The Locality V Cody Complex Component.

KNELL, EDWARD; HILL, MATTHEW; IZETA, ANDRES DARIO

Hell Gap. A Stratified Paleoindian Campsite at the Edge of the Rockies

The University of Utah Press

Lugar: Salt Lake City, Utah; Año: 2009; p. 157 - 179

A major gap in our knowledge of Paleoindian adaptations to the Northwestern Great Plains is how ?megasites? such as Hell Gap figured into the overall settlement and subsistence strategy. As this monograph makes very clear, investigating and reporting on such sites is a formidable undertaking that requires enormous investments in time, commitment, and funding to see the projects through to completion. Why the final report on the Lindenmeier site (Wilmsen and Roberts 1978), and heretofore, the Hell Gap site, appeared some thirty years or more after the close of excavations is understandable: megasite research is exceedingly difficult. Against this backdrop, it is not surprising that most inferences about Paleoindian behavior are derived from investigations at the smaller, more manageable sites that comprise the bulk of the archaeological record produced by these groups. Yet the awe-inspiring records at places like Hell Gap and Lindenmeier make it obvious that such locations were central to Paleoindian adaptations. In this chapter, we explore use of the Hell Gap megasite by the Cody Complex hunter-gatherers at Locality V. We accomplish this by summarizing our analyses of the extant chipped stone and faunal assemblages, which, in turn, provides a basis for several new statements about Late Paleoindian technological organization, mobility, diet, and subsistence behavior there.