Technology
With regard to Paleo-Indian technology we speak almost exclusively of the stone tools for which they went great lengths to manufacture. The preferred raw materials were fine-grained cherts and ryolite, which could only be procured from a select number of locations in New England.
Below is a photograph of a recreated lithic quarry from the
Maine State Museum.
The raw material was crafted into a wide variety of forms suited for the many tasks carried out in subsistence activities. End scrapers, drills, awls, spear points, knives, and fluted points (named for the channel at the base which allowed prey to bleed) to name a few. Stone tools were made using percussion techniques (striking/applying pressure to the stone with another stone, bone, antler, or composite tool). Many of the finished tools were then "hafted" to wooden shafts with sinus (animal hide) in order to maximize their potential.
The above photograph (to the left) depicts replications of hafted tools (stone
and bone) courtesy of the USM archaeological lab. The top one is an end scraper and second from the top is a
drill. The photograph above (to the right) depicts the tools used to make
flakes, the flakes (in the middle), and associated debitage (at the
bottom).
Another tool incorporated by the Paleo-Indians was the atlatl, which allowed a skilled hunter to throw a spear as much as ten times harder than if thrown by hand. These devices were made of a wooden shaft (about forearm length) with a lip at one end (to hold the spear) and weight.
Above is an atlatl, spear, and broken weight (ethnographic analogy from
Australia courtesy of USM archaeological lab). The left end of the atlatl is the handle.