Paleoindian Period

Fluted Point Vocabulary Quiz!

Read the words on the vocabulary list. You will know some terms, but others may be unfamiliar to you. Try to come up with a definition for each word based on the context of the sentences you are reading. Choose an appropriate word to fill in the blank.

   adaptation      cervid      Clovis points      flute      Fluted points     
lithic      nomadic      rivers      seasonal round      settlement pattern

1. Around 11,000 years ago the environment changed dramatically. Glaciers had retreated across the great lakes but the climate suddenly got much colder and drier. Because of the change in climate and a gradual increase in population, humans changed their way of life. Archaeologists call this a cultural .

2. To improve their hunting success the Paleoindian people invented new weapons for hunting animals. are spear points, which are longer than they are wide, and are thinner in the area away from the point.

fluted point

3. The thinning is called a .

4. The oldest of these fluted points are called , named after a site in New Mexico where they were first found.

5. Archaeologists have found evidence of blood residue on stone tools at the Shoop site in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. This blood residue is blood or blood from deer, elk, moose and caribou.

6. Many Paleoindian sites in Pennsylvania are found near , probably because they provided water to drink, transportation, and a habitat for animals and plants. Because these sites have little evidence, archaeologists can only guess at the importance of this type of location to these people.

7. But stone tools provide evidence that the Paleoindian people were . They appear to have traveled annually to places where the best quality material was abundant, in stone quarries near Allentown, in northern Virginia and in Delaware.

8. Archaeologists refer to yearly trips to find resources as a and the way people move and settle over the landscape as a .