Lithic Raw Material Use Patterns in Minnesota A
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LITHIC RAW MATERIAL USE PATTERNS IN MINNESOTA A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University Of Minnesota By Kent Einar Bakken In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Gilbert B. Tostevin, Advisor March 2011 © Kent Einar Bakken 2011 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Many friends and colleagues have supported this research – in many ways – over the course of years, and it's hard to know where to begin in expressing my appreciation. In trying to acknowledge all of this support, I hope that I don't forget too many names that should be listed here. But to all I offer my thanks and my deep appreciation. LeRoy Gonsior, Tony Romano and Dan Wendt were particularly generous in sharing their considerable expertise regarding lithic resources. Thanks also to Ernie Boszhardt, Grant Goltz, Mark Anderson, Dillon Carr, Dean Sather, Bruce Koenen, Brad Koldehoff, Jon Nelson, Craig Johnson, Mark Doperalski, Ruthann Knudson and Richard Hughes for information and advice on raw materials Many colleagues at the Minnesota Historical Society provided a large part of the data used in this analysis: Pat Emerson, Stacy Allan, Mike Magner and LeRoy Gonsior were particularly faithful in keeping me updated with artifact catalogs. Further data and assistance were provided by Frank Florin, Donna Stubbs, Mike Michlovic, Mike Justin, Les Peterson, Ed Fleming, Ron Schirmer, Lowell Blikre, Ora Elquist, Mollie O'Brien, Andrea Vermeer, Andrea LeVasseur, Steve Mulholland, Dan Higginbottom, Lee Johnson, Ryan Grohnke, Joelle Jerve, and Tylia Varilek. Further assistance was provided by Michelle Terrell, Eva Terrell, Dylan Eigenberger; Annie Anderson, Mike Beck, Christina Harrison, Christy Caine, Brian Hoffman, David Mather, Steven Blondo, Jim Cummings, Kathy Guidi, Tom Sanders, Bill Ross, Bob Patten, Matthew Boulanger, Rod Johnson, Bill Fox, Stephen Kelly, Renee Boen, Elliot Campbell, Matt Dubay, Chris Tri, and Jammi Ladwig. Thank to my MHS colleagues for their hospitality at Fort Snelling; John Soderberg for logistical support at the University of Minnesota; the Office of the State Archaeologist and the State Historic Preservation Office, for helping me navigate the files and track down mysterious details; Mark Packard, Heidi Gaedy and the crew at Summit for GIS advice and general support. Many thanks to my advisor Gil Tostevin; to my committee member and former advisor Guy Gibbon; to my committee members Andrea Berlin and Carrie Jennings; and to Rod Squires for filling in at the last minute at my prospectus defense. Special thanks to Donna McMaster for always nudging the process along; John Richard for the hospitality and surrendering a corner to dissertation chaos, and for the Bar Napkin Guide to Sampling Statistics; and Einar and Marlene Bakken for convincing me that it might be okay to try college for a year anyway. And thanks also to those of you who simply listened to me talk about this project, and encouraged me more than you know by being interested and telling me that you were looking forward to seeing the results. i ABSTRACT This thesis examines lithic raw material economies, specifically raw material availability and use, in Minnesota and adjacent parts of Iowa, Manitoba, North Dakota, Ontario, South Dakota and Wisconsin. It addresses the period of traditional stone tool making in the region, beginning around 13,000 ka and continuing to the demise of stone tool technology within the last two centuries. Results are presented in the form of two models. The first model addresses the challenges of understanding raw material availability in a landscape dominated by glacial sediment and also including primary geologic sources. The model proposes a set of resource regions and subregions, each with a different complement of raw materials. The regions are based on the geologic history of the region, supplemented by information from raw material surveys and refined in light of archaeological toolstone distributions. The second model addresses the challenges of understanding variations in raw material composition between archaeological assemblages. The model is based on an analytical approach termed "utility analysis," which evaluates the potential utility of various raw materials in a matrix defined by relative flaking quality (X axis) and package size (Y axis). The addition of a Z axis (intensity of use) creates a conceptual space for the comparative examination of lithic raw material data from different assemblages, regardless of specific raw material composition. This utility analysis is applied to lithic data from about 1,200 archaeological sites. Based on the results, the model proposes four raw material use patterns that can account for much of the variation in the raw material composition of assemblages. Each pattern is geographically and chronologically expansive, but also chronologically delimitable. This raises the possibility of using raw material composition as a diagnostic characteristic to help determine general chronology or cultural affiliation, especially in the absence of other diagnostic indicators. ii LITHIC RAW MATERIAL USE PATTERNS IN MINNESOTA ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . i ABSTRACT . ii TABLE OF CONTENTS . iii LIST OF TABLES . x LIST OF FIGURES . xiii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND . INTRODUCTION . 1 Development of Regional Lithic Raw Material Studies . 2 Nature of the Present Problem . 4 Approach to the Problem . 10 BACKGROUND . 12 Overview of Regional Geology . 12 Overview of Regional Culture-History . 15 Overview of the Data Set . 17 CHAPTER 2. METHODS AND TERMINOLOGY . 19 THE NATURE OF THE DATA . 20 Selection of Analytical Characteristics . 21 Data Quality . 22 Specificity of Raw Material Identification . 22 Accuracy of Raw Material Identification . 23 Sampling Considerations . 24 Assessing Relative Data Quality . 25 Historic Data-Quality Trends . 26 Sample Size and Site Characterization . 26 Statistical Considerations . 27 Behavior of the Data . 28 General Working Guidelines . 32 iii Typicality of Sites . 33 Site Function . 33 Duration of Site Use . 34 MANIPULATION OF THE DATA . 35 Data Aggregation . 36 Geographic Aggregation . 37 Chronological Aggregation . 40 Data Segregation . 42 Segregation Based on Data Quality . 42 Segregation Based on Site Characteristics . 43 TERMINOLOGY . 43 Geological Terms . 44 Raw Material Profiles . 44 Nonlocal and Exotic Raw Materials . 47 Hierarchy of Raw Material Identification . 48 Raw Material Diversity . 49 Other Archaeological Terms . 50 CHAPTER 3. LITHIC RAW MATERIAL RESOURCE BASE AND RESOURCE REGIONS . 51 GROUPS, REGIONS AND ZONES . 51 Raw Material Groups . 51 Raw Material Regions, Subregions and Zones . 53 Raw Material Zones . 56 LITHIC RAW MATERIAL RESOURCE REGIONS . 59 Revised Raw Material Resource Regions . 63 South Agassiz Resource Region . 68 Tamarack Subregion . 73 Upper Red Subregion . 77 Shetek Subregion . 79 West Superior Resource Region . 80 Arrowhead Subregion . 85 Quartz Subregion . 87 iv Pipestone Resource Region . ..