Lithic stage

North American prehistory
Lithic stage before 8500 BC Archaic period 8000–1000 BC Formative stage 1000 BC – AD 500 Woodland period 1000 BC – AD 1000 Classic stage AD 500–1200 Post-Classic stage after 1200 See also List of archaeological periods (Mesoamerica)
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In the sequence of cultural stages first proposed for the archaeology of the Americas by Gordon Willey and Philip Phillips in 1958, the Lithic stage was the earliest period of human occupation in the Americas, as post-glacial hunter gatherers spread through the Americas.^[1][2] The stage derived its name from the first appearance of Lithic flaked stone tools.^[3] The term Paleo-Indian is an alternative, generally indicating much the same period.

This stage was conceived as embracing two major categories of stone technology: (1) unspecialized and largely unformulated core and flake industries, with percussion the dominant and perhaps only technique employed, and (2) industries exhibiting more advanced "blade" techniques of stoneworking, with specialized fluted or unfluted lanceolate points the most characteristic artifact types. Throughout South America, there are stone tool traditions of the lithic stage, such as the "fluted fishtail", that reflect localized adaptations to the diverse habitats of the continent.^[4]

The indications and timing of the end of the Lithic stage vary between regions. The use of

Archeologist Alex Krieger has documented hundreds of sites that have yielded crude, percussion-flaked tools. The most convincing evidence for a lithic stage is based upon data recovered from sites in South America, where such crude tools have been found and dated to more than 20,000 years ago.[5]

In North America, the time encompasses the Paleo-Indian period, which subsequently is divided into more specific time terms, such as Early Lithic stage or Early Paleo-Indians, and Middle Paleo-Indians or Middle Lithic stage.^[6] Examples include the Clovis culture and Folsom tradition groups.

The Lithic stage was followed by the

Timeline^[7]

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• 19000—21000 BP Humans present in the White Sands region of New Mexico.^[8]
• 14,800-13,800 BP: A twenty-foot-long tent-like structure of wood and animal hides excavated from Monte Verde level II, Chile
• 12,340–10,800 BCE: a stone-lined hearth and coprolites left in Paisley Caves, Oregon^[9]
• 11,300 BCE: Mound B of the LSU campus mounds was built.
• 10,200 BCE: Cooper Bison skull is painted with a red zigzag in present-day Oklahoma; it is the oldest known painted object in North America.^{[10][citation needed]}

• 9500 BCE:
  Cordilleran and Laurentide Ice Sheets
  retreat enough to open a habitable ice-free corridor through the northern half of the continent along the eastern flank of the Rocky Mountains.
• 9500 BCE: People craft early
  knives, and skin scrapers
  from rock in New Mexico.
• 9250–8950 BCE:
  Clovis points – thin, fluted projectile points created using bifacial percussion flaking – are created by Clovis culture peoples in the Plains and Southwestern North America.^[11]
• 9001 BCE: Archaeological materials found on the
  coastal Peru
  .
• 9000 BCE: Archaeological materials found on Channel Islands off the California coast
• 9000 BCE: First settlers arrive in the Great Basin with its cool, wet prevailing climate
• 9000–8900 BCE: The
  spear points
  .
• 8700 BCE: Human settlement reaches the Northwestern Plateau region.^{[citation needed]}
• 8000 BCE: The last
  glacial ends, causing sea levels to rise and flood the Beringia land bridge, closing the primary migration route from Siberia
  .
• 8000 BCE: Sufficient rain falls on the American Southwest to support many large mammal species – mammoth, mastodon, and bison – that soon go extinct.
• 8000 BCE: Native Americans leave documented traces of their presence in every habitable corner of the Americas, including the American Northeast, the Pacific Northwest, and a cave on Prince of Wales Island in the Alexander archipelago of southeast Alaska, possibly following these game animals.^{[citation needed]}

Times from the 8000 BCE to about 3000 BCE may be classified as part of the lithic stage or of an archaic stage, depending on authority and on region.^{[clarification needed][citation needed]}

• 7500 BCE: Early basketry.^{[citation needed]}
• 7560–7370 BCE: Kennewick Man dies along the shore of the Columbia River in Washington state; his remains were one of the most complete early Native American skeletons.^[12]
• 7000 BCE: Northeastern peoples depend increasingly on deer, nuts, and wild grains as the climate warms.
• 7000 BCE: Native Americans in
  Lahontan Basin, Nevada mummify
  their dead to give them honor and respect, expressing deep concern about their treatment and condition.
• 6500 BCE–200 
  San Dieguito–Pinto tradition and Chihuahua tradition
  flourish in southern California, the Southwest, and northwestern Mexico.
• 6000 BCE: Ancestors of
  Penutian
  -speaking peoples settle in the Northwestern Plateau.
• 6000 BCE: Nomadic hunting bands roam Subarctic Alaska following herds of
  caribou
  and other game animals.
• 6000 BCE:
  Aleuts begin to settle the Aleutian Islands
  .
• 5700 BCE: Cataclysmic eruption of Mount Mazama in Oregon.
• 5500 BCE–500 CE
  Southwestern Archaic tradition, arises in north-central New Mexico, the San Juan Basin, the Rio Grande Valley, southern Colorado, and southeastern Utah
  .
• Natives of the Northwestern Plateau begin to rely on salmon runs.
• 5000 BCE: Early cultivation of food crops began in Mesoamerica.
• 5000 BCE: Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest from Alaska to California develop a fishing economy, with salmon as a staple.
• 5000 BCE: The
  rings, and pendants
  .

• Archaeology of the Americas
• History of Mesoamerica (Paleo-Indian)
• Indigenous Amerindian genetics

References