Technology and Typology in the Upper Gila: Flaked Stone from the 3-Up and Fornholt Sites, Mule Creek, New Mexico

Summary

Several seasons of field school excavations at the late Pueblo period 3-Up and Fornholt sites in Mule Creek, New Mexico, have produced a substantial number of flaked stone artifacts. Because these sites are located adjacent to the extensive Mule Creek obsidian source, and occupied at a time when Mule Creek obsidian was widely distributed, the collections provide information about lithic technology at sites with immediate access to the material. Obsidian composes a large proportion of the artifacts, and projectile points are almost exclusively made from this material. Although occupations at these sites may have overlapped, the Tularosa phase (A.D. 1200-1325) Fornholt site produced a more diverse set of projectile point types than those recovered from 3-Up, where a late 13th to 14th century probable Kayenta migrant enclave and a later Salado occupation have been identified. This poster summarizes the obsidian core reduction and tool production patterns at 3-Up and Fornholt, and illustrates the stylistic variability of the projectile point types from these sites. The points are compared with late pre-contact typologies from southwestern New Mexico and southern Arizona to make inferences regarding their temporal and cultural affiliations.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Perspectives on Salado   •
• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage