Lithic Debitage Alaskan Blade Cores As Specialized Components of Mobile Toolkits: -·
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Lithic Raw Material Prospects in the Mojave Desert, California
UC Merced Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Title Lithic Raw Material Prospects in the Mojave Desert, California Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8np7g12w Journal Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 11(2) ISSN 0191-3557 Authors Wilke, Philip J. Schroth, Adella B. Publication Date 1989-07-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Vol. 11, No. 2, pp. 146-174 (1989). Lithic Raw Material Prospects in the Mojave Desert, California PHILIP J. WILKE and ADELLA B. SCHROTH, Dept. of Anthropology, Univ. of California, Riverside, CA 92521. A HIS paper discusses lithic raw material THEORETICAL BACKGROUND prospects (or simply "prospects"), places where potentially flakeable tool stone was Acquisition of tool stone by aboriginal assayed or tested for quality. It characterizes peoples was an industry that in terms of scale this site type and contrasts it with quarries, varied greatly from one situation to another. places where stone was obtained consistently The large and well-known quarries of the and in quantity, and places where stone was western United States represent one end of picked up, used, and discarded with little the spectrum. These include the AUbates modification. We believe prospects represent silicified dolomite quarries, Texas; Spanish a major archaeological site type that has re Diggings quartzite quarries, Wyoming; ceived inadequate attention in the literature. Tosawihi opalite quarries, Nevada; and Casa We describe here a prospect site (CA- Diablo and Coso obsidian quarries, California, SBr-5872), characterize its assemblage, and to name a few. -
Ra Ising the Ba R
12 Ra ising the Ba r Lithic Analysis and Archaeological Research in the Southeast William Andrefsky Jr. When I was asked to provide comments on the collection of lithic analysis pa- pers presented at the Southeastern Archaeological Conference (included within this volume), I did not realize the extent to which lithic tools and debitage had been overlooked in the region as a medium for interpreting past aboriginal practices and behaviors. According to the session abstract, the goal of the lithic symposium and this volume is to highlight contemporary methods and theory in lithic analysis to encourage researchers in the Southeast to integrate lithic data into their site interpretations. After a quick perusal of the literature for the region, it was apparent that very few Southeast lithics-related publications have appeared in the national peer-reviewed literature (Daniel2001; Shott and Ballenger 2007); slightly more lithic research occurs in regional journal venues (Carr and Bradbury 2000; Franklin and Simek 2008; Peacock 2004); and other contributions are found in edited volumes not necessarily focused specifically on lithics in the region (Anderson and Sassaman 1996; Carr 1994a; Henry and Odell1989; Johnson and Morrow 1987). Similar to the case of Mesoamerica and the American Southwest, there is a relatively low proportion of lithics- based research relative to ceramics and architecture. Such a trend comes as a surprise to me. However, I have been hooked on stone tool technology since the sixth grade when I first began looking at Louis Leakey's Oldowan pebble tools and wondering whether the broken cobbles in my local creek could have been made by Australopithecus. -
Skill and Cognition in Stone Tool Production F 695
Current Anthropology Volume 43, Number 5, December 2002 ᭧ 2002 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved 0011-3204/2002/4305-0001$3.00 Assessing mental activity from the material residues of Skill and Cognition in behavior is a central problem for archaeologists working in any time period. In the case of Paleolithic archaeology, the endeavor is further weighted with evolutionary im- Stone Tool Production plications (e.g., Holloway 1969, Parker and Gibson 1979, Isaac 1986, Wynn 1993, Gowlett 1996, Ambrose 2001). Because of their persistence in the archaeological record An Ethnographic Case Study and because they provide evidence