The Plano cultures is a name given by archaeologists to a group of disparate hunter-gatherer communities that occupied the Great Plains area of North America during the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period.

Distinguishing characteristics

The Plano cultures are characterised by a range of unfluted

projectile point In North American archaeological terminology, a projectile point is an object that was hafted to a weapon that was capable of being thrown or projected, such as a javelin, dart, or arrow. They are thus different from weapons presumed to have ...

tools collectively called

Plano point In archaeology, Plano point is flaked stone projectile points and tools created by the various Plano cultures of the North American Great Plains between 9000 BC and 6000 BC for hunting, and possibly to kill other humans. They are bifacially work ...

s and like the Folsom people generally hunted ''

Bison antiquus ''Bison antiquus'', the antique bison or ancient bison, is an extinct species of bison that lived in Late Pleistocene North America until around 10,000 years ago. It was one of the most common large herbivores on the North American continent dur ...

'', but made even greater use of techniques to force stampedes off of a cliff or into a constructed corral. Their diets also included

pronghorn The pronghorn (, ) (''Antilocapra americana'') is a species of artiodactyl (even-toed, hoofed) mammal indigenous to interior western and central North America. Though not an antelope, it is known colloquially in North America as the American a ...

, elk,

deer Deer or true deer are hoofed ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. The two main groups of deer are the Cervinae, including the muntjac, the elk (wapiti), the red deer, and the fallow deer; and the Capreolinae, including the re ...

raccoon The raccoon ( or , ''Procyon lotor''), sometimes called the common raccoon to distinguish it from other species, is a mammal native to North America. It is the largest of the procyonid family, having a body length of , and a body weight of ...

, and coyote. To better manage their food supply, they preserved meat in berries and animal fat and stored it in containers made of hides.

History

The Plano cultures existed in the North American Arctic during the Paleo-Indian or Archaic period between 9000 BCE and 6000 BCE. The Plano cultures originated in the plains, but extended far beyond, from the Atlantic coast to modern-day British Columbia and as far north as the Northwest Territories. "Early Plano culture occurs south of the

North Saskatchewan River The North Saskatchewan River is a glacier-fed river that flows from the Canadian Rockies continental divide east to central Saskatchewan, where it joins with the South Saskatchewan River to make up the Saskatchewan River. Its water flows event ...

in Saskatchewan and in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains north to the Peace River Valley of Alberta and adjacent British Columbia. At this time, most of Manitoba was still covered by Glacial Lake Agassiz and associated glacial ice." Bison herds were attracted to the grasslands and parklands in the western region. Around 9,000 B.P. as retreating glaciers created newly released lake regions, the expansion of plant and animal communities expanded north and east, and the barren ground caribou in the tundra,

boreal woodland caribou The boreal woodland caribou (''Rangifer tarandus caribou''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision. See Reindeer: taxonomy), also known as woodland caribou, boreal forest caribou and forest-dwelling caribou, is a North American subspecies of ...

in the boreal forests and plains, and mountain caribou replaced bison as the major prey animal. In the Great Plains, the following are Plano cultures from 10,000 to 7,000 years ago, distinguished by long,

lanceolate The following is a list of terms which are used to describe leaf morphology in the description and taxonomy of plants. Leaves may be simple (a single leaf blade or lamina) or compound (with several leaflets). The edge of the leaf may be regular ...

projectile points:Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). ''The Archeology of Colorado'', Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. p. 79. . * Agate Basin complex, named for the Agate Basin Site.Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). ''The Archeology of Colorado'', Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. p. 81. . *

Cody complex The Cody complex is a Paleo-Indian culture group first identified at a bison antiquus kill site near Cody, Wyoming in 1951. Points possessing characteristics of Cody Complex flaking have been found all across North America from Canada to as f ...

, named for the Horner site near

Cody, Wyoming Cody is a city in Northwest Wyoming and the seat of government of Park County, Wyoming, United States. It is named after Colonel William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody for his part in the founding of Cody in 1896. The population was 10,066 at th ...

, includes the Olsen-Chubbuck Bison Kill Site and the Jurgens Site.Cassells, E. Steve. (1997). ''The Archaeology of Colorado'', Revised Edition. Boulder, Colorado: Johnson Books. pp. 81-86. . * Hell Gap complex, such as the Hell Gap, Wyoming site for which it was named and the Jones-Miller Bison Kill Site. * Foothills / Mountain complex

Citations

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Plano Cultures Archaeological cultures of North America Archaic period in North America Indigenous culture of the Great Plains Native American history of Colorado Paleo-Indian period Pre-Columbian cultures Prehistoric cultures in Colorado Archaeology of the United States 7th millennium BC 8th millennium BC