In America’s Far West, chipped stone crescents dating between approximately 12,000 to 8000 cal BP are often found associated with Western Stemmed Tradition points. Crescent function is debated, but scholars have suggested that they are closely associated with wetland habitats, an association that has never been systematically investigated. Using a geographic information system-based Euclidean distance analysis, we compared a sample of 100 geolocated crescent-bearing sites in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and California with reconstructed paleoshorelines. We confirmed a strong association of crescents with wetlands—94 of the 100 sites and approximately 99% of crescents themselves were located within 10 km of reconstructed paleoshorelines. Our results provide quantitative and region-wide support for a strong association of crescents with terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene wetland habitats. The diversity of aquatic habitats crescents are associated with, along with their morphology, suggests an association with faunal rather than plant resources, possibly birds of the Pacific Flyway.

中文翻译：

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量化碎石新月与北美西部湿地和古海岸线的关联

在美国的远西部，经常发现大约 12,000 到 8000 cal BP 的碎石新月与西方词干传统点有关。新月功能是有争议的，但学者们认为它们与湿地栖息地密切相关，这种关联从未被系统地研究过。使用基于地理信息系统的欧几里德距离分析，我们将华盛顿、俄勒冈、爱达荷、内华达、犹他和加利福尼亚的 100 个地理定位的新月轴承样本与重建的古海岸线进行了比较。我们证实了新月与湿地之间的强烈关联——100 个地点中的 94 个和大约 99% 的新月本身位于重建的古海岸线 10 公里范围内。我们的结果为新月与更新世末期和全新世早期湿地栖息地的强关联提供了定量和区域范围的支持。新月与其相关的水生栖息地的多样性及其形态表明与动物资源而非植物资源有关，可能与太平洋迁徙路线的鸟类有关。