Using Sourcing Studies to Examine Paleoindian Lithic Technological and Socioeconomic Organization in the Great Basin

Summary

In many regions of the world, archaeologists use sourcing studies to document patterns of toolstone procurement and conveyance that, in turn, inform their understanding of prehistoric lithic technological and socioeconomic organization. This is certainly true of Charlotte Beck and George T. Jones’s research in eastern Nevada, where the sourcing of obsidian, andesite, and dacite artifacts has figured prominently in their study of Paleoindian lifeways. In this paper, I briefly reflect on Beck and Jones’s contributions to sourcing methods and their use of sourcing studies to examine Paleoindian lithic technological organization and mobility. Recently, I worked with Beck and Jones to develop an analytical protocol for souring chert artifacts in eastern Nevada, as the next step in the lithic analytical program they started thirty years ago. Thus, I conclude by describing the potential for chert sourcing studies to augment the understanding of Paleoindian lithic technological and socioeconomic organization Beck and Jones have built based on the sourcing of volcanic artifacts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Toolstone Papers in Honor of the Careers of Charlotte Beck and George T. Jones

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16177