Athapaskans on the Plains: A Glimpse of Dismal River Lithic Technology

Summary

This is an abstract from the "New and Ongoing Research on the North American Plains and Rocky Mountains" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Recent interest in early Athapaskan population movements has led to the reconsideration of Dismal River sites on the Central Plains during the mid-16th to 18th centuries. Although most archaeologists recognize Dismal River people as ancestral Apache, an unclear archaeological record and outdated evidence has led to continued debate. New syntheses of Dismal River chronology, ceramic technology, architecture, and subsistence supports an Athapaskan affiliation. However, lithic data are missing from recent discussions. I examine evidence for lithic procurement and production at three Dismal River sites in Scott County, Kansas, and relate my findings to broader discussions of Dismal River identity and Athapaskan communities across North America.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)   •
• New and Ongoing Research on the North American Plains and Rocky Mountains

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 24656