Lithic Sourcing

The archaeologically sudden appearance of Clovis artifacts (13,500–12,500 calibrated years ago) across Pleistocene North America documents one of the broadest and most rapid expansions of any culture known from prehistory. One long-asserted hallmark of the Clovis culture and its rapid expansion is the long-distance acquisition of “exotic” stone used for tool manufacture, given that this behavior would be consistent with geographically widespread social contact and territorial permeability among mobile hunter–gatherer populations. Here we present geochemical evidence acquired from neutron activation analysis (NAA) of stone flaking debris from the Paleo Crossing site, a 12,900-year-old Clovis camp in northeastern Ohio. These data indicate that the majority stone raw material at Paleo Crossing originates from the Wyandotte chert source area in Harrison County, Indiana, a straight-line distance of 450–510 km. Our analyses thus geochemically confirm an extreme stone-source-to-camp-site distance of a Clovis site in eastern North America and thus provide strong inferential material evidence that the fast expansion of the Clovis culture across the continent occurred as a result of a geographically widespread hunter–gatherer social network.

Lithic artifacts made on Burlington chert from the Carson site in northwest Mississippi were sourced using portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF). Burlington chert is visually identifiable based on its whitish and translucent coloring; the raw material and artifacts are usually associated with geologic sources located hundreds of miles to the north of Carson in the Central Mississippi Valley (CMV). Burlington chert is generally used to make microlithic tools that are found at large Mississippian centers in the CMV such as Cahokia, Zebree, and Labras Lake, all located upriver of the Lower Mississippi Valley (LMV) and the location of Carson. Herein we report on geochemical sourcing of Burlington chert from Carson; 99 samples were analyzed from elite and non-elite contexts. Geochemical data were generated using pXRF technology and are used to evaluate models of trade and exchange in the LMV during the Mississippi period (AD 1200-1540). Preliminary findings indicate that Burlington chert did not originate exclusively from sources controlled by Cahokia (namely the Crescent Quarry), but rather, from a wide-ranging territory, suggesting that multiple, imbricated networks of trade and exchange were responsible for bringing Burlington chert to Carson.

Data recovery excavations at three sites near Amarillo, Texas, have yielded lithic assemblages dominated by Alibates and Tecovas materials. The visual distinction between these two southern Plains chert types partially overlaps in color, banding patterns, texture, and translucency. To help resolve this visual identification problem, samples from five spatially distinct Tecovas outcrops, two spatially distinct Alibates outcrops, and one gravel source were submitted for instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) Archaeometry Laboratory. The INAA results geochemically separate Tecovas and Alibates and further differentiate geochemical signatures of multiple Tecovas source areas. These chemical results can now be used to correctly identify and sort chipped stone tools and debitage from archaeological context beyond the two source areas.

An obsidian biface reportedly found in the Connecticut River valley of Vermont is the only currently locatable obsidian artifact purported to have been found in Northern New England. As such, it may be evidence for prehistoric long-distance exchange, a product of modern- or historic-period trade among artifact collectors, or it may be a modern replica. Four criteria are outlined to assess the artifact's authenticity as a product of prehistoric trade: provenience, cultural affiliation, age, and geological source. Archaeological provenience of the biface is vague and not testable. Geochemical assays demonstrate that the point is made from obsidian originating in the Great Basin. Measurement of an obsidian-hydration rim indicates that the point was made prehistorically. Typological analysis is ambiguous: The point may be assigned to types defined in northern New England or the Great Basin. The biface therefore cannot be considered authentic evidence for prehistoric long-distance exchange, and future claims of extremely long-distance trade must consider alternative explanations for the presence of obsidian artifacts in New England.

Primary and secondary raw material preference in the Neolithic societies in Northwest Turkey in the production of polished stone tools

Abstract

New excavations and field surveys as well as specific studies on stone tools broaden our knowledge in the last decade on the technology of the Neolithic populations in North-western Turkey where we had no information previously. Thanks to the excavations at the Neolithic sites like Hoca Çeşme, Aşağı Pınar, Ilıpınar, Aktopraklık, Kaynarca, and Hamaylıtarla we have now an important number of materials on polished stone tools. An investigation of the choice for the primary and secondary deposits in the production of these tools provide us hints to understand the reasons of long distance acquisition as well as why only some type of tools were preferred to be manufactured from nearby secondary sources. As metamorphic rocks in particular, is the most commonly preferred raw material in the polished lithic assemblage of Neolithic sites in this region, we consider that the subsistence and economy may heavily depend on these type of material especially when these type of tools are needed. The detailed examination of the physical features of these finished or unfinished (blank) tools reflect the information on their procurement strategies. Especially our analysis on Hoca Çeşme, Aşağı Pınar, Aktopraklık, Hamaylıtarla and Kaynarca Neolithic sites with the help of some basic statistical presentations put forward substantial information on the daily life of the Neolithic societies."

