Chipped Stone Debitage, Material Selection, and Expedient Tool Production in Southeast Michigan

Abstract

This article summarizes the results of exploratory analyses on material sources and debitage attributes from chipped stone artifacts at sites identified and sampled by the Eastern Michigan University Field School along the Huron River Valley in southeast Michigan. Several hypotheses are tested with chipped stone debitage assemblages from 35 prehistoric sites to better understand material selection, expedient versus formal tool manufacturing, and the influence of material availability and mobility in chipped stone processing within the region. The distribution of debitage attributes (reduction stage, technology, condition, and size) are first compared by material source and quality. Then, the distributions of materials and debitage attributes are compared among small limited-use sites and two early Late Woodland small settlements. The results indicate a heavy reliance on poorer quality local cherts, and a focus on expedient tool manufacturing with both the local poorer quality and the nonlocal higher quality sources. There were no major differences in debitage assemblages between the limited use sites and the settlements.