A New Angle on the Late Paleoindian: The Allen Complex in New Mexico for the Albuquerque Archaeological Society February Meeting.

Over the past decade it has become clear that New Mexico was home to the Allen technocomplex, first defined on the Plains in the late 1950s and dated to ca. 8000–9000 radiocarbon years old. Allen points, the distinctive parallel obliquely flaked lanceolate points that typify the complex, have been identified and recorded from many locations in the state, most as isolated occurrences. However, recent investigations in White Sands National Park have revealed what appears to be a one-bison kill site with associated Allen points. This talk describes this site, and presents what is known of the distribution of these points within the state and more broadly across the western US.  The specifics of the Allen point manufacturing process are discussed, and lithic raw material sourcing studies are used to provide some insights into the movements of Allen point-using groups in New Mexico.  Finally, the implications of this late Paleoindian technocomplex for our understanding of the Paleoindian-Archaic transition are explored.

Bruce Huckell is a faculty member in the University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology and has investigated Clovis, Folsom, and late Paleoindian sites in New Mexico, Arizona, and North Dakota.  He received his PhD from the University of Arizona in 1990.  He is the coeditor of two books on the Clovis complex: Murray Springs, A Clovis Site with Multiple Activity Areas in the San Pedro Valley, Arizona (with C. Vance Haynes, 2007) and Clovis Caches, Recent Discoveries and New Research (with J. David Kilby, 2014).