of individual tech- nical acts, knapped stone artifacts are commonly used from Irian Jaya1 as a source of information about prehistoric and pre- modern mental abilities. Although stone tools do not necessarily provide evidence of the full range of their makers’ mental abilities, they do indicate certain min- by Dietrich Stout imum required competences (Gowlett 1996). In order to assess these competences, we must ultimately rely upon models developed from actualistic research in the mod- ern world. Since it is impossible to observe the evolving Stone tools represent some of the best remaining evidence of pre- technological behaviors of extinct hominid species di- historic behavior and cognition. Interpreting this evidence prop- rectly, our reconstructions should at least be able to draw erly requires models based on observable phenomena in the mod- upon an understanding of the modern human condition. ern world. For this reason, ethnographic research was undertaken In order to contribute to the development of such among the adze makers of the village of Langda in Indonesian Irian Jaya. -
Ain Difla Rockshelter (Jordan) and the Evolution of Levantine Mousterian Technology
Eurasian Prehistory, 5 (1): 47- 83. QUANTIFYING DIACHRONIC VARIABILITY: THE 'AIN DIFLA ROCKSHELTER (JORDAN) AND THE EVOLUTION OF LEVANTINE MOUSTERIAN TECHNOLOGY Mentor Mustafa' and Geoffrey A. Clark2 1 Department ofAnthropology, Boston University, 232 Bay State Road, Boston, MA 02215; [email protected] 2 Department ofAnthropology, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona; 85287-2402; [email protected] Abstract Typological, technological, and metrical analyses of a lithic assemblage from the 'Ain Difla rockshelter in west central Jordan are consistent with the results of previous studies that align 'Ain Difla with the Tabun D-type Levantine Mousterian. Technological and typological affinities are discernible from a direct comparison of tools from this assem blage with those found in Tabun layer D, as well as metrical and categorical comparisons between 'Ain Ditla and other well-known Tabun D Mousterian sites. The 'Ain Difla sample is dominated by elongated Levallois points. Blanks were obtained from both uni- and bipolar convergent and predominantly Levallois cores that show evidence of bidirectional flaking. The typological and technological comparisons reported here suggest that the evolution of the blade-rich Mouste rian can be viewed as a continuum between the early (Tabun) and late (Boker Tachtit) Mousterian; that (on any index) 'Ain Difla falls somewhere around the middle of this continuum, and that Mousterian laminar technologies develop more or less continually into the early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian. INTRODUCTION rich technologies -
These Large Cores (Termed "Macrocores" by P. Tolstoy, N.D
V. NOTES ON LARGE OBSIDIAN BLADE CORES AND CORE-BLADE TECHNOLOGY IN MESOAMERICA Thomas Roy Hester In this paper four very large obsidian polyhedral blade cores from archaeological sites in Mesoamerica are described. The small depleted (ex- hausted) obsidian blade cores abundant at most Mesoamerican sites have been discussed at length in the regional literature (Kidder, Jennings and Shook 1946; Coe 1959; Epstein 1964; MaqNeish, Nelken-Terner and Johnson 1967; Hester, Jack and Heizer 1971; Hester, Heizer and Jack 1971). These worn-out specimens represent the terminal phase of a blade production process which began with the removal of blades from much larger, roughly-shaped cores. These large cores (termed "macrocores" by P. Tolstoy, n.d.) have received little attention, although they, too, are a potential source of information on core-blade technologies in Mesoamerica. It is these cores which repre- sent the initial activities in blade manufacture, activities about which little of substance has been published. The macrocores are discussed in the following pages; one is from southeastern Mexico, and the others are from sites in Guatemala. The Papalhuapa Specimen This large core (Fig. 1,A) collected from the obsidian workshops near the site of Papalhuapa, Guatemala, has been previously described by Graham and Heizer (1968:104). However, a more detailed account of the core attributes seems warranted. Dimensions of this specimen are given in Table 2. The Papalhuapa core is pyramidal in shape. The striking platform is a broad flat surface, created by the splitting of a larger obsidian nodule (concentric force rings are evident on the platform surface). -
