Terminal Prehistoric and Protohistoric Hide Processing in the Central Ohio Valley: Synthesizing Microwear and Metric Data to Evaluate Endscraper Function and Use Intensity

Summary

As "beachheads of empire" 16th -17th century European colonies in eastern North America vigorously pursued trade relations with Natives to secure raw materials for export to an emerging global market. Exchanges of furs and hides, slaves and other commodities stimulated economic activity throughout eastern North America. Production of hides for exchange was widespread among native groups located on colonial peripheries. To contrast, relatively little research has evaluated the degree to which production for exchange penetrated the continental interior. This paper combines endscraper microwear and metric data from the Fort Ancient Hardin Site in the central Ohio Valley. These data confirm that uniface endscrapers – widely employed in the protohistoic southeast - were used primarily for hide processing, while biface endscrapers – uncommon in the protohistoric southeast – were used to work harder materials. Comparison of Terminal Prehistoric (A.D. 1400-1500) and Protohistoric (A.D. 1535-1635) tool assemblages does not strongly support the hypothesis that hide processing intensified over time. Several possible scenarios are proposed to examine this finding. This study also provides useful baseline information about endscraper function and use intensity that can be used to evaluate and compare hide processing at other sites in the Ohio Valley and beyond.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Integrating Functional Analysis: Contributions from Use-Wear Analysis within the Broader Context of Human Behavior in Prehistoric North America

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16497