings, Joshua L. Keene, Jessi Halligan, and Michael B. Collins.
The Folsom horizon in block A is defined within a 2.5 cm thick layer containing 3 Folsom
points. The Clovis
horizon is found below Folsom within a 2.5 cm thick layer containing Clovis diagnostics. The Buttermilk Creek Complex is found below Clovis and defined within a 20 cm thick layer containing artifacts. There were 18 OSL
dates ranging from 14-17.5 ka taken from this layer.
Excavations show that there was nearly continual habitation of the site beginning with the Buttermilk Creek Complex occupation and continuing through Clovis, Folsom, Golondrina, Dalton, Early Archaic, Late Archaic, and all the way through Late Prehistoric.
The Buttermilk Creek Complex has yielded 15,528 stone artifacts which have been separated into macrodebitage (n=2268) which was anything size 5 and larger (>.95 cm), and microdebitage (n=13,204) which was size 6 and 7 (.335-.95 cm), and tools (n=56). The macrodebitage was counted, analyzed, and further subdivided into the following categories: fragment and shatter, normal flakes, biface thinning flakes, endthinning flakes, and discoidal core flakes. Tools were individually analyzed and included 5 blades, 14 bladelets , 12 bifaces, 1 discoidal core, 23 edge-modified tools, 3 radial break tools, and 1 piece of polished hematite.
There has been use-wear analysis done on some of the artifacts found in the Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblage. The 4 artifacts that were analyzed for use-wear show polish and striations indicative of cutting, grooving, or incising of a hard material such as bone, wood, or antler.
There appears to be some connection between the Folsom, Clovis, and Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblages at the site. The debitage
found in all 3 horizons is characteristic of late stage lithic reduction
, which shows that the site was used for the same purpose by each set of peoples. However, by analyzing the tool to debitage ratio amongst the 3 assemblages it appears that the Buttermilk Creek Complex peoples were using the site for a greater diversity of tasks than the Folsom
and Clovis peoples. One overshot flake and 3 partial overshot flakes found in the Buttermilk Creek Complex suggest the possibility that they were starting to develop the knapping technologies that would be indicative of later Clovis technology. The Clovis and Buttermilk Creek assemblages also show examples of blades and bladelets. The presence of core reduction resulting in bifaces, blade production, end-thinning, edge-modified tools, radially broken tools, and lanceolate-shaped preforms in the Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblage suggests that Clovis lithic technologies and tool kit could have evolved from the Buttermilk Creek Complex.
There are however, some differences in the lithic reduction techniques seen in each assemblage. Unlike the Folsom and Clovis assemblages there is no evidence of fluting or channel flakes in the Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblage.
At the time of publication of the findings of the site in the journal Science in 2011 there had been no comprehensive study on refitting of artifacts; however, preliminary examination has shown that there are refits present in both the Buttermilk Creek Complex and other horizons. These include a total of 5 refits.
(OSL). A total of 63 OSL dates have been obtained from the site, and along with diagnostic artifacts found in each stratigraphic layer they have helped to correctly identify the cultural horizons present at the site. Samples for OSL dating were taken by hammering into the profile walls a copper pipe 10-15 cm long and 2.6 cm in diameter. Each sample was examined using 3 different OSL dating techniques.
The OSL dates helped to show that the site’s stratigraphy and cultural horizons are undisturbed and in the correct chronological order; thus helping to support the claim that the Buttermilk Creek Complex at the site is unequivocal evidence of a Pre-Clovis occupation.
Paleolithic
The Paleolithic Age, Era or Period, is a prehistoric period of human history distinguished by the development of the most primitive stone tools discovered , and covers roughly 99% of human technological prehistory...
settlement along the shores of Buttermilk Creek in present day Salado, Texas
Salado, Texas
Salado is a village in Bell County, Texas, United States. Salado was first incorporated in 1867 for the sole purpose of building a bridge across the Salado Creek...
dated to approximately 15,500 years old. If confirmed, the site represents evidence of human settlement in the Americas that pre-dates Clovis culture
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
.
Introduction
The Buttermilk Creek Complex found at the Debra L. Friedkin Paleo-Indian archaeological site in Bell County, TexasBell County, Texas
Bell County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. Bell County was founded in 1850. It is part of the Killeen–Temple–Fort Hood Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2000, the county's population was 237,974; in 2010 the U.S. Census Bureau reported that its population had reached...
has provided archaeological evidence of a human presence in the Americas that pre-dates the Clovis
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
peoples, who until recently were thought to be the first humans to colonize the New World. The site’s pre-Clovis occupation is supported by numerous lines of evidence including OSL dates ranging from 13.2-15.5 ka, undisturbed stratigraphy, and an extensive stone tool assemblage.
