Arkansas Archeologist Contributes to New Clovis Research

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Photo Submitted Juliet Morrow, ARAS-ASU

Research archeologist Juliet Morrow of the Arkansas Archeological Survey's Arkansas State University Research Station has co-authored a new research article about food sources in the Paleolithic period in North America. Isotope analysis confirmed that mammoth was an important food source in Ice Age America.

In 1968, a young Native American child's grave was uncovered by construction workers in Montana, and the burial has been dated to about 13,000 years ago. In 1999, Morrow, in cooperation with the Montana State Historical Society, began a study of the stone and antler tools that were found with the child. Isotope analysis of the human remains was carried out before reburial of the child in 2014, and the data have recently been reanalyzed by scientists at the University of Alaska to better understand the diet of the child's mother, and by extension, other Clovis people.

The 2024 analysis of isotopic evidence demonstrates that megafauna like mammoths, elk and bison made up the majority of the mother's diet, with small mammals playing a very minor role. This is supported by the types of stone and antler tools found with the child's burial. Morrow and Friedel's 2006 publication analyzing these 115 associated burial artifacts found that they made up a complete, functional Clovis tool kit from remains of tool production to previously utilized spear points used in the hunting and processing of large mammals.

"Its been a roller coaster trying to get this published, and I am elated that the science is finally out there," Morrow said. She added, "It will take a large volume to provide all that we have learned from this one site."

Morrow has been a research station archeologist with the Arkansas Archeological Survey since 1997. Her research focuses on the Paleoindian period in North America and multidisciplinary studies of hunter-gatherer lifeways, stone tool technology and Pleistocene/Early Holocene ecology. As an expert on the Paleoindian period, she has been involved with research surrounding the Anzick burial site since 1999.

The Arkansas Archeological Survey (ARAS) was established by statute in 1967 to study Arkansas' past, to preserve and manage information about archeological sites and to share this knowledge with the public. ARAS maintains 10 research stations staffed by Ph.D.-level archeologists distributed across Arkansas, as well as a coordinating office in Fayetteville also managing more than 7 million artifacts in the ARAS holdings. The Arkansas Archeological Survey is part of the U of A System. https://archeology.uark.edu/.

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