Abstrakt: Od roku 2010 probíhalo systematické zpracování broušené a ostatní kamenné industrie z mikroregionu povodí řeky Želetavky, zaměřené především na kulturu s moravskou malovanou keramikou. Cílem bylo komplexně vyhodnotit uvedené typy hmotného pramene a zjištěné poznatky zasadit do širších prostorových kontextů. Zpracovány byly doposud známé nálezy broušené a ostatní kamenné industrie z muzejních fondů i soukromých sbírek, přičemž výsledkem je ucelená představa o morfologicko-typologické základně, metrických parametrech a surovinovém spektru využívaném v lengyelské kultuře v rámci nejzápadnější Moravy. Klíčová slova: broušená a ostatní kamenná industrie -kultura s moravskou malovanou keramikouzápadní Morava

"RESEARCH ON THE DEFINEMENT AND SOURCE OF THE OBSIDIAN FROM SERRA DEL PALCO (SICILY). - The Serra del Palco village is an emblematic obsidian exchange networks study case. Sicily midland located, and dated from Neolithic to the Bronze age, from this village come two types obsidians: green and gray, both colour defined by going through light. The analysis let us link the first to the Island of Pantelleria geological flow, the second to the Island of Lipari flow. The obsidian import quantitative variations from different sources define an outline of the interregional exchange devise. The X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and the Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) have been used to aim toward an obsidian samples exhaustive definement."

In order to help determine the possible sources of knapped lithic artefacts, it is necessary to know what medium quality materials were available in the immediate surroundings and what high quality materials were available in the larger region. Once it is known what materials were available, it is necessary to know how to distinguish them from each other and compare them to artefacts. In this paper the main sources of lithic materials available to prehistoric populations in the Banat region are described and differentiated. Rock samples were collected from sources in Caraș-Severin and Mehedinți counties. Samples from other adjacent areas were taken from the Lithotheque of the "Babeș-Bolyai" University of Cluj-Napoca (Romania). The purpose of this work is to provide a reference for lithic provenance studies within the region.

Geochemical analysis provides archaeologists one method of understanding and explaining how stone quarries functioned in Native American resource-procurement and trade systems.  Archaeologists in New England have not readily adopted such rigorous analytical methods; rather, most have preferred to combine visual criteria and personal knowledge to identify potential artifact sources.  This failure to employ quantitative methods has led to what Luedtke called the archaeometry gap.  In an attempt to shorten this gap, instrumental neutron activation analysis is used to characterize known chert quarries within Vermont’s Champlain Valley.  Samples from the northern, central, and southern portions of the valley were analyzed, and the results bode well for future artifact-sourcing projects.  Vermont’s documented chert sources vary in concentrations of several elements, and samples from each quarry form relatively homogeneous compositional groups.  Further, multivariate statistical analyses are capable of producing discrete geochemical fingerprints for each quarry.

This preliminary study provides an overview of the Hathaway formation chert of the Champlain Valley, as well as two Native American quarries that are located within it. Using geochemical analysis the authors attempt to determin the most likely source of debitage recovered at a nearby lithic scatter. The resulting conclusion is examined from a geographic standpoint, and the authors propose the existence of a natural travel corridor connecting two high-resource-yield areas, the lithic scatter, and the known quarry district. This testable hypothesis helps to explain the existence, location, and cultural significance of the lithic scatters in the area, and provides direction for future research.

"Throughout northeastern North America, stone tools
and flakes are some of the most commonly encountered
Native American artifact types. Strongly acidic soils and
harsh freeze-thaw cycles have conspired to destroy the
more-fragile artifacts useful for studying prehistoric
cultures. The identification of stone sources is therefore
an essential step in the construction of hypotheses about
trade routes, ethnic areas, and migrations. Despite the
potential significance of sourcing stone artifacts, most
archaeologists in the Northeast rely on visual
identification as the primary method of stone
identification. Although visual identification is useful in a
general sense, it does not address the complex geology of
the New England in general, and the State of Vermont in
particular."