Intra-source Variability and Lithic Sourcing in East-Central Pennsylvania

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Case Studies in Toolstone Provenance: Reliable Ascription from the Ground Up" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In eastern Pennsylvania, archaeologists have long used patterns of toolstone conveyance to define vast territories or trade networks that stretch across much of the Middle Atlantic. For example, the Late Archaic-Early Woodland lithic assemblage from the "KU Site" in east-central Pennsylvania purportedly includes artifacts made from Onondaga chert (New York) and Flint Ridge chert (Ohio). These source attributions are problematic, however, because they are based solely on the analysis of macroscopic attributes absent any consideration of the toolstone available from local sources. Here, we test these source attributions by comparing the supposedly nonlocal chert artifacts with toolstone available in the Lyons Quarry, located only a few miles southeast of the KU Site. Our study demonstrates the necessity of determining the intra-source variability that exists in chert quarries closer to hand as an important step toward confidently sourcing chert artifacts and interpreting their conveyance.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Case Studies in Toolstone Provenance: Reliable Ascription from the Ground Up

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 33020