A Re-evaluation of Surface-Collected Projectile Points or Knives from the Poverty Point (16WC5) Site Using Reflectance Spectroscopy

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.

Nondestructive reflectance spectroscopy (VNIR-FTIR) was applied to 845 chert projectile points/knives (ppks) from the Poverty Point site (16WC5) in order to characterize the toolstone lithic networks utilized by the Late Archaic (4000–2500 BP) inhabitants of that site. This was the first systematic application of an archaeometric technique to identify the geological source of chipped stone at Poverty Point. Most of the analyzed ppks were sourced to the mid-south geographical region. However, some chert source identifications, based solely on the VNIR-FTIR measurements and subsequent statistical analyses, were considered suspect. In a follow-up blind study, two analysts with considerable knowledge of the lithic raw material sources of the region examined each artifact with respect to its visual characteristics and other relevant macroscopic information. After agreeing on the likely source, they assigned a confidence score ranging from one to ten for each identification. These visual identifications are here compared with the VNIR-FTIR source determinations. By considering when and how the two techniques agreed or disagreed, we can identify potential problems that could arise during similar analyses. Clearly, improving the application of this nondestructive chert sourcing technique will strengthen our conclusions and provide a more accurate depiction of past lifeways.

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

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32802