THE ROLE OF TOOL FUNCTION IN THE DECLINE OF NORTH AMERICA’S OLD COPPER CULTURE (6000-3000 BP): AN EVOLUTIONARY AND EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH A dissertation submitted to Kent State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Michelle Rae Bebber August, 2019 © Copyright All rights reserved Except for previously published materials Dissertation written by Michelle Rae Bebber B.A., The University of Akron, USA, 2014 M.A., Kent State University, USA, 2016 Ph.D., Kent State University, USA, 2019 Approved by Metin I. Eren , Co-Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Richard S. Meindl , Co-Chair, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Mary Ann Raghanti , Members, Doctoral Dissertation Committee Michael Fisch , Accepted by Ernest Freeman , Chair, Department of Biomedical Sciences James L. Blank , Dean, College of Arts and Sciences TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................................................... xi PREFACE .................................................................................................................................... xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ......................................................................................................... xiv CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Statement of the Problem ...................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Contextualizing the Old Copper Culture ............................................................................... 1 1.2.1 Temporal, Environmental, and Demographic Setting ............................................ 1 1.2.2 North America’s Copper Industry .......................................................................... 3 1.2.3 Copper as Tool ....................................................................................................... 4 1.2.4 Copper Spear Points ............................................................................................... 5 1.2.5 Copper Knives ........................................................................................................ 6 1.2.6 Copper Awls ........................................................................................................... 8 1.2.7 Copper Culture Stone Tools ................................................................................... 9 1.3 Early Investigations of North American Copper ................................................................... 9 1.4 Problems with previous interpretations and the technological “devolution” ...................... 11 1.5 Cultural evolutionary theory and selection .......................................................................... 13 1.5.1 Competition: selection of advantageous functional traits ..................................... 16 1.6 Research Design and Predictions ......................................................................................... 17 1.6.1 Experimental Archaeology ................................................................................... 17 1.6.2 Hypotheses, Predictions, and Implications .......................................................... 18 iii 1.6.3 Discussion of Experimental Validity ................................................................... 20 1.7 Chapter 1 References .......................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 2 TOWARD A FUNCTIONAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE NORTH AMERICAN OLD COPPER CULTURE “TECHNOMIC DEVOLUTION” ........................... 37 2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 39 2.1.1 The Old Copper Culture ....................................................................................... 40 2.1.2 The Decline of Utilitarian Copper Tools ............................................................. 41 2.2 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 43 2.2.1 Replica Copper Projectile Point Production ........................................................ 43 2.2.1.1 Previous Research on Copper Tool Production .......................................... 43 2.2.1.2 Replica Copper Projectile Point Production in the Current Study .............. 45 2.2.2 Replica Stone Projectile Point Production and Hafting Procedure ...................... 51 2.2.3 Copper and Stone Point Experimental Form and Morphometrics ....................... 52 2.2.4 Experiments ......................................................................................................... 54 2.2.4.1 Experimental Setting ................................................................................... 54 2.2.4.2 Measuring and Controlling Velocity .......................................................... 56 2.2.4.3 Firing Procedure and Measuring Penetration Depth ................................... 58 2.3 Results ................................................................................................................................. 58 2.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 62 2.5 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 66 2.6 Footnotes ............................................................................................................................. 67 2.7 References ........................................................................................................................... 68 iv CHAPTER 3 THE EXCEPTIONAL ABANDONMENT OF METAL TOOLS BY NORTH AMERICAN HUNTER GATHERERS, 3000 B.P...................................................................... 80 3.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 82 3.2 Materials and Methods ........................................................................................................ 84 3.3 Results ................................................................................................................................. 85 3.4 Discussion ........................................................................................................................... 88 3.5 References ........................................................................................................................... 90 3.6 Supplementary Information ................................................................................................ 95 3.6.1 Supplementary Background regarding Copper Knives ....................................... 96 3.6.2 Extended Description of Materials and Methods ................................................. 97 3.6.2.1 Tool Sharpness ............................................................................................ 97 3.6.2.2 Tool Edge Angle .......................................................................................... 97 3.6.2.3 Cutting Efficiency ....................................................................................... 98 3.6.2.4 Investigating Prehistoric Copper Cutting Efficiency .................................. 98 3.6.2.5 Replica Copper Knife Blade Production...................................................... 99 3.6.2.6 Edge Angle Analysis ................................................................................. 101 3.6.2.7 Knife Blunting Procedure ......................................................................... 103 3.6.3 Experiments ....................................................................................................... 103 3.6.3.1 Experimental Data Collection ................................................................... 106 3.6.4 Additional Analysis ............................................................................................ 109 3.6.4.1 Amount of blunting ................................................................................... 109 3.6.5 SI References ..................................................................................................... 111 v CHAPTER 4 CONTROLLED EXPERIMENTS SUPPORT THE ROLE OF FUNCTION IN THE EVOLUTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN COPPER TOOL REPERTOIRE .......... 115 4.1 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 117 4.2 Materials and Methods ...................................................................................................... 119 4.2.1 Copper Awl Manufacture .................................................................................. 119 4.2.2 Bone Awl Manufacture ...................................................................................... 120 4.2.3 Experimental Procedure ..................................................................................... 120 4.3 Results ..............................................................................................................................