The Significance of Surface Artifact Scatters: Case Studies from Australia and North America

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Refining Archaeological Data Collection and Management to Achieve Greater Scientific, Traditional, and Educational Values" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The three authors research surface archaeological records dominated by scatters of lithic artefacts, a class of archaeological data frequently encountered during CRM projects in areas of North America and Australia. We each began researching surface lithic scatters for different reasons but converged on approaches that emphasize the formation of these forms of archaeological record. Through a variety of projects, we asked a common set of questions about the processes that both buried and exposed these records, the methods needed to obtain a chronology in different regions, and the ways we might interpret artifacts found together in different densities. Answering these questions led to the collection and analyses of datasets in innovative ways and the questioning of a number of archaeological categories often thought of as fundamental for archaeological research. Here we review our respective projects and consider the implications for CRM projects dealing with surface lithics.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• Refining Archaeological Data Collection and Management to Achieve Greater Scientific, Traditional, and Educational Values

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32429