Characterizing Lithic Networks during the Archaic Period in the Lower Mississippi River Valley

Summary

This is an abstract from the "*SE Not Your Father’s Poverty Point: Rewriting Old Narratives through New Research" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This research investigates temporal patterns of tool stone acquisition and utilization during the Archaic period in the Lower Mississippi Valley region. Chert assemblages from Middle and Late Archaic, including Poverty Point, sites are analyzed. Whereas Late Archaic and Poverty Point assemblages are known for their diverse lithic materials, Middle Archaic chipped stone assemblages are thought to be predominantly, if not exclusively, comprised of local cherts. The goal is to pinpoint the source locations of these materials and explore whether the utilization of nonlocal tool stones represents a unique Late Archaic/Poverty Point phenomenon or is a continuation of long-standing traditions in the region's prehistory. Nondestructive Visible/Near-Infrared (VNIR) and Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) reflectance spectroscopy and machine-learning algorithms are employed to examine the chipped stone artifacts. We conclude that both nonlocal and local raw materials are present in all these Archaic assemblages and represent the same reduction stages, regardless of their distance from the source.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)   •
• *SE Not Your Father’s Poverty Point: Rewriting Old Narratives through New Research

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 38598.0