Lithic Technological Organization of the Suwannee Tradition: A View from the Ryan-Harley Site (8JE1004), Florida, USA

ABSTRACT Suwannee points are an unfluted lanceolate style found on the Lower Southeastern Coastal Plain of North America. Suwannee points are undated but thought to represent a regional, post-Clovis group that lived during the Younger Dryas, with a hypothesized age range of ∼12,700-11,500 years ago based on contextual data. This paper presents analyses of the Suwannee component from Ryan-Harley, the only known discrete Suwannee assemblage. The site is interpreted as representing “gearing up” ahead of a mobility event. The toolkit and assemblage from Ryan-Harley demonstrate that Suwannee people practiced residential mobility and maintained an adaptable, versatile toolkit. However, some elements of the assemblage, like dependence on local tool stone, are more common in logistically organized groups. This mixture of provisioning strategies indicates that the Suwannee assemblage at Ryan-Harley may exhibit the start of a transition toward logistical organization which began after the end of the Younger Dryas in this region.