An early Holocene crescent and associated technologies at Connley Cave 6, Oregon

Crescents are flaked stone tools found throughout western North America that are often associated with waterbodies and projectile points diagnostic of the late Pleistocene and early Holocene, such as the Western Stemmed Tradition. Archaeologists continue to debate the function of crescents and they remain poorly dated outside of the Channel Islands. Here we report a crescent from recent excavations at Connley Cave 6 in central Oregon and provide a first look at associated stratigraphy, radiocarbon ages, and tools. The crescent's age (ca. 9715-9245 cal BP) and associated projectile points are remarkably like the crescent from Little Steamboat Point-1 Rockshelter in Oregon and suggest that people who used Cascade points during the early Holocene also made crescents. This work helps refine the age of crescents and our understanding of their associated toolkits.