PALEOINDIAN
12,000 TO 7,000 YEARS AGO
In the Headwaters area several Paleoindian sites have been identified at Round Lake, Winnibigoshish, Cass, and Leech Lakes. Sites of this age are extremely rare, and when they are found, tend to contain poor archeological context. The rarity of sites probably reflects the archeological techniques used to find them, rather than the actual site frequency. It is likely that more Paleoindian sites will be found in areas which do not fit the presently used predictive model. Paleoindian sites may be situated in locations which are not associated with modern shoreline features and which have been subjected to significant topographic change over thousands of years.
The relative scarcity of Paleoindian artifacts, as well as the small and dispersed nature of their campsites suggest a very mobile and thinly spread population. People probably lived in small bands of 10 to 20 people composed of an extended family group. They followed a nomadic life style, moving from place to place foraging for food. This does not mean, however, that they wandered aimlessly. They probably adhered to a stable seasonally-based schedule whose route allowed the most efficient harvesting of natural resources such as ripening berries, plants, nuts, and game animals.
There is very little information concerning the diet of the Paleoindians. In the Great Plains, American Southwest, and southeastern Wisconsin, mammoth kill sites and butchered bones have been studied. However, no evidence of mammoth or mastodon hunting has been found in northern Minnesota. These ice-age animals had probably become very rare or extinct by the time the last of the glacial ice melted and this area became habitable. Huge herds of migrating barren-ground caribou are thought to be a primary Paleoindian food resource here, especially during the early tundra-like environment. Most Paleoindian sites are found on high ground offering good drainage and an unobstructed view. In a relatively treeless environment, a good view may have been helpful in keeping track of a migrating caribou or bison herd.
Paleoindians did not live solely on big game hunting; vegetal resources must have been a major part of their diet. Unfortunately, physical evidence of what types of plants were eaten is scarce. Particularly during the early Paleoindian period when the tundra-like environment probably provided a smaller resource base, their diet may have been rather restricted compared to later times, after more diverse plant species colonized the area. Nuts, roots, berries, and greens were probably used not only for food, but for medicinal purposes.
A variety of fine-grained and silicious rock types such as chert, siltstone, Gunflint silica, jasper-taconite, agate, and quartzite are available in northern Minnesota for making stone tools. Most can be found in the many areas of exposed glacial till, but there are a few places such as Knife Lake and North Lake, on the Minnesota-Ontario border, where Paleoindians quarried large quantities of preferred material from bedrock outcrops. Some Paleoindian sites also contain materials from sources hundreds of miles away, such as west-central Wisconsin and North Dakota. Whether these "exotic" materials were brought here by the people who lived here, or were acquired by trading with people in those areas is unclear; both are possible.
One of the best known artifacts of Paleoindians in North America are their distinctive fluted projectile points. Several types are recognized, with Clovis points being the most numerous and widespread. These lanceolate (leaf-shaped) points, used between 11,500 and 10,500 years ago, exhibit a large thinning flake scar called a flute, on one or both sides of the base. Considerable skill was required to strike off these flutes in one blow, and many nearly complete points were broken during this final stage manufacturing stage. The flute provided a hollow trough which fits snugly into the slotted end of a spear shaft.
Until recently there was no artifactual evidence to indicate that early Paleoindian people who used the fluting technique had inhabited the Headwaters area, although it is clear that they lived in adjacent areas and that environmental conditions would have been attractive to a hunting and gathering people. Recovery of a fluted projectile point from Round Lake in Itasca County demonstrates convincingly that the Headwaters area was inhabited soon after the retreat of glacial ice.
More common in northern Minnesota are similar projectile points without flutes, but which have their bases thinned by removing several small flakes. This basal thinning performed the same function as a flute, but was not as difficult to make. These unfluted, thinned projectile points are ascribed to a style called Plano, and are usually considered to be used toward the late stages of the Paleoindian period. In general, Paleoindian projectile points are lanceolate, have a flat or concave base with basal thinning or flutes, and exhibit superior workmanship in the form of evenly spaced, parallel flake scars along their edges.
Paleoindians also made a variety of other tools from stone as well as other organic materials such as wood, antler and bone. (Unfortunately, organic materials deteriorate rapidly in highly acidic Minnesota soils and usually are not preserved.) Other types of stone tools which were used include scrapers, gravers (for incising bone or wood), knives, and drills. In some cases, multipurpose tools were made, for example, a scraper which also had a graver spur. Overall, the Paleoindian tool kit was lightweight and easily transportable, a feature undoubtedly related to the mobile lifestyle of these people.