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Nine-thousand years of optimal toolstone selection through the North American Holocene

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 April 2019

Jeremy C. Williams ,
Diana M. Simone ,
Briggs Buchanan ,
Matthew T. Boulanger ,
Michelle R. Bebber  and
Metin I. Eren
Jeremy C. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Kent State University, 221 McGilvrey Hall, 325 South Lincoln Street, Kent, OH 44242, USA
Diana M. Simone
Affiliation:
Department of Geology, Kent State University, 221 McGilvrey Hall, 325 South Lincoln Street, Kent, OH 44242, USA
Briggs Buchanan
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Tulsa, Harwell Hall, 800 South Tucker Drive, Tulsa, OK 74104, USA
Matthew T. Boulanger
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, 6425 Boaz Lane, Dallas, TX 75205, USA
Michelle R. Bebber
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, Kent, OH 44242, USA
Metin I. Eren*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Kent State University, 750 Hilltop Drive, Kent, OH 44242, USA Department of Archaeology, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, 1 Wade Oval, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: meren@kent.edu)
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Abstract

Stone was a critical resource for prehistoric hunter-gatherers. Archaeologists, therefore, have long argued that these groups would actively have sought out stone of ‘high quality’. Although the defining of quality can be a complicated endeavour, researchers in recent years have suggested that stone with fewer impurities would be preferred for tool production, as it can be worked and used in a more controllable way. The present study shows that prehistoric hunter-gatherers at the Holocene site of Welling, in Ohio, USA, continuously selected the ‘purest’ stone for over 9000 years.

Keywords

North AmericaWellingHolocenestone toolsraw material economy
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 93 , Issue 368 , April 2019 , pp. 313 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

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