scholarly journals Analysis of the Prehistoric Artifact Assemblage of Ceramic and Lithic Artifacts from 41LR351, Lamar County, Texas

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Red River ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Ceramic Assemblage ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Field School ◽  
Lithic Artifact ◽  
Post Oak ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Pine Creek ◽  
Lithic Artifacts

Site 41LR351 was first recorded during the 2005 Texas Archeological Society summer field school on the Stallings Ranch in Lamar County, Texas. This prehistoric site is on a natural knoll (420-430 feet amsl) in the headwaters of Pine Creek, a northward-flowing tributary of the Red River, in the Post Oak Savannah. The site has been excavated by the Valley of the Caddo Archeological Society, and a large prehistoric Caddo ceramic assemblage has been recovered, along with a substantial chipped stone tool and debris assemblage. The analysis of the ceramic and lithic artifact assemblages from the site is the subject of this article.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Prehistoric Caddo Ceramics from 41LR351, Lamar County, Texas

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
TImothy K. Perttula
Keyword(s):  
Surface Treatment ◽  
Red River ◽  
Ceramic Assemblage ◽  
Cultural Affiliation ◽  
Field School ◽  
Pine Creek

Site 41LR351 was first recorded during the 2005 Texas Archeological Society summer field school on the Stallings Ranch in Lamar County, Texas. This prehistoric site is on a natural knoll (420-430 feet amsl) in the headwaters of Pine Creek, a northward-flowing tributary of the Red River. The site is currently being excavated by the Valley of the Caddo Archeological Society, and a large prehistoric Caddo ceramic assemblage has been recovered that warrants study. In addition to characterizing the assemblage of vessel sherds in terms of decorative style and various technological attributes (i.e., temper and paste, firing conditions, surface treatment, etc.), I am also concerned with establishing the temporal and cultural affiliation of the recovered ceramics from 41LR351.

Microwear Analysis in the Southeast Maya Lowlands: Two Case Studies at Copan, Honduras

1995 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kazuo Aoyama
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Complex Societies ◽  
Royal Family ◽  
Late Classic ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Microwear Analysis ◽  
Use Wear ◽  
Lithic Artifacts ◽  
Marine Shell

Based on the results of 267 replication experiments with obsidian, chalcedony, and agate tools conducted with a range of working materials, I have classified use-wear patterns using Keeley's high-resolution approach to establish a framework for interpretation of stone-tool use. This paper describes the results of microwear analysis of two assemblages of lithic artifacts from the late Late Classic period (A. D. 763-850) at Copán, western Honduras, and shows how the use-wear data can be interpreted within the archaeological contexts and help to investigate how ancient complex societies functioned as well as how and why they changed. Microwear analysis of chipped-stone artifacts collected in front of Structure 10L-16 and artifacts from Structure 10L-22A show clear differences between the two assemblages. In accordance with the archaeological, epigraphic, and iconographic evidence, the low use-intensity of chipped stone from the first structure could have originated from special use such as ritual, production of marine shell ornaments, etc., during the reign of Yax Pac. Marine shell craft production may have been carried out by members of the royal family or attached specialists serving the ruler. The relatively high use-intensity observable in the second assemblage may reinforce the hypothesis that the building was a Classic Maya popol na (council house) in which feasts or banquets were prepared. If this was the case, use-wear data might support epigraphic and iconographic evidence that suggests the weakening and eventual demise of centralized political authority at Copán in the ninth century.

scholarly journals Ceramic Types from Late Prehistoric Sites along the East Fork of the Trinity River

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wilson Crook ◽  
Mark Houghston
Keyword(s):  
Direct Evidence ◽  
Red River ◽  
Late Prehistoric ◽  
East Texas ◽  
Ceramic Assemblage ◽  
Trinity River ◽  
Late Prehistoric Period ◽  
Prehistoric Culture ◽  
The Trinity

Ceramics are one of the key diagnostic artifacts that define the Late Prehistoric culture of the peoples that lived along the East Fork of the Trinity and its tributaries. We are completing a 42 year re evaluation of the Late Prehistoric period of the area and have st udied nearly 32,000 artifacts, of which over 10,200 are ceramic sherds. From this study, 20 distinct ceramic types have been recognized. Plain ware, both shell tempered and sandy paste/grog tempered, are the predominant ceramic types present, comprising ov er 90 percent of the total ceramic assemblage. While there is little direct evidence for indigenous manufacture, the abundance of these types suggests they were produced locally. Lesser quantities of decorated ware of distinct Caddo ceramic types from the Red River and East Texas suggest they are likely the product of exchange. There is also a small amount of Puebloan material indicative of a longer distance exchange.

