Paleoindian Use of Eocene Chert from the Wyoming Basin

Summary

This is an abstract from the "Old Technology, New Methodology" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The first people who occupied the western hemisphere are characterized as being highly mobile and for having a propensity for using high quality cherts. Many of these high-quality lithic sources have been described and documented, while Eocene cherts of the Wyoming Basin have yet to have the same attention nor are they recognized as being a favorable Paleoindian tool stone. This project addresses the need to characterize this rich geologic environment and discusses how Paleoindians interacted with this landscape. Examining Eocene chert tool stone from the Wyoming Basin and its presence in Paleoindian archaeological sites as a proxy for mobility, I assess the viability of high mobility models for settlement at the end of the Late Pleistocene. I compare Eocene chert procurement from Paleoindian sites that could reasonably contain Eocene chert, as well as a case study from the Scoggin Chain Lake site (48SW13622), to evaluate regional models of lithic procurement for the Late Pleistocene and subsequent Holocene within the Wyoming Basin.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Old Technology, New Methodology   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36267.0