Abstract:

A refugium-based non-bifacial lithic complex is identified on the alluvial outwash fans of a terminal glacial moraine in Northwestern Ontario. Distributed throughout exposed positions at, or above, the lower Campbell stand of Glacial Lake Agassiz, the 'Rush Bay Road' Complex is re-assigned, from a 'Shield Archaic' tradition, to a descendant population of an 'Early Lithic' tradition trapped on the high ground of a periglacial island northwest of Lake Superior at about 12,000 B. P. The lowering of Lake Agassiz, and the retreat of the Wisconsin Glacier to the Hartman moraine at 9,900 B.P., allowed full accessibility to the Rush Bay Road moraine no later than 9,500 B.P.