Background
Dr. Michael R. Waters from Texas A&M UniversityTexas A&M University
Texas A&M University is a coeducational public research university located in College Station, Texas . It is the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System. The sixth-largest university in the United States, A&M's enrollment for Fall 2011 was over 50,000 for the first time in school...
along with a group of graduate and undergraduate students began excavating the Debra L. Friedkin Site in Bell County, Texas in 2006.4 The site is located 250m downstream along Buttermilk Creek from the Gault Site; a Paleo-Indian site excavated in 1998 and found to have deeply stratified deposits including a Clovis
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
horizon.
Early humans would have been attracted to the area surrounding Buttermilk Creek due its favorable climate, abundance of food resources, a year-round water source, but most importantly because the area was a source of very high quality Edward’s Chert. They would have made tools out of chert
Chert
Chert is a fine-grained silica-rich microcrystalline, cryptocrystalline or microfibrous sedimentary rock that may contain small fossils. It varies greatly in color , but most often manifests as gray, brown, grayish brown and light green to rusty red; its color is an expression of trace elements...
nodules using a technique called flint knapping which employs the striking of hammer stones and antler billets to remove flakes of chert until the nodules are reduced to a bifacial preforms. They would have then used smaller antlers to pressure flake these preforms into spear points, knives, or other tools. Along with bifacial tools they also produced unifacial tools such as blades and bladelets by skillfully working and setting up a platform on blade core and then striking it with an antler billet to remove a blade.
Clovis First Model
Beginning in the mid 20th century the consensus among archaeologists was that the first human colonizers of the New WorldNew World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
were the Clovis
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
people who migrated from Siberia across Beringia and down into the Americas from 13.2-12.8 ka. It is believed that Clovis peoples with their characteristic fluted lanceolate-shaped points quickly spread throughout all of North and South America. This theory for the colonization of the New World is known as the “Clovis First” model and has recently come under question by the discovery and acceptance of the Monte Verde
Monte Verde
Monte Verde is an archaeological site in southern Chile, located in the northern Patagonia near Puerto Montt, Chile, which has been dated to 14,800 years BP . This dating adds to the evidence showing that settlement in the Americas pre-dates the Clovis culture by roughly 1000 years...
, Chile site which has radio-carbon dates going back to 14.6 ka calibrated. This was the first site widely accepted to have pre-Clovis deposits. The acceptance of Monte Verde
Monte Verde
Monte Verde is an archaeological site in southern Chile, located in the northern Patagonia near Puerto Montt, Chile, which has been dated to 14,800 years BP . This dating adds to the evidence showing that settlement in the Americas pre-dates the Clovis culture by roughly 1000 years...
has led to a reevaluation of the “Clovis First” model and helped to lead the way for the acceptance of other pre-Clovis sites. Until the discovery of the Buttermilk Creek Complex, which appears to have unquestionable evidence of pre-Clovis, there has been a lack of indisputable evidence of pre-Clovis in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. There are several sites in the US with possible pre-Clovis remains including: Meadowcroft Rock Shelter (Pennsylvania), Topper
Topper (archaeological site)
Topper is an archaeological site located along the Savannah River in Allendale County, South Carolina in the United States. It is noted as the location of controversial artifacts believed by some archaeologists to indicate human habitation of the New World earlier than the Clovis culture,...
(South Carolina), Page-Ladson (Florida), Cactus Hill
Cactus Hill
Cactus Hill is an archaeological site in southeastern Virginia, United States. The site sits on sand dunes above the Nottoway River and lies about 45 miles south of Richmond. The site is owned by the International Paper Corporation....
(Virginia), Hebior and Shaefer (Wisconsin), Lovewell (Kansas), La Sena (Nebraska), and Paisley Cave (Oregon). Although all of these sites have evidence for pre-Clovis occupations, controversy has surrounded some of them or their findings have yet to be thoroughly published, which has kept them from being widely accepted as pre-Clovis sites. At the Debra L. Friedkin site multiple lines of evidence support its pre-Clovis assignment. The discovery of the Buttermilk Creek Complex has helped archaeologists further their quest to answer who were the first humans to reach the New World, when did they get here, how did they get here, and where did they come from.
