
I study pre-industrial human hunting practices and the relationship between hunting, human ecology and social organization. I approach this topic through experiments designed to test reproductions of hunting weaponry, archaeological residues of hunting tools and events, and historical documents. My particular focus is on large mammal hunting using the atlatl and dart (spearthrower), and bow and arrow in North America. During my time with the Center for the Study of Origins, I will be studying the transition between these weapons that occurred approximately 2,000 years ago on the central and southern Great Plains. This topic is approached through analysis of stone projectile points; both found archaeologically, and reproductions used experimentally. The experimental projectile points provide analogs for ancient ones, but with known histories of impact for comparison of macro and microscopic wear patterns.