Ohio Archaeologist 26 3
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGIST VOLUME 26 SUMMER 1976 i I • • The Archaeological Society of Ohio Officers—terms expire 1978 Robert Harter, 1961 Buttermilk Hill, Delaware, Ohio President—Jan Sorgenfrei, Jeff Carskadden, 2686 Carol Drive, Zanesville, Ohio 2985 Canterbury Drive, Lima, Ohio 45805 Associate Editor, Martha P. Otto, Vice President—Steve Fuller, Ohio Historical Society, Columbus, Ohio 4767 Hudson Drive, Stow, Ohio 44224 All articles, reviews and comments on the Ohio Archae Executive Secretary—Dana L. Baker, ologist should be sent to the Editor. Memberships, re West Taylor St., Mt. Victory, Ohio 43340 quests for back issues, changes of address, and other Treasurer—Don Bapst, matter should be sent to the business office. 2446 Chambers Ave., Columbus, Ohio 43223 Recording Secretary—Mike Kish, PLEASE NOTIFY BUSINESS OFFICE IMMEDIATELY 39 Parkview Ave., Westerville, Ohio 43081 OF ADDRESS CHANGES. BY POSTAL REGULATIONS Editor—Robert N. Converse, SOCIETY MAIL CANNOT BE FORWARDED. P.O. Box 61, Plain City, Ohio 43064 Editorial Office Trustees P. O. Box, Plain City, Ohio 43064 Terms expire Ensil Chadwick, 119 Rose Ave., Business Office Mount Vernon, Ohio 1978 Summers Redick, 35 West River Glen Drive, Wayne A. Mortine, Scott Drive, Worthington, Ohio 43085 Oxford Heights, Newcomerstown, Ohio 1978 Charles H. Stout, 91 Redbank Drive, Membership and Dues Fairborn, Ohio 1978 Annual dues to the Archaeological Society of Ohio are Max Shipley, 705 S. Ogden Ave., payable on the first of January as follows: Regular mem Columbus, Ohio 1978 bership $7.50; Husband and wife (one copy of publication) William C. Haney, 706 Buckhom St., $8.50; Contributing $25.00. Funds are used for publish Ironton, Ohio 1980 ing the Ohio Archaeologist. -
Quartz Technology in Scottish Prehistory
Quartz technology in Scottish prehistory by Torben Bjarke Ballin Scottish Archaeological Internet Report 26, 2008 www.sair.org.uk Published by the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, www.socantscot.org.uk with Historic Scotland, www.historic-scotland.gov.uk and the Council for British Archaeology, www.britarch.ac.uk Editor Debra Barrie Produced by Archétype Informatique SARL, www.archetype-it.com ISBN: 9780903903943 ISSN: 1473-3803 Requests for permission to reproduce material from a SAIR report should be sent to the Director of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, as well as to the author, illustrator, photographer or other copyright holder. Copyright in any of the Scottish Archaeological Internet Reports series rests with the SAIR Consortium and the individual authors. The maps are reproduced from Ordnance Survey material with the permission of Ordnance Survey on behalf of The Controller of Her Majesty’s Stationery Office. ©Crown copyright 2001. Any unauthorized reproduction infringes Crown copyright and may lead to prosecution or civil proceedings. Historic Scotland Licence No GD 03032G, 2002. The consent does not extend to copying for general distribution, advertising or promotional purposes, the creation of new collective works or resale. ii Contents List of illustrations. vi List of tables . viii 1 Summary. 1 2 Introduction. 2 2.1 Project background, aims and working hypotheses . .2 2.2 Methodology . 2 2.2.1 Raw materials . .2 2.2.2 Typology. .3 2.2.3 Technology . .3 2.2.4 Distribution analysis. 3 2.2.5 Dating. 3 2.3 Project history . .3 2.3.1 Pilot project. 4 2.3.2 Main project . -
Earliest Known Oldowan Artifacts at 2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru
