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Making Sense of Flake Scatters: Lithic Technological Strategies and Mobility

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Frank L. Cowan
Frank L. Cowan*
Affiliation:
Cincinnati Museum Center, Museum of Natural History and Science, Geier Collections and Research Center, 1720 Gilbert Avenue, Cincinnati, OH 45202
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Abstract

Recent theoretical developments in the organization of lithic technology provide powerful tools for learning about prehistoric settlement systems and the roles of sites within settlement systems. Strong relationships between mobility and the designs and production methods of stone tools provide a means for testing hypotheses about the functional and organizational roles of sites; this is especially important for learning about "plow zone lithic scatters" and other small, poorly preserved sites. Subsistence-settlement models for three periods of western New York prehistory imply different roles for small sites in the interior of the region. These hypotheses are tested by the analysis of dominant tool-production methods. Strong differences in stone tool assemblages indicate major differences in site roles, but greater analytical detail and discriminatory power are obtained from the analysis of tool-production methods from flakes.

Résumé

Résumé

Recientes desarollos teóricos en la organización de la tecnología lítica se presentan como instrumentos poderosos para el aprendizaje de los sistemas de asentimenta prehistóricos y del papel que los sitios representan sitios dentro de dichos sistemas. Las fuertes relaciones entre la mobilidad y los diseños y métodos de productión de las herramientas de piedra proveen una manera de probar las hipótesis sobre el papel funcional y la organización de sitios; esto es especialmente importante para comprender las dispersiones líticas en las zonas de arado y también para aprender de otros sitios que son más chicos en pobre estado de preservación. Modelos de la relación entre el asentamiento y la alimentación para tres períodos de la prehistoria occidental de New York implican diferentes papeles para los sitios pequeños del interior de la región. Estas hipótesis son puesta a prueba por el análisis de los métodos dominantes de la producción de herramientas. Fuertes diferencias en el conjunto de herramientas de piedra indicán grandes diferencias en las funciones de los sitios, pew el énfasis en las lascas como la base del análisis de producción proporciona mayores detalles analiticos y potencia discriminatoria.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 64 , Issue 4 , October 1999 , pp. 593 - 607
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1999

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