Miniature Early Paleo-Indian Stone Artifacts from the Parkhill, Ontario Site

An assemblage of seven miniature stone artifacts from the Early Paleo-Indian Parkhill site are described and analyzed. This assemblage includes not only the miniature points on channel flakes reported from several other Paleo-Indian sites but also, a miniature end scraper made on a scraper retouch flake. A lack of use evidence and a consistent spatial clustering of these artifacts suggests that these tiny artifacts are neither utilitarian tools or children's toys. As a result, it is argued these items served a function in the ideological sphere as, for example, in shamanistic rituals.