GIS Analysis of Surface Lithic Scatters in the Northern Blue Mountains: Local and Regional Contexts

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2021: General Sessions" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Lithic scatters are by far the most common precontact archaeological site in the Blue Mountains of northeast Oregon and southeast Washington. These sites are frequently situated in open, flat areas adjacent to a reliable source of water and are broadly interpreted as being related to the seasonal round of resource gathering practiced by indigenous peoples of the Columbia Plateau from time immemorial to the present day. Despite their ubiquity, interpretation of site function, chronology, and significance remains difficult in both a cultural resource management (CRM) and academic context. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) technology, this poster addresses a series of lithic scatters in the Wenaha-Tucannon Wilderness in what Chartkoff (1995) terms a “nested hierarchy of contexts” from intrasite site structure to regional interaction. Preliminary results of these analyses suggest three broad patterns of utilization and organization for these sites across time. First, sites in the Wenaha-Tucannon appear to be organized around central camps with distinct activity areas. Second, while andesitic basalt forms the bulk of lithic debitage and finished scrapers, finished projectile points are overrepresented by non-local material. Third, the Wenaha-Tucannon area appears to have been utilized by people from both Plateau and northern Great Basin culture groups contemporaneously.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)   •
• SAA 2021: General Sessions

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 32808