Plano cultures
The Plano cultures is a name given by archaeologists to a group of disparate hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America during the Paleo-Indian period in the United States and the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period in Canada.
Distinguishing characteristics
The Plano cultures are characterised by a range of unfluted projectile point tools collectively called Plano points and like the Folsom people generally hunted bison antiquus, but made even greater use of techniques to force stampedes off of a cliff or into a constructed corral. Their diets also included pronghorn, elk, deer, raccoon and coyote. To better manage their food supply, they preserved meat in berries and animal fat and stored it in containers made of hides.[1][2][3]
Canada
The Plano cultures existed in Canada during the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period between 9000 BC and 6000 BC. The Plano cultures originated in the plains, but extended far beyond, from the Atlantic coast to British Columbia and as far north as the Northwest Territories.[4][5] "Early Plano culture occurs south of the North Saskatchewan River in Saskatchewan and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains north to the Peace River Valley of Alberta and adjacent British Columbia. At this time, most of Manitoba was still covered by Glacial Lake Agassiz and associated glacial ice."[4]
Bison herds were attracted to the grasslands and parklands in the western region. Around 9,000 B.P. as retreating glaciers created newly released lake regions, the expansion of plant and animal communities expanded north and east, and the barren ground caribou in the tundra, boreal woodland caribou in the boreal forests and plains, and mountain caribou replaced bison as the major prey animal.[4]
United States
In the Great Plains of the United States, the following are Plano cultures from 10,000 to 7,000 years ago, distinguished by long, lanceolate projectile points:[6]
- Agate Basin complex, named for the Agate Basin Site.[7]
- Cody complex, named for the Horner site near Cody, Wyoming, includes the Olsen-Chubbuck Bison Kill Site and the Jurgens Site.[8]
- Hell Gap complex, such as the Hell Gap, Wyoming site for which is was named and the Jones-Miller Bison Kill Site.[6]
- Foothills / Mountain complex [8]
Citations
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- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Canadian Museum of Civilization 2010.
- ↑ Reynolds, MacKinnon & MacDonald 1998-2002.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). The Archeology of Colorado, Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. p. 79. ISBN 1-55566-193-9.
- ↑ Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). The Archeology of Colorado, Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. p. 81. ISBN 1-55566-193-9.
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). The Archaeology of Colorado, Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. pp. 81-86. ISBN 1-55566-193-9.
References
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- Archaic period in North America
- Archaeological cultures of North America
- Archaeology of the United States
- Indigenous culture of the Great Plains
- Hunter-gatherers of Canada
- Hunter-gatherers of the United States
- Native American archeology
- Native American history of Colorado
- Paleo-Indian period
- Pre-Columbian cultures
- Prehistoric cultures in Colorado
