the gehring site: an analysis of a middle woodland lithic assemblage in the american bottom
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The Gehring Site: An Analysis of a Middle Woodland Lithic Assemblage in the American Bottom. Katie Leslie. Hypotheses. Trade or migration Determine regions of interaction Phase Purpose of site. Middle Woodland. Time frame 150 BC to AD 350 “People of colors and glitter” (Fortier 2008) - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
The Gehring Site: An Analysis of a Middle
Woodland Lithic Assemblage in the American Bottom
Katie Leslie
Hypotheses
• Trade or migration
• Determine regions of interaction
• Phase
• Purpose of site
Middle Woodland• Time frame
– 150 BC to AD 350
• “People of colors and glitter” • (Fortier 2008)
– Variety of colors– Variety of chert types
Fortier 2008
Movement Patterns
• Trade, migration, direct procurement
• Equifinality
• Literature unclear
Surface Collection-85 acres-30,000 piece lithic assemblage
Test units-Six 2x2 meter units- Plowzone- Screening- Features
FeaturesFeature 102, Feature 104
Excavation methods-First half in one level-Second half in cultural episodes-Screening-Floatation samples
Methods
-Comparative collection-Heat- treatment-Tool versus debitage-Counts-Weights-Unidentified
Feature Results
Local chert types-Burlington-Chouteau-Salem-Glacial till
Non-local chert types– Grimes Hill– Cobden/Dongola– Kaolin– Ste. Genevieve– Mill Creek
• Debitage– Core reduction
• 33 flakes– 64% Burlington
– Bifacial reduction• 51 flakes
– 53% Burlington
– Shatter• 51 flakes
– 69% Burlington
Blades-58% of tool assemblage-Characteristics
-Parallel sides-Ridges
-Technology
Flake Tools-15% of tool assemblage-Expedient -Re-sharpening
Results
• Hoe Flake– 15% of tool assemblage– Sharpening hoes– Polish
Scrapers-4% of tool assemblage-Retouching-Burlington
-Norton reworked into scraper-Glacial Till
-Exhausted humpback scraper-Ste. Genevieve
-Side scraper
Results
• Spear Points– 5% of tool assemblage– Norton
• Ste. Genevieve– Unidentified
• Burlington– Etley
• Burlington
• Cores• -3% of tool assemblage• Bipolar reduction
– Heat-treated Burlington• Multidirectional
– Burlington
Middle Woodland Diagnostics of Plowzone and Surface
• Plowzone– 49 blades
• Surface– 121 blades– Waubesa point– Dickson point
Conclusion• Holding Phase
• Farming– Hoe flakes
• Tool production site?
• Trade versus migration
• Regions of interaction– Southern Illinois, Illinois river valley, southwestern Illinois
• Trade versus migration?
Acknowledgments
• I want to thank Dr. Holt for all of the wisdom that she shared, without her guidance this research would not have been possible
• Larry Kinsella for making my comparative collection without which the unidentified category would be much larger.
• Miranda Yancey and Ken Farnsworth for looking over my first attempts at lithic analysis and for guiding me in the right direction.