The Pine Saddle site (3PL1080) in the Ouachita Mountains, Polk County, Arkansas

Timothy K Perttula,Bo Nelson

doi:10.21112/.ita.2005.1.17

Abstract

Novaculite was procured and knapped by aboriginal Indian populations living in southwestern Arkansas for thousands of years, and there are numerous prehistoric novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains. In Late Archaic times. this desirable material was widely traded and exchanged with other groups to the south, east, and west, particularly with the peoples living at the Poverty Point site and environs in the lower Mississippi valley in northern Louisiana. Later groups such as the Caddo also made considerable use of this material, since it was in their traditional homelands, and many habitation sites and mound centers in the region contain quantities of novaculite lithic debris and tools. Other local materials were also chosen for lithic tool manufacture, such as Big Fork chert, a distinctive black chert. Abundant amounts of novaculite and Big Fork chert are also found apparently in nondomestic Caddo contexts on lithic workshops and camp sites in the Ouachita Mountains, and one such site is discussed in this article.

Highlights

Novaculite was procured and knapped by aboriginal Indian populations living in southwestern Arkansas for thousands of years, and there are numerous prehistoric novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains (Etchieson 1997)
In Late Archaic times, this desirable materiaJ was widely traded apd exchanged with other groups to the south, east, and west, with the peoples living at the Poverty Point site and environs in the lower Mississippi valley in northern Louisiana
Abundant amounts of novaculite and Big Fork chert are found apparently in nondomestic Caddo contexts on lithic workshops and camp sites in the Ouachita Mountains, and one such site is discussed in this article

Summary

Introduction

Novaculite was procured and knapped by aboriginal Indian populations living in southwestern Arkansas for thousands of years (see Trubitt et al 2003), and there are numerous prehistoric novaculite quarries in the Ouachita Mountains (Etchieson 1997). In Late Archaic times, this desirable materiaJ was widely traded apd exchanged with other groups to the south, east, and west, with the peoples living at the Poverty Point site and environs in the lower Mississippi valley in northern Louisiana (see Jeter and Jackson 1994: 159-166). Later groups such as the Caddo made considerable use of this material, since it was in their traditional homelands, and many habitation sites and mound centers in the region contain quantities of novaculite lithic debris and tools. Abundant amounts of novaculite and Big Fork chert are found apparently in nondomestic Caddo contexts on lithic workshops and camp sites in the Ouachita Mountains, and one such site is discussed in this article

The Pine Saddle site

Lithic Artifacts from the Pine Saddle site

Findings

Black novaculite