Picking up The Pieces: Reconstructing Lithic Production Strategies at a Late Holocene Obsidian Quarry in Southern Kenya

Steven Goldstein

doi:10.1080/00934690.2018.1426958

Steven Goldstein

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2018.1426958

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Abstract

ABSTRACTUse of particular lithic quarries by different cultural groups is a prominent feature of the Pastoral Neolithic period in southern Kenya (ca. 3200–1400 b.p.), when lifeways based on herding domesticated livestock spread through eastern Africa. Here, I present lithic attributes from the recently excavated Elmenteitan Obsidian Quarry assemblage to examine the site’s role in an obsidian distribution network spanning southwestern Kenya. Evidence from the quarry reflects intensive preparation of blade cores and blade reduction. Changes in platform size, flake scar orientation, curvature, and cortical rates through the reduction sequence permit a preliminary reconstruction of Elmenteitan core production strategies that can serve as a basis for regional comparative studies. Uniformity in blade core design and reduction strategy suggests highly organized use of the quarry and supports its role as a production center for regional exchange. Results inform regional debates and contribute to a growing literature on the potential of quarry archaeology.

Highlights

Lithic quarries—places where people extracted and prepared tool stone—were important centers of social and economic production for stone tool-using populations
Use of particular lithic quarries by different cultural groups is a prominent feature of the Pastoral Neolithic period in southern Kenya, when lifeways based on herding domesticated livestock spread through eastern Africa
Over 82% of this category is preparation debris, or flakes that were removed in the process of reducing an unprocessed obsidian nodule into a blade core

Summary

Introduction

Lithic quarries—places where people extracted and prepared tool stone—were important centers of social and economic production for stone tool-using populations. Archaeologists have produced a body of literature presenting methodological advances and building on them to apply analyses toward addressing regional or archaeological issues (Beck et al 2002; Dillian 2007; McCoy et al 2011; Skarpelis et al 2017; Tripcevich and Contreas 2013). Contributions from new regions and social, economic, and technological contexts are needed to further develop analyses of quarry assemblages and realize the potential of these datasets within anthropological archaeology

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