Date of Award

Summer 8-1-2000

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Geography, Geology, and Anthropology

First Advisor

William A. Dando

Abstract

Early Archaic populations are typically characterized as highly mobile forager groups with expansive home ranges, though little distinction is made between systems of penecontemporaneous groups. This thesis will investigate and compare home range size, technology, and material type and quality selection practices between two Early Archaic populations as manifested by Kirk and Thebes Cluster projectile points in a data set recovered from southwestern Indiana. The mechanisms behind and the relationships between chert selection and mobility will be shown as a complex feedback loop. As such, the role of curation, embeddedness, and risk management in technological organization and the potential influence of lithic determinism can be viewed as key variables that predicate home ranges for each group. Chert-distance falloff curves show virtually no difference in home range size between the two groups, though it appears there is greater initial curation of points by Thebes. However, the data reveal unique chert selection patterns that indicate disparate modes of technological organization which may be reflective of home range size or group mobility differences. The more stringent selection of higher quality materials by Thebes is reminiscent of earlier Northern Paleoindian groups, and is indicative of a more highly curated technology. The selection of more locally available materials by Kirk may be derivative of less mobile southern Dalton populations, with less emphasis on a curated toolkit.

Download

Share

COinS