Excavations
Excavations at the Debra L. Friedkin site include Block A located on terrace 2 and Block B on terrace 1. The two terraces are PleistocenePleistocene
The Pleistocene is the epoch from 2,588,000 to 11,700 years BP that spans the world's recent period of repeated glaciations. The name pleistocene is derived from the Greek and ....
floodplain deposits. The pre-Clovis occupation is found within Block A, which consists of 52 adjacent 1x1 m squares. Block A is buried under colluvium
Colluvium
Colluvium is the name for loose bodies of sediment that have been deposited or built up at the bottom of a low-grade slope or against a barrier on that slope, transported by gravity. The deposits that collect at the foot of a steep slope or cliff are also known by the same name. Colluvium often...
from a nearby slope and 1.4 m of clay sediment deposited gradually during flooding events from nearby Buttermilk Creek. The Buttermilk Creek Complex is found within Vertisols. The stratigraphy
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphy, a branch of geology, studies rock layers and layering . It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks....
of block A appears to be undisturbed and non-mixed based on multiple lines of evidence including: the lack of artifact
Artifact (archaeology)
An artifact or artefact is "something made or given shape by man, such as a tool or a work of art, esp an object of archaeological interest"...
sorting by size from the top to bottom of Block A, pedogenesis
Pedogenesis
Pedogenesis is the science and study of the processes that lead to the formation of soil ' and first explored by the Russian geologist Vasily Dokuchaev , the so called grandfather of soil science, who determined that soil formed over time as a consequence of...
forming calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate
Calcium carbonate is a chemical compound with the formula CaCO3. It is a common substance found in rocks in all parts of the world, and is the main component of shells of marine organisms, snails, coal balls, pearls, and eggshells. Calcium carbonate is the active ingredient in agricultural lime,...
present only on artifacts in the deepest layers of Block A, and proper chronological ordering of numerous OSL
Optically stimulated luminescence
In physics, optically stimulated luminescence is a method for measuring doses from ionizing radiation.The method makes use of electrons trapped between the valence and conduction bands in the crystalline structure of certain types of matter . The trapping sites are imperfections of the lattice -...
dates. Block A consists of 9 soil horizons: A1, A2, Bss1, Bss2, Bss3, Bss4, Bss5, Bss6, 2Bk.1 The findings of the excavations were analyzed and interpreted using a holistic approach that featured researchers from many different fields including: Steven L. Forman and James Pierson who are experts in OSL dating; Lee C. Nordt, Steven G. Driese, Joshua M. Feinberg, and Anna Lindquist-who are all geologists or geophysicists; Charles T. Hallmark who is a soil scientist; and archaeologists including Michael R. Waters, Thomas A. Jennings, Joshua L. Keene, Jessi Halligan, and Michael B. Collins.
The Folsom horizon in block A is defined within a 2.5 cm thick layer containing 3 Folsom
Folsom point
Folsom points are a distinct form of chipped stone projectile points associated with the Folsom Tradition of North America. The style of toolmaking was named after Folsom, New Mexico where the first sample was found within the bone structure of a bison in 1927....
points. The Clovis
Clovis culture
The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture that first appears 11,500 RCYBP , at the end of the last glacial period, characterized by the manufacture of "Clovis points" and distinctive bone and ivory tools...
horizon is found below Folsom within a 2.5 cm thick layer containing Clovis diagnostics. The Buttermilk Creek Complex is found below Clovis and defined within a 20 cm thick layer containing artifacts. There were 18 OSL
Optically stimulated luminescence
In physics, optically stimulated luminescence is a method for measuring doses from ionizing radiation.The method makes use of electrons trapped between the valence and conduction bands in the crystalline structure of certain types of matter . The trapping sites are imperfections of the lattice -...
dates ranging from 14-17.5 ka taken from this layer.
Excavations show that there was nearly continual habitation of the site beginning with the Buttermilk Creek Complex occupation and continuing through Clovis, Folsom, Golondrina, Dalton, Early Archaic, Late Archaic, and all the way through Late Prehistoric.
