The Effects of Sampling by Size Class on the Organization of Technology at the Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit Site (45PI408), Mt. Rainier National Park, Washington

Summary

Prior lithic paradigmatic classification at the Sunrise Ridge Borrow Pit site (45PI408) has shown significant intra-site variation in chipped-stone technology and function. Recent fieldwork recovered an additional sample of artifacts bringing the total chipped stone assemblage to a sample size of n = 13036. Size grading, or mass analysis, was done for all lithic artifacts before cataloging. Recent attribute analysis of all lithic artifacts > 0.635 cm mesh size (n = 3681) demonstrates that significant technological variation is present, but the results of an analysis of lithic artifacts < 0.635 cm mesh size (n = 3543) reveals meaningful frequency changes across multiple dimensions suggesting that some of the intra-site variation resides in the < 0.635 cm mesh size lithics. Dimensions affected significantly, both diachronically and synchronically, include fragment type, cortex, wear, raw material type, platform type, thermal alteration, and reduction class. Analysis of the < 0.635 cm mesh size lithics revealed a 13 percent increase in obsidian raw material type and a 14 percent increase in the pressure flake platform type. Although the sampling of lithic assemblages by size class is performed for a variety of reasons, the significance should be carefully assessed before interpretations of the organization of technology.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

Spatial Coverage