7 - The Tool Assemblage, Unfinished Bifaces, and Stone Flaking Material Sources for the Horner Site

Abstract

This chapter reviews the tool assemblage, unfinished bifaces, and stone flaking material sources found in the Horner site. The quantity of tools and debitage at the Horner site was found to be relatively small compared to other Paleoindian sites with large stone flaking activity areas. The stone tool assemblages comprised mainly of flakes that were carefully selected for size and shape so that the least amount of modification was required. The remainders of the chipped stone tools were bifaces (shouldered and stemmed knives) designed specifically as tools, a relatively small number of projectile points that were reused as tools, and stream cobbles modified to varying extents. Several bifaces were apparently broken in manufacture, but little evidence is present to indicate subsequent use of the broken pieces as tools. Only two prepared ground stone tools were recovered, and at least two river cobbles were used as hammerstones without modification. No bone tools were recorded. The Horner site I tool assemblage was recovered by the Princeton–Smithsonian in 1949, 1951, and 1952. The Horner site II tool assemblage was recovered by the University of Wyoming in 1977 and 1978.