Earliest known Oldowan artifacts at >2.58 Ma from Ledi-Geraru, Ethiopia, highlight early technological diversity David R. Brauna,b,1, Vera Aldeiasb,c, Will Archerb,d, J Ramon Arrowsmithe, Niguss Barakif, Christopher J. Campisanog, Alan L. Deinoh, Erin N. DiMaggioi, Guillaume Dupont-Nivetj,k, Blade Engdal, David A. Fearye, Dominique I. Garelloe, Zenash Kerfelewl, Shannon P. McPherronb, David B. Pattersona,m, Jonathan S. Reevesa, Jessica C. Thompsonn, and Kaye E. Reedg aCenter for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington DC 20052; bDepartment of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute of Evolutionary Anthropology, 04103 Leipzig, Germany; cInterdisciplinary Center for Archaeology and the Evolution of Human Behaviour, University of Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8005-139 Faro, Portugal; dArchaeology Department, University of Cape Town, 7701 Rondebosch, South Africa; eSchool of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287; fDepartment of Archaeology and Heritage Management, Main Campus, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia; gInstitute of Human Origins, School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287; hBerkeley Geochronology Center, Berkeley, CA 94709; iDepartment of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802; jCNRS, Géosciences Rennes–UMR 6118, University of Rennes, F-35000 Rennes, France; kDepartment of Earth and Environmental Science, Postdam University, 14476 Potsdam-Golm, -
Historic American Indian Tribes of Ohio 1654-1843
Historic American Indian Tribes of Ohio 1654-1843 Ohio Historical Society www.ohiohistory.org $4.00 TABLE OF CONTENTS Historical Background 03 Trails and Settlements 03 Shelters and Dwellings 04 Clothing and Dress 07 Arts and Crafts 08 Religions 09 Medicine 10 Agriculture, Hunting, and Fishing 11 The Fur Trade 12 Five Major Tribes of Ohio 13 Adapting Each Other’s Ways 16 Removal of the American Indian 18 Ohio Historical Society Indian Sites 20 Ohio Historical Marker Sites 20 Timeline 32 Glossary 36 The Ohio Historical Society 1982 Velma Avenue Columbus, OH 43211 2 Ohio Historical Society www.ohiohistory.org Historic American Indian Tribes of Ohio HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In Ohio, the last of the prehistoric Indians, the Erie and the Fort Ancient people, were destroyed or driven away by the Iroquois about 1655. Some ethnologists believe the Shawnee descended from the Fort Ancient people. The Shawnees were wanderers, who lived in many places in the south. They became associated closely with the Delaware in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Able fighters, the Shawnees stubbornly resisted white pressures until the Treaty of Greene Ville in 1795. At the time of the arrival of the European explorers on the shores of the North American continent, the American Indians were living in a network of highly developed cultures. Each group lived in similar housing, wore similar clothing, ate similar food, and enjoyed similar tribal life. In the geographical northeastern part of North America, the principal American Indian tribes were: Abittibi, Abenaki, Algonquin, Beothuk, Cayuga, Chippewa, Delaware, Eastern Cree, Erie, Forest Potawatomi, Huron, Iroquois, Illinois, Kickapoo, Mohicans, Maliseet, Massachusetts, Menominee, Miami, Micmac, Mississauga, Mohawk, Montagnais, Munsee, Muskekowug, Nanticoke, Narragansett, Naskapi, Neutral, Nipissing, Ojibwa, Oneida, Onondaga, Ottawa, Passamaquoddy, Penobscot, Peoria, Pequot, Piankashaw, Prairie Potawatomi, Sauk-Fox, Seneca, Susquehanna, Swamp-Cree, Tuscarora, Winnebago, and Wyandot. -
Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Bladelet Use at the Moorehead Circle, Fort Ancient
Ohio Hopewell Ceremonial Bladelet Use at the Moorehead Circle, Fort Ancient THESIS Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Arts in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Gregory Logan Miller Graduate Program in Anthropology The Ohio State University 2010 Master's Examination Committee: Richard Yerkes Advisor Kristen Gremillion Robert Cook Copyright by Gregory Logan Miller 2010 Abstract In the past twenty years, lithic use-wear studies have been used to determine the function of Hopewell bladelets from the Middle Woodland period in Eastern North America. These studies have uniformly shown that bladelets were multipurpose, utilitarian tools in domestic contexts. Bladelets found in mounds and at earthworks also were used for many different tasks, but some have argued that bladelets took on special symbolic functions in these ceremonial contexts. The question