Preliminary Analyses of San Esteban (41PS20) Lithic Data: Implications for Mobility, Investment, and Dietary Predictions

Summary

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

Excavations between 2019 and 2022 at San Esteban Rockshelter (41PS20) in the Big Bend region of West Texas have generated a robust archaeological assemblage. San Esteban can inform on Holocene and, potentially, terminal Pleistocene human behavior in the relatively understudied Big Bend region. By employing Baka’s technological investment index and Surovell’s behavioral ecological model for lithics and mobility, we investigate changes in diet and occupation length at San Esteban. Investment in chipped-stone hunting and butchering implements suggests reliance on high-return faunal resources while investment in ground-stone tools is indicative of intensified use of plant resources. Furthermore, the ratio of debitage to transported tools provides information about the relative length of occupations, as more debitage is generated during longer use episodes. Ultimately, diachronic patterns of technological investment and occupation length provide insight into changes of toolkit composition and mobility strategies in response to climate change throughout the Holocene. Interpretations will be sensitive to San Esteban’s history of being looted for large projectile points, which biases toolkit data.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36560.0