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Paleoindian Period

Hypothesis Game!

You are an archaeologist who has been asked to review some hypotheses about the Paleoindian Period in Pennsylvania. Review each of the statements and then select an appropriate hypothesis based on what you know.

Archaeologists found fluted points and called the oldest of these Clovis points.
1. Paleoindians made fluted points from a particular variety of stone called Clovis.
2. A Paleoindian culture known as Clovis produced fluted points.
3. Archaeologists first discovered fluted points in a town called Clovis.
Archaeologists found fluted points mixed with the bones of mammoth, mastodon, horse and camel.
1. Mammoth, mastodon, horse and camel chewed fluted points to aid digestion.
2. Paleoindians hunted animals with fluted points.
3. Paleoindians cut up the meat of mammoth, mastodon, horse and camel with fluted points.
The Paleoindian people were nomadic stone tool using people.
1. Paleoindian people did not carry heavy raw material from place to place.
2. Paleoindian people had to follow the wandering megafauna with their stone hunting tools.
3. Paleoindian people had to move when the supply of stones in one area dwindled.
Making the flutes required high quality lithic (stone) material.
1. Flutes were made of soapstone or steatite.
2. Paleoindian people made seasonal rounds in order to find the best quality stone material for tool production.
3. Fluted points were very easy to produce and therefore were used on a large scale.
Fish bones were recovered from the Shawnee Minisink Site in Monroe County.
1. Paleoindian people were primarily fishermen.
2. Along with the fluted point, the Paleoindian people used fish bones as spearheads.
3. Along with big animals, fish were also a source of food for the Paleoindians.
The Meadowcroft Rockshelter is the only site recorded in Pennsylvania from 16,000 to 12,000 years ago.
1. During this period, the human population in North America was very small and possibly organized in nuclear family bands.
2. Archaeologists have not explored the Paleoindian Period to a great degree and consequently know little about its sites.
3. The Meadowcroft Rockshelter provides substantial evidence about the Paleoindian Period and therefore further exploration is unnecessary.
During the Ice Age, the oceans decreased in depth by 300 feet.
1. Water existed in the oceans under a surface layer of ice 300 feet deep.
2. Much of the water from the oceans was locked up in the glaciers.
3. Water from the oceans evaporated and turned into ice.