Artifact Assemblage
The Buttermilk Creek Complex artifact assemblage is much larger and more varied than other North American sites advanced as having a pre-Clovis component. This is one of the main reasons why the claim of a pre-Clovis component at this site has been greeted with much more credibility than at most other potential pre-Clovis sites.The Buttermilk Creek Complex has yielded 15,528 stone artifacts which have been separated into macrodebitage (n=2268) which was anything size 5 and larger (>.95 cm), and microdebitage (n=13,204) which was size 6 and 7 (.335-.95 cm), and tools (n=56). The macrodebitage was counted, analyzed, and further subdivided into the following categories: fragment and shatter, normal flakes, biface thinning flakes, endthinning flakes, and discoidal core flakes. Tools were individually analyzed and included 5 blades, 14 bladelets , 12 bifaces, 1 discoidal core, 23 edge-modified tools, 3 radial break tools, and 1 piece of polished hematite.
There has been use-wear analysis done on some of the artifacts found in the Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblage. The 4 artifacts that were analyzed for use-wear show polish and striations indicative of cutting, grooving, or incising of a hard material such as bone, wood, or antler.
There appears to be some connection between the Folsom, Clovis, and Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblages at the site. The debitage
Debitage
The term debitage refers to all the waste material produced during lithic reduction and the production of chipped stone tools. This assemblage includes, but is not limited to, different kinds of lithic flakes, shatter, and production errors and rejects....
found in all 3 horizons is characteristic of late stage lithic reduction
Lithic reduction
Lithic reduction involves the use of a hard hammer precursor, such as a hammerstone, a soft hammer fabricator , or a wood or antler punch to detach lithic flakes from a lump of tool stone called a lithic core . As flakes are detached in sequence, the original mass of stone is reduced; hence the...
, which shows that the site was used for the same purpose by each set of peoples. However, by analyzing the tool to debitage ratio amongst the 3 assemblages it appears that the Buttermilk Creek Complex peoples were using the site for a greater diversity of tasks than the Folsom
Folsom tradition
The Folsom Complex is a name given by archaeologists to a specific Paleo-Indian archaeological culture that occupied much of central North America...
and Clovis peoples. One overshot flake and 3 partial overshot flakes found in the Buttermilk Creek Complex suggest the possibility that they were starting to develop the knapping technologies that would be indicative of later Clovis technology. The Clovis and Buttermilk Creek assemblages also show examples of blades and bladelets. The presence of core reduction resulting in bifaces, blade production, end-thinning, edge-modified tools, radially broken tools, and lanceolate-shaped preforms in the Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblage suggests that Clovis lithic technologies and tool kit could have evolved from the Buttermilk Creek Complex.
There are however, some differences in the lithic reduction techniques seen in each assemblage. Unlike the Folsom and Clovis assemblages there is no evidence of fluting or channel flakes in the Buttermilk Creek Complex assemblage.
At the time of publication of the findings of the site in the journal Science in 2011 there had been no comprehensive study on refitting of artifacts; however, preliminary examination has shown that there are refits present in both the Buttermilk Creek Complex and other horizons. These include a total of 5 refits.
Dating techniques
Due to poor preservation of organics the site was dated using optically stimulated luminescenceOptically stimulated luminescence
In physics, optically stimulated luminescence is a method for measuring doses from ionizing radiation.The method makes use of electrons trapped between the valence and conduction bands in the crystalline structure of certain types of matter . The trapping sites are imperfections of the lattice -...
(OSL). A total of 63 OSL dates have been obtained from the site, and along with diagnostic artifacts found in each stratigraphic layer they have helped to correctly identify the cultural horizons present at the site. Samples for OSL dating were taken by hammering into the profile walls a copper pipe 10-15 cm long and 2.6 cm in diameter. Each sample was examined using 3 different OSL dating techniques.
The OSL dates helped to show that the site’s stratigraphy and cultural horizons are undisturbed and in the correct chronological order; thus helping to support the claim that the Buttermilk Creek Complex at the site is unequivocal evidence of a Pre-Clovis occupation.
See also
- Archaeology of the AmericasArchaeology of the AmericasThe archaeology of the Americas is the study of the archaeology of North America , Central America, South America and the Caribbean...
- Models of migration to the New WorldModels of migration to the New WorldThere have been several models for the human settlement of the Americas proposed by various academic communities. The question of how, when and why humans first entered the Americas is of intense interest to archaeologists and anthropologists, and has been a subject of heated debate for centuries...
- Norte Chico civilizationNorte Chico civilizationThe Norte Chico civilization was a complex pre-Columbian society that included as many as 30 major population centers in what is now the Norte Chico region of north-central coastal Peru...