Refining Point Types in Southwest Mississippi Natalie DeMasi Honors Thesis Curriculum in Archaeology University of North Carolina April 2013 Approved: _______________________ Dr. Vin Steponaitis (advisor) _______________________ Dr. Steve Davis _______________________ Dr. Patricia McAnany Acknowledgements I would like to thank Vin Steponaitis and Meg Kassabaum for their unwavering support and guidance in this research project. I am very grateful to Robert and Kathy Prospere and Joseph “Smokye” and Carol Frank for generously loaning me their point collections; without these collections, my research would not be possible. I would also like to thank Steve Davis, Patricia McAnany, Brett Riggs, Laurie Steponaitis, David Cranford, Erin Stevens Nelson, and all those in the Research Laboratories of Archaeology who have helped me throughout the years. I am also indebted to Samuel Brookes, Mallory Melton, George Bates, David T. Dockery III, Jay Johnson, Ronnie Wise, and James Earl and Crystal McManus. Finally, I would like to thank my family and friends for their constant encouragement, help, and for always believing in me. i Contents Contents ....................................................................................................................................... ii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables .............................................................................................................................. iv Introduction ..................................................................................................................................... 1 Archaeology in the Lower Mississippi Valley and Chronology ................................................. 2 The Feltus Site ......................................................................................................................... 3 The Collections ........................................................................................................................... 4 The Purpose of Types ................................................................................................................... 11 Functional Types ................................................................................................................... 12 Morphological/Decorative Types .......................................................................................... 14 Typology as Technologie....................................................................................................... 15 Conclusions ........................................................................................................................... 16 The Reality of Types ............................................................................................................. 17 Types at Feltus .............................................................................................................................. 18 Types Present in the Collections ............................................................................................... 19 Paleoindian Types.................................................................................................................. 20 Middle Archaic Types ........................................................................................................... 20 Late Archaic through Middle Woodland Types .................................................................... 23 Late Woodland Types ............................................................................................................ 35 A Final Word on Types in the Collection.............................................................................. 41 Technology ................................................................................................................................... 44 Lithic Sourcing .......................................................................................................................... 44 Finding the Quarries .............................................................................................................. 45 Sampling the Quarries ........................................................................................................... 48 Analyzing the Samples .......................................................................................................... 48 Rock Types ............................................................................................................................ 52 Manufacturing Techniques ........................................................................................................ 55 Base Alterations ..................................................................................................................... 55 Thermal Alteration ................................................................................................................ 56 ii A Final Note on Aesthetics .................................................................................................... 61 Statistical Analysis ........................................................................................................................ 63 Methods ..................................................................................................................................... 64 The Variables ......................................................................................................................... 64 Results ....................................................................................................................................... 72 Is There a Standardized Shape for Collins Points?................................................................ 79 A Collins Sequence of Reduction .......................................................................................... 85 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 91 Conclusions ................................................................................................................................... 93 Point Types at Feltus ................................................................................................................. 93 The Collins Type ................................................................................................................... 94 A New Approach to Typology .................................................................................................. 95 Final Thoughts........................................................................................................................... 96 Appendix A: Glossary of Point Types .......................................................................................... 97 Appendix B: List of Points ......................................................................................................... 131 Appendix C: Morphometric Data ............................................................................................... 149 Matlab Program ....................................................................................................................... 151 Morphometric Data ................................................................................................................. 158 Appendix D: Pictures of Points................................................................................................... 175 RLA Points .............................................................................................................................. 175 The Prospere Collection .......................................................................................................... 182 The Frank Collection ............................................................................................................... 215 References ................................................................................................................................... 216 iii List of Tables Table 3.1: Table of Point Distribution by Chronology. ................................................................ 43 Table 4.1: Quarry sites sampled. ................................................................................................... 46 Table 4.2: Rock Weight and Count by Site. ................................................................................. 51 Table 4.3: Table of Point Colors for Late Woodland Points. ....................................................... 54 Table 4.4: Table of Rock Colors from Three Potential Quarry Sites. .......................................... 54 Table 4.5: Color Variations by Time Period. ................................................................................ 59 Table 5.1: Landmarks. .................................................................................................................. 65 Table 5.2: Measurements. ............................................................................................................. 71 Table 5.3: Eigenvectors for the First Six Components. ................................................................ 74 Table 5.4: Variances for the First Six Components ...................................................................... 74 Table 5.5: Eigenvectors for the First Six Components. ...............................................................