of bladelet function in ceremonial contexts remains unanswered because use-wear studies of bladelets have not been extensively applied to well provenienced ceremonial assemblages. Recent excavations at the Moorehead Circle within the Fort Ancient Earthwork (33WA2) in Ohio provided a sample of 66 bladelets from within a well defined ceremonial feature. A microwear study of these bladelets found that they were used for a wide variety of tasks. Analysis indicates that the Moorehead Circle bladelets represent the same range of tasks as bladelets found in Hopewell domestic contexts. The results are compared to expectations from several theories about Hopewell bladelets. The results of this study best fit the argument that bladelets were given as gifts during aggregations at earthworks. ii Acknowledgments Special thanks to Richard Yerkes of The Ohio State University for patiently teaching me the microwear process as well as granting me access to his lab, equipment, and reference collection. -
An Oldowan Pebble Culture Ofindia
6. 'Mahadevian': An Oldowan Pebble Culture ofIndia A. P. KHATRI I. INTRODUCTORY The term 'Mahadevian' is applied here to a 'pebble culture' found in a horizon underlying the deposits yielding Chelles-Acheul culture, in the Narmada valley in Central India. The name is derived after the type site, Mahadeo Piparia, situated on the southern bank ofthe Narmada, about twenty miles northwest of Narsinghpur town, Madhya Pradesh (see map, Fig. I). This 'Mahadevian' basal culture consists of crudely flaked water-worn pebbles with rough and jagged cutting edges; among these are also specimens which suggest the form and shape of the crudest type of Chellian hand-axes. This would seem to indicate that the horizon containing them is not only Pre-Chellian in time scale but represents also the ancestral stage of the Chelles-Acheul culture of India, identical to Africa. It is suggested that from this 'root culture' has evolved a hand-axe industry from its crudest types to the advanced Acheulian specimens made by wooden-hammer technique. And indeed, the researches in the Narmada valley appear to show that this is actually the case. This pebble horizon first came to be noticed by the writer, in the field season of 1960, at Hasalpur in Hoshangabad district where chopper-chopping tools were found in situ in a cemented pebbly gravel. The writer was working on a Research Programme, 'T"he Exploration for the Remains of Early Man in India', conducted under the supervision of Dr M. R. Sahni, president of the Palreontological Society of India, and sponsored by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, Government of India. -
Biface Reduction and Blade Manufacture at the Gault Site
BIFACE REDUCTION AND BLADE MANUFACTURE AT THE GAULT SITE (41BL323): A CLOVIS OCCUPATION IN BELL COUNTY, TEXAS A Dissertation by WILLIAM A. DICKENS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2005 Major Subject: Anthropology BIFACE REDUCTION AND BLADE MANUFACTURE AT THE GAULT SITE (41BL323): A CLOVIS OCCUPATION IN BELL COUNTY, TEXAS A Dissertation by WILLIAM A. DICKENS Submitted to the Office of Graduate Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Approved by: Co-Chairs of Committee, Harry J. Shafer Michael R. Waters Committee Members, David L. Carlson Vatche P. Tchakerian Head of Department, David L. Carlson December 2005 Major Subject: Anthropology iii ABSTRACT Biface Reduction and Blade Manufacture at the Gault Site (41BL323): A Clovis Occupation in Bell County, Texas. (December 2005) William A. Dickens, B.S., Stephen F. Austin State University; M.A., Texas A&M University Co-Chairs of Advisory Committee: Dr Harry J. Shafer Dr. Michael R. Waters This dissertation is a technological study that deals with those techniques employed by the Gault Clovis people in the manufacture of both bifaces and blades. The materials studied were recovered during the 2000 and 2001 field seasons conducted by the Anthropology Department of Texas A&M University. The study involves an analysis that deals with raw material selection, blank production, reduction methods, and problems encountered, and includes a definitive description and metric calculations for each of the various artifact types analyzed.