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Florida State University Libraries )ORULGD6WDWH8QLYHUVLW\/LEUDULHV 2019 The Lithic Analysis of an Early Floridian Archaeological Site in the Wacissa River Eric Calvin Vinh Jones Follow this and additional works at DigiNole: FSU's Digital Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected] THE FLORIDA STATE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF ARTS & SCIENCES THE LITHIC ANALYSIS OF AN EARLY FLORIDIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE IN THE WACISSA RIVER By ERIC JONES A Thesis submitted to the Department of Anthropology in partial fulfillment of the requirements for graduation with Honors in the Major Degree Awarded: Spring, 2019 The members of the Defense Committee approve the thesis of Eric Jones defended on March 29, 2019. Signatures are on file with the Honors Program office. Dr. Jessi Halligan Thesis Director Dr. Seth Young Outside Committee Member Dr. Jayur Mehta Committee Member i Abstract The Middle Paleoindian period of the North American Southeast is a problematic area in American archaeology. The lack of well preserved sites, dateable materials, and the frequent discovery of artifacts out-of-context are all part of why this is such a poorly understood period. The Ryan-Harley site is one of the few undisturbed Middle Paleoindian sites in Florida and represents the remnants of a campsite inhabited by the Suwannee, a cultural group belonging to this Paleoindian period, therefore making its study and analysis of the utmost importance. This thesis presents the mass analysis of stone flakes and tools excavated in 2017 from a discrete geologic layer at the Ryan-Harley site. This was completed in order to achieve a better understanding of what types of tool production were taking place at the site, how that can provide information regarding site function and human behaviors, and to support the findings of past excavations conducted at the site. The systematic analysis of the attributes and characteristics of 344 lithic artifacts showed 97% of the assemblage consisted of flake debitage, composed primarily of small biface thinning flakes. Ten tools were also recovered, including multiple flake tools, scrapers, and a late-stage biface combination tool. These findings represent late-stage tool reduction of local raw materials at a small campsite occupation. This is in accordance with the conclusions of previous excavations and provides a comparable study for future lithic analyses of Middle Paleoindian sites in Florida. ii Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the time and resources of multiple groups and individuals. My sincerest thanks to the following: Ryan and Harley Means, the Center for the Study of the First Americans, Dr. Michael Waters, Morgan Smith, Adam Burke, the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research, the Suwannee River Water Management District, the Aucilla Wildlife Management Area, the FSU Archaeological Field School of 2017, and the FSU Department of Anthropology. To all those with whom I have had the honor and pleasure to work with during this project – thank you. I am indebted to the members of my Thesis Committee, who have helped me complete this and have provided valuable feedback and discussion. I am especially grateful for Dr. Jessi Halligan, my advisor and director of the thesis committee. As my teacher and mentor, she has stimulated and inspired my interests in this field of study beyond measure and has taught me more than I could ever give her credit for here. Thank you for your time, great conversations, and never-ending encouragement. I would also not be where I am without Analise Hollingshead, my graduate mentor and friend. With her constant hospitality and willingness to aid me in any capacity I have been taught so much. I am grateful for all she has done for me and for her patience and kindness over the past couple of years. I would like to thank my family, whose love and excitement is with me in everything I do. Their motivation and encouragement were, and continue to be, invaluable. I also wish to thank my incredible partner, Jazmin. Her unwavering support and endless patience were instrumental in this journey and through the many stressful and difficult times. Thank you for always being there for me. iii Table of Contents Page Abstract i Acknowledgments ii Table of Contents iii List of Figures v List of Tables vi Chapter I Introduction 1 Significance of Research 1 Research Questions and Organization of Thesis 2 Chapter II Background 4 Chapter III Methodology 10 Artifact Collection 12 Lithic Analysis 12 Flake Analyses 15 Flake Tool Analysis 19 Biface and Core Analysis 22 Microscopy 26 Chapter IV Results 30 Flake Debitage Results 30 Tool Results 39 Microscopic Analysis 46 Chapter V Discussion 49 Lithic Analysis 49 Tool Analysis 52 Site Function Analysis 53 iv Chapter VI Conclusions and Future Research 59 Concluding Remarks 59 Future Research 59 References Cited 62 Appendix I 71 Appendix II 75 v List of Figures Page Figure 1: The location of the Ryan-Harley site in Jefferson County, Florida 5 Figure 2. The diagnostic Suwannee