Experimental Heat Treatment on Basalt Lithic Artifacts to Identify Wildfire Effects on Prehistoric Archaeological Sites

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

In recent years, the USDA Forest Service is increasing the pace and scale of fire and fuels management to mitigate the impacts of uncharacteristically severe wildfire. Due to the consequences of global climate change, wildfires are not going away. It is vital that we understand the effects that wildfires have on our cultural resources. Multiple studies have investigated the effects of fire on obsidian and chert artifacts; however, little research has been conducted on basalt lithic artifacts. In portions of the Plumas National Forest that were impacted by the catastrophic 2021 Dixie Fire, there are numerous of basalt lithic artifacts, but we cannot fully grasp the effect fire had on them due to the lack of research. For this study, we seek to enhance our understanding of fire effects on basalt artifacts by conducting a series of controlled heating experiments (temperature and dosage) to test the effects of heating on experimentally produced basalt flakes. From these results, we hope to set a baseline for fire effects on basalt artifact that can be applied to observations made in the field, as well as provide information to managers so they can better protect and manage cultural resources the event of a wildfire.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 40074.0