Journal article
Briggs Buchanan, A. Chao, Chun‐Huo Chiu, R. K. Colwell, M. J. O’Brien, Angelia Werner, M. Eren
Scientific reports, 2017
Scientific reports, 2017
Semantic Scholar
DOI
PubMedCentral
PubMed
Cite
Cite
APA
Buchanan, B., Chao, A., Chiu, C. H., Colwell, R. K., O’Brien, M. J., Werner, A., & Eren, M. (2017). Environment-induced changes in selective constraints on social learning during the peopling of the Americas. Scientific Reports.
Chicago/Turabian
Buchanan, Briggs, A. Chao, Chun‐Huo Chiu, R. K. Colwell, M. J. O’Brien, Angelia Werner, and M. Eren. “Environment-Induced Changes in Selective Constraints on Social Learning during the Peopling of the Americas.” Scientific reports (2017).
MLA
Buchanan, Briggs, et al. “Environment-Induced Changes in Selective Constraints on Social Learning during the Peopling of the Americas.” Scientific Reports, 2017.
Abstract
The weaponry technology associated with Clovis and related Early Paleoindians represents the earliest well-defined evidence of humans in Pleistocene North America. We assess the technological diversity of these fluted stone points found at archaeological sites in the western and eastern halves of North America by employing statistical tools used in the quantification of ecological biodiversity. Our results demonstrate that the earliest hunters in the environmentally heterogeneous East used a more diverse set of points than those in the environmentally homogenous West. This and other evidence shows that environmental heterogeneity in the East promoted the relaxation of selective constraints on social learning and increased experimentation with point designs.