Unit 6
The Folsom and Plano People, 10,500 to 7,500 B.P.

The last unit discussed the evidence for the first peoples of Alberta, including the Clovis people, who lived in Alberta for the first 500 years of the Early Prehistoric Period. This unit focuses on the people who followed them.

The Folsom and Plano people made and used different kinds of tools. Folsom points were also fluted projectile points, but they were used for hunting bison rather than mammoth or mastodon. These points are distributed throughout Alberta in a manner similar to that known for Clovis points. Plano, or unfluted projectile points, are more broadly distributed in Alberta; they are found in the plains, the boreal forest, and the eastern slopes of Alberta. Plano cultures appear to be contemporary occupations; some were oriented toward bison hunting on the open plains, some toward hunting and foraging in the mountain and foothill areas, and some toward hunting and fishing in the forested regions.

This unit describes the characteristics of the Folsom and Plano people of the Early Prehistoric Period in all three biogeoclimatic zones. It also describes the major archaeological sites found in this chronological period and the interpretations of the prehistoric lifeways for which these sites provide evidence.

Learning Objectives

When you have completed this unit, you should be able to

1. describe the major paleoenvironmental characteristics of the three biogeoclimatic zones, emphasizing the potential resource base of each.
2. describe the environmental changes that would have affected prehistoric subsistence-settlement patterns.
3. describe the current interpretations of Folsom lifeways in Alberta.
4. define the major phases/complexes of the Plano people in the plains, and provide a description of diagnostic artifacts and major sites in this region.
5. define the major phases/complexes of the Plano people in the boreal forest, and provide a description of diagnostic artifacts and major sites in this region.
6. define the major phases/complexes of the Plano people in the eastern slopes, and provide a description of diagnostic artifacts and major sites in this region.
7. compare and contrast the human adaptive strategies, including subsistence-settlement pattern, technology, and social organization, in the three biogeoclimatic zones, as evidenced by the archaeological data.
8. describe microblade technology, and examine the interpretations of its chronological significance.
9. evaluate the significance of the Plains traits present in archaeological sites in the boreal forest and eastern slopes.
10. evaluate the evidence for the inter-relationship among the three major geographic and cultural areas.