| The SC
Paleo-Point Database: Past, Present, and Future J. Christopher Gillam, Albert C. Goodyear, and Tommy Charles Abstract: Over four decades of data collection on Paleoindian bifaces from South Carolina have been updated, re-analyzed, and georeferenced to improve the quality and research potential of the database. Improved typology, georeferencing for geographic information system (GIS) analyses, and electronic distribution to colleagues were the primary goals of this recent effort. To date, nearly 500 Paleoindian bifaces (n= 462) have been recorded in South Carolina, consisting primarily of Clovis, Redstone, and occasionally Simpson and Suwanee points. Geographic concentrations indicate that Paleoindians targeted key resources across the landscape. What is now needed is a way to foster collector-academic interaction and make the data more accessible. Imagine a website where you could input GPS or interactive map coordinates, point photographs, contact information, date and description of find, hit the SUBMIT button, and get a product for your submission! A map that you can print out at home and a web address to send your friends and colleagues to view information related to your latest discovery. A GIS-enabled website is the perfect tool for enabling real-time updates, interaction, and analyses useful to academics and collectors alike. J. Christopher Gillam J. Christopher Gillam is an archaeologist for the Savannah River Archaeological Research Program, SC Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. Chris' research interests include the Paleoindian and Archaic southeast, Paleoindian migration, and the Upper Paleolithic of the Far East. His research has been published in scholarly journals including American Antiquity, Current Research in the Pleistocene, Southeastern Archaeology, and Plains Anthropologist, and in edited volumes such as, The Paleoindian and Early Archaic Southeast, Arkansas Archaeology, and Problems of Archaeology, Ethnography, and Anthropology of Siberia and Neighboring Regions. |