Postclassic Tool Production at Santa Rita Corozal

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marc D. Marino ◽  
Lucas R. Martindale Johnson ◽  
Nathan J. Meissner
Keyword(s):  
Craft Production ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Lithic Artifacts ◽  
Exchange Network ◽  
Source Materials ◽  
Debitage Analysis

This chapter presents a case study of a previously excavated lithic sample from Santa Rita Corozal, considering stone tool production at two structures, 216 and 218. Both exhibit a higher number of Postclassic chert and chalcedony lithic artifacts than other contemporary structures excavated at the site. The authors use debitage analysis to reveal how two households crafted formal tools locally and visual sourcing analysis to better understand how these tools articulated with broader traditions of lithic craft production in a regional exchange network. In contrast to the commercial level of production exhibited at Colha, Belize, these households used a variety of source materials and produced a less standardized tool kit on a much smaller scale.

scholarly journals The Caddo Ceramic Assemblage from the New Hope Site (41FK107), Franklin County, Texas

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy K. Perttula ◽  
Bo Nelson
Keyword(s):  
Intermittent Streams ◽  
Late Archaic ◽  
Ceramic Assemblage ◽  
Alluvial Terrace ◽  
The West ◽  
Franklin County ◽  
Private Collection ◽  
Archaeological Work ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Late Paleoindian

The New Hope site (41FK107) is located on an alluvial terrace (330-340 ft. amsl) on the west side of the Big Cypress Creek valley, about 200m west of the channel at the time it was inundated by Lake Bob Sandlin. The site covers an estimated 2.5 acres.lt is about I km north of the confluence of Brushy Creek and Big Cypress Creek. In addition to what would have been the broad floodplain of Big Cypress Creek, there are gently sloping upland landforms (340-490 ft. amsl) to the northwest, west, and south of the site, and these landforms are dissected by several intermittent streams. Previous archaeological work at the New Hope site indicates that the landform on which it sits has been occupied on several different occasions in prehistoric times. This includes use during the Late Paleoindian, Late Archaic, Woodland, Early Caddo, Middle Caddo, and Late Caddo period times. The most extensive prehistoric use of the New Hope site appears to have taken place in Early and Middle Caddo period times (ca. A.D. 1000-1400); the 20-30 grave-sized looter holes and burials that have been reported to have eroded out along the shoreline at the site are evidence of Caddo cemetery use during this era. The ceramic assemblages from these components have been recently documented in a private collection, and are the subject of this article.

Lithic Workshops Revisited: Comments on Moholy-Nagy

1992 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 243-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas R. Hester ◽  
Harry J. Shafer
Keyword(s):  
Reliable Indicator ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Alternative View ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
A Site ◽  
Regional Settlement

Moholy-Nagy (1990) has argued that concentrations of chipped-stone debitage from mesoamerican sites, including Colhá, Belize, represent dumps and not workshops as we have suggested (Shafer and Hester 1983, 1986). She emphasizes microdebitage as the most reliable indicator of workshop location. Her argument is supported by the use of ethnoarchaeological accounts of debitage deposition from stone- and glass-artifact manufacture. Our alternative view is that microdebitage is only one of several criteria for identifying the loci of intensive stone-tool making. The Colhá data are also used to demonstrate variability in behaviors related to the formation of debitage deposits and the visibility of workshop activity. We contend that identifying precise manufacturing loci is less important than assessing the overall scale of production at a site and that site"s role in regional settlement systems.

Testing the Producer-Consumer Model for Santa Rita Corozal, Belize

1993 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
John E. Dockall ◽  
Harry J. Shafer
Keyword(s):  
Second Order ◽  
Stone Tool ◽  
Craft Specialization ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Exchange System ◽  
Tool Manufacture ◽  
Chipped Stone ◽  
Consumer Model ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Technological Analysis

The consumer aspect of stone-tool manufacture is an important factor for lithic studies concerned with craft specialization and exchange systems. The dynamic nature of stone-tool production/exchange/use systems can be understood through a technological analysis of producer site assemblages and a functional and technological examination of consumer sites. Chipped-stone assemblages from the producer site of Colhá, Belize, and the consumer site of Santa Rita Corozal, Belize, indicate opposing but interdependent roles within the same exchange system. Preclassic formal tools such as the oval biface and stemmed macroblade were manufactured at workshops in Colhá and exhibit a high degree of specialization and standardization in manufacture. These formal tools were then exchanged beyond the chert-bearing zone of northern Belize to consumer sites such as Santa Rita. Once these formal tools entered the consumption sphere they were used, broken, discarded, or recycled into a variety of second-order expedient tools.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document