Geochemical Analysis of Crystalline Volcanic Rock Artifacts from Three Olcott Sites along the Elwha River, Clallam County, Washington

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New Research into the Old Cordilleran" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Raw material sourcing of crystalline volcanic rock (CVR) artifacts through geochemical analysis has a decades long history in Olympic Peninsula archaeological research and is an important aspect of site interpretation. Recent archaeological investigations at three Olcott sites by Archaeological and Historical Services, EWU as a part of Washington Department of Transportation’s US 101 Elwha River Bridge Replacement Project yielded a relatively abundant lithic assemblage composed almost entirely of CVR raw material. Whole rock geochemistry and trace element analysis of CVR artifacts from the three sites along the Elwha River (sites 45CA727, 45CA774, and 45CA775) were analyzed using non-destructive portable X-Ray Fluorescence Spectrometry. The resulting geochemical data provides critical lines of evidence to assess potential raw material sources and CVR procurement strategies used at the three sites. The site-scale results are then placed into broader regional patterns of CVR toolstone procurement strategies.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• New Research into the Old Cordilleran   •
• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23583