Take A Knap Inside: Evidence for Lithic Activities and Behaviors in Various Pit Structure Types at a Basketmaker III Settlement in Southwest Colorado

Summary

Basketmaker III (A.D. 500-725) was a period of technological and social change for Ancestral Pueblo peoples of the northern Southwest. Along with population expansion, territorial colonization, and the development of original social institutions, Basketmaker III populations invested in a new technological complex that included fired pottery and dry-land agriculture. Lithic reduction activities are an understudied component of this social and technological complex. Our research captures a range of behaviors associated with lithic reduction and utilization at an aggregated Basketmaker III settlement located in southwest Colorado. The Dillard Site (5MT10647), occupied in the sixth century A.D., is comprised of thirteen pit structures that include temporary and long-term residences and a rare early Ancestral Pueblo great kiva. By examining and comparing macro- and micro-debitage and tool assemblages found on structure floors, this research demonstrates that the site’s occupants patterned their lithic reduction behavior in both public and private spaces. This resulted in specialized production areas, disposal and cleaning behaviors, and a symbolic association with lithic material.

Cite this Record

Take A Knap Inside: Evidence for Lithic Activities and Behaviors in Various Pit Structure Types at a Basketmaker III Settlement in Southwest Colorado. Bethany Wurster, Kate Hughes, Shanna Diederichs. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 430388)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: -115.532; min lat: 30.676 ; max long: -102.349; max lat: 42.033 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14964