Lithic Debitage

by Andrefsky, William

• ISBN13: 9780874807684
• ISBN10: 0874807689
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-07-01
• Publisher: Univ of Utah Pr

Summary

Debitage, the by-product flakes and chips from stone tool production, is the most abundant artifact type in prehistoric archaeological sites. For much of the period in which archaeology has employed scientific methodology, debitage has been discarded or ignored as debris. Now archaeologists have begun to recognize its potential to provide information about the kinds of tools produced and the characteristics of the technology being employed. Debitage can even provide clues regarding human organizational systems such as settlement mobility and site functions. This volume brings together some of the most recent research on debitage analysis and interpretation. It presents stone tool production experiments and offers detailed archaeological investigations for interpreting variability at the individual and collective levels. Although there are a number of volumes that focus on general analysis of lithic artifacts, this is the first volume to address debitage and should be of use to a wide range of archaeological researchers.

Table of Contents

Figures	vii
Tables	ix
Preface and Acknowledgments	xi
I. HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DEBITAGE ANALYSIS
1. Emerging Directions in Debitage Analysis	2	(13)
WILLIAM ANDREFSKY JR.
2. Some Reflections on Debitage Analysis	15	(6)
JAY K. JOHNSON
3. Debitage Analysis as a Scientific Tool for Archaeological Knowledge	21	(11)
MARTIN P.R. MAGNE
II. EXPLORING DEBITAGE AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS
4. Where the Waste Went: A Knappers' Dump at Grasshopper Pueblo	32	(29)
JOHN C. WHITTAKER AND ERIC J. KALDAHL
5. Alaskan Blade Cores as Specialized Components of Mobile Toolkits: Assessing Design Parameters and Toolkit Organization through Debitage Analysis	61	(19)
JEFFREY RASIC AND WILLIAM ANDREFSKY JR.
6. A Generalized Technology for a Specialized Economy: Archaic Period Chipped Stone at Kilometer 4, Peru	80	(26)
APRIL K. SIEVERT AND KAREN WISE
7. What Put the Small in the Arctic Small Tool Tradition: Raw Material Constraints on Lithic Technology at the Mosquito Lake Site, Alaska	106	(20)
KRISTEN E. WENZEL AND PHILLIP H. SHELLEY
III. DETAILING SOURCES OF DEBITAGE VARIABILITY
8. Flake Debris Analysis, Levels of Production, and the Organization of Technology	126	(21)
PHILIP J. CARR AND ANDREW P. BRADBURY
9. Reliability and Validity of a "Distinctive Assemblage" Typology: Integrating Flake Size and Completeness	147	(26)
WILLIAM C. PRENTISS
10. Chipped Stone Tool Production Strategies and Lithic Debris Patterns	173	(19)
ALBERT M. PECORA
IV. ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES TO DEBITAGE VARIABILITY
11. Holmes's Principle and Beyond: The Case for Renewing Americanist Debitage Analysis	192	(15)
ALAN P. SULLIVAN III
12. The Effect of Processing Requirements on Reduction Strategies and Tool Form: A New Perspective	207	(18)
STEVE A. TOMKA
References Cited	225	(30)
Contributors	255	(2)
Index	257