More than Presence or Absence: Improving Ground Stone Tool Analyses to Address Tool Manufacture, Use, and Maintenance Questions

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Debitage Analysis: Case Studies, Successes, and Cautionary Tales" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The presence of ground stone tools in an assemblage is often indicative of a long-term occupation or resource processing site. The technology represents diverse site activities, including subsistence, social, and symbolic aspects of Indigenous communities. Despite the importance of ground stone tools in the Pacific Northwest, the technology is often analyzed at a coarse level. Detailed analyses of ground stone assemblages inform on regional Indigenous raw material knowledge, resource use, tool manufacturing, and maintenance practices. As many ground stone analyses consist of a presence or absence or form equals function model, little is known about ground stone manufacturing and tool maintenance strategies. Applying experimental archaeology to ground stone technology replication and analysis offers a means to explore aspects of tool manufacture and use through raw material selection, reduction strategies, and use wear. An important aspect of this work is being able to visualize the production byproducts of ground stone tool manufacture. Experimental tool replications suggest we can identify ground stone manufacturing and maintenance activities without the product being present, similar to flaked lithic technologies. This presentation discusses how ground stone tool analyses can be improved upon and the many research questions that can be addressed with more detailed analyses.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Debitage Analysis: Case Studies, Successes, and Cautionary Tales   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 37547.0