Selective Conditions for Obsidian Stone Tool Manufacture and Use in Central Washington State

Summary

The presence of obsidian in chipped stone tool assemblages in central Washington State is well known. Local, low quality obsidian sources have been documented occurring in conjunction with more commonly found nonlocal, high quality obsidian sources. Though the archaeological occurrence of obsidian is well documented in this area, a systematic study of the organization of technology using evolutionary archaeological approach can help clarify how obsidian was selected and incorporated into stone tool industries. Recent x-ray fluorescence sourcing, paradigmatic lithic analysis, and statistical comparisons of obsidian frequencies from central Washington sites reveal patterns different from those noted in previous studies in the Pacific Northwest. First, source diversity varies through time, rather than decreases. Second, lithic attributes typically associated with local, low quality obsidian also occur on non-local, high quality obsidian. Third, obsidian frequencies do not follow a monotonic decay curve, where increased source to site distances should result in decreased source frequencies. These patterns demonstrate that understanding obsidian occurrence in central Washington is complex and best approached using evolutionary archaeology where scientific explanations for the observed obsidian lithic variation are possible.

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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