An Evaluation of Olcott Biface Production

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Beginning with the introduction of the concept of an Old Cordilleran Culture, research related to early Holocene tool production in northwestern North America appears to assume commonalities of tool production throughout a huge geographic area. This assumption persists despite the recognition of unique cultural traditions, namely Olcott and Cascade. Consequently, the knowledge gained through Cascade collections analysis has been applied to Olcott technology without critically testing these assumptions. A large Olcott assemblage from Washington State at the north end of the Olympic Peninsula has provided a unique opportunity to test the relationship between Olcott technology and its regional temporal peers. This presentation focuses on Olcott biface production. The attributes of Olcott biface morphology and landmarks that relate to the production systems of projectile points and other bifacial tools are explored and compared to published data about similar tools from outside the Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula region. The study considers the implications for the scale and relationships of early Holocene cultures of northwest North America.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 35873.0