points recovered from previous excavations 8 Figure 3. Profile of the 2017 Ryan-Harley Excavation 11 Figure 4. Site map of island and the three units excavated in the summer of 2017 by FSU SCUBA divers 12 Figure 5. Microscopic view of diagnostic miliolid (center) found in Suwannee chert 28 Figure 6. Classification of debitage by flake type 30 Figure 7. Classification of flake debitage by platform type 32 Figure 8. Classification of broken and fragmented flakes by portion 33 Figure 9. Classification of flake debitage by termination 33 Figure 10. The distribution of complete flake lengths in one centimeter increments 36 Figure 11. Weight distribution of complete flakes in one gram increments 36 Figure 12. Length to width ratio of complete flakes 37 Figure 13. Weight distributions based on all biface thinning and edge retouch flakes 37 Figure 14. Ratio of thickness to weight for biface thinning and edge retouch flakes 38 Figure 15. Composite image of the ten tools identified in the lithic analysis: (a) flake tool, (b) late stage biface/scraper, (c) early stage biface, (d) flake tool, (e) scraper, (f) core, (g) scraper, (h) flake tool, (i) flake tool, (j) flake tool/scraper 43 Figure 16. Percentage distribution of the raw material types of the Ryan-Harley assemblage 46 Figure 17. A diagnostic Miliolid foraminifera found in Suwannee chert 48 Figure 18. A V-shaped Dictyoconus diagnostic of Suwannee chert 48 vi List of Tables Page Table 1. Lithic Analysis Characteristics and Attributes of Debitage 14 Table 2. Lithic Analysis Characteristics and Attributes of Flake Tools 20 Table 3. Lithic Analysis Characteristics and Attributes of Bifaces and Cores 23 Table 4. Classification of flake debitage by technological type 31 Table 5. Flake debitage by percent of cortex 34 Table 6. Tool attributes and characteristics by category 41 Table 7. Biface and core attributes and characteristics by category 42 Table 8. Values used in Simpson’s diversity index of technological artifact type 44 Table 9. Values used in Shannon’s diversity index of technological flake type 44 Table 10. Values used in Simpson’s diversity index of Ryan-Harley artifacts 45 Table 11. Data used to construct a Fisher Exact Test 45 Table 12. Chi-Square Test Values 45 1 Chapter I Introduction Significance of Research The rise of lithic debitage as a viable medium through which to analyze prehistoric stone technology and human behavior only began within the last half century. It was once referred to and neglected as prehistoric trash and debris, but has since become an integral part of the analyses of lithic materials from archaeological sites. Arguably one of the most common artifacts found at sites worldwide, the variability and complexity of lithic debitage is what makes it such an important artifact to analyze in order to understand the processes that account for its complexity (Andrefsky 2001, 2005, 2007; Collins 2008; Eerkens et al. 2007; Goodyear 1979; Kelly 1988; Pevny et al. 2012; Williams and Andrefsky 2011). Defined as the by-product flakes and chips removed by percussion or pressure from an objective piece, debitage provides researchers with a look into the technological and social aspects of stone tool production. This thesis discusses lithic analyses that involved the study of flake debitage and stone tools from a Florida Paleoindian site and the behavioral patterns that can be interpreted from such analyses. As stone artifacts, the lithic materials of archaeological sites are the most likely to preserve and withstand the tests of time in many global conditions. This is what makes lithics such a common part of the artifact assemblages at archaeological sites. In the Southeast region of North America, there is a heavy preservation bias that favors lithic materials, usually leaving Paleoindian sites absent of organics that would be useful in the analysis of these prehistoric peoples (Dunbar and Vojnovski 2007; Halligan in press, 2012; Stojanowski et al. 2002; Stone et al. 1990). The artifact assemblages at the submerged Ryan-Harley site (8JE1004) are the 2 remnants of a Middle Paleoindian occupation in the Wacissa River that contains a valuable assortment of lithic artifacts that present evidence of the Suwannee culture complex. This paper is a discussion of a full lithic analysis completed on the most recent stone artifact assemblage recovered from Ryan-Harley. The Ryan-Harley site is significant because it is the only archaeological site in the American Southeast where diagnostic Suwannee material has been recovered in situ through extensive excavations. Dunbar and others (2005) suggest this site represents a Suwannee campsite post-dating the Clovis period (13,250-12,800 cal BP) based on Suwannee point morphology and relative dating methods. The analysis of the most recently recovered lithic materials from three 1x1 meter excavation units provides further evidence of the Suwannee occupation at Ryan-Harley and opens another window into the stone tool production and behaviors of its inhabitants in a region where Paleoindian studies have recently become more defined.
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