From Quarry to Village: Lithic Resource Exploitation In Monongahela Cultural Tradition Johnston Phase Sites

Summary

This is an abstract from the "The Future of Geoarchaeology: Student Research and Insights" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

The Monongahela Cultural Tradition (MCT) is a Late Prehistoric cultural manifestation represented by over 400 sites occupying present-day western Pennsylvania, eastern Ohio, and northern West Virginia from approximately A.D. 1050 to 1650. Despite the widespread regional and temporal scope, much remains to be understood about this cultural tradition, including village organization and growth through time, regional trade networks, and cultural amalgamation and interaction with other cultural traditions. The purpose of this research is to investigate lithic resource utilization in Middle Monongahela (1250-1590 A.D.) Johnston Phase sites. Previous investigations conducted on lithic assemblages from two Johnston Phase sites, Squirrel Hill and Johnston, revealed a much higher than predicted amount of a non-local material at Squirrel Hill when compared to the expected percentages of local material from the Johnston assemblage. This research will analyze the lithic assemblages of two additional sites in the Johnston Phase core area. The objectives of this analysis include: 1) identifying raw materials within the additional site assemblages; 2) comparing these two site assemblages to the lithic assemblages from Squirrel Hill and Johnston; and 3) determining implications of the analyzed lithic sources related to mobility, trade, and social stratification.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• The Future of Geoarchaeology: Student Research and Insights

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 51731