Lithic Technological and Use-Wear Analysis for Two Paleoindian Sites at the Kanorado Locality, Kansas

Summary

This is an abstract from the "American Foragers: Human-Environmental Interactions across the Continents" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This paper presents results of an analysis of lithic artifacts from the Kanorado Locality in the High Plains of Western Kansas. The Kanorado Locality is a stratified Clovis-age and Folsom/Midland occupation along Middle Beaver Creek. The Clovis adaptation in the Great Plains is well-documented, but not as thoroughly understood as subsequent occupations. This paper considers lithic materials from two sites at the locality, 14SN101 and 14SN105. Clovis-age and Folsom/Midland materials and those dating to later cultural periods are contained in distinct buried soils. Therefore, these sites facilitate comparison between Clovis and later Paleoindian components. This project examined each artifact field cataloged as a lithic (n = 409) from these two sites and recorded its technological attributes. Any debitage larger than 6 cm2 or 5 g, in addition to all tools, were examined for use-wear using low-power microscopy. A dedicated experimental comparative collection was produced for this project and designed to closely reflect the raw materials represented in these two assemblages. Results situate Clovis-age adaptations in local temporal context, by way of comparison with Folsom/Midland and later activities in the same locality. The results of this analysis are also considered in terms of prior Clovis use-wear studies in differing environmental contexts.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• American Foragers: Human-Environmental Interactions across the Continents   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39100.0