ABSTRACT
The study of residentially mobile hunting-gathering populations has been a consistent facet of anthropological research since the discipline’s inception in late 19th century. Archaeological studies of residential mobility have typically focused either on pre-agricultural foragers (i.e., “Archaic” and “Paleo-Indian” periods) or on equestrian nomads. Despite the vast temporal divide that separates foragers in the deep past from the bison hunting Peoples of the late-16th century onward, the actual “stuff” left behind by these residentially mobile groups is remarkably consistent across time and space. The archaeological record of these Indigenous groups is dominated by lithics, including chipped stone tools, stone piles, alignments, and circles, as well as rock art.
