Hasketts and Crescents: An Analysis of the Lithic Tools from Weed Lake Ditch, Oregon

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Several open-air sites with buried stemmed point technology have been discovered in the Harney Basin, southeastern Oregon. These sites provide a unique way to expand our current understanding of Western Stemmed lithic technology and subsistence practices from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The research presented here focuses on new results from Weed Lake Ditch, a site located on the relict margins of pluvial Lake Malheur. Previous excavations at Weed Lake Ditch recovered seven Haskett style stemmed points, six crescents, a bone needle, stone pendant, bone bead preform, and many non-diagnostic stone tools and faunal remains. This assemblage corresponds favorably with Younger Dryas aged occupations throughout the northern Great Basin; unfortunately, no precise radiometric evidence has been obtained from the site to date, and previously the association between the stemmed points and crescents was not well understood. Over the course of the 2019 field season additional Haskett points were found in direct association with both crescents, preforms, and another bone needle. This paper reviews the spatial distribution and analysis of stone tools recovered during the 2018 and 2019 field seasons in order to explore lithic technological organization at the site.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32642