The Gehring Site: An Analysis of a Middle Woodland Lithic Assemblage in the American Bottom

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The Gehring Site An Analysis of a Middle
Woodland Lithic Assemblage in the American Bottom

• Katie Leslie

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Hypotheses

• Trade or migration
• Determine regions of interaction
• Phase
• Purpose of site

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Middle Woodland

• Time frame
• 150 BC to AD 350
• People of colors and glitter
• (Fortier 2008)
• Variety of colors
• Variety of chert types

Fortier 2008
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Movement Patterns

• Trade, migration, direct procurement
• Equifinality
• Literature unclear

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(No Transcript)
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• Surface Collection
• -85 acres
• -30,000 piece lithic assemblage
• Test units
• -Six 2x2 meter units
• Plowzone
• Screening
• Features

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Features Feature 102, Feature 104 Excavation
methods -First half in one level -Second half
in cultural episodes -Screening -Floatation
samples
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Methods

• -Comparative collection
• -Heat- treatment
• -Tool versus debitage
• -Counts
• -Weights
• -Unidentified

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Feature Results

• Local chert types
• -Burlington
• -Chouteau
• -Salem
• -Glacial till

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• Non-local chert types
• Grimes Hill
• Cobden/Dongola
• Kaolin
• Ste. Genevieve
• Mill Creek

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• Debitage
• Core reduction
• 33 flakes
• 64 Burlington
• Bifacial reduction
• 51 flakes
• 53 Burlington
• Shatter
• 51 flakes
• 69 Burlington

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• Blades
• -58 of tool assemblage
• -Characteristics
• -Parallel sides
• -Ridges
• -Technology
• Flake Tools
• -15 of tool assemblage
• -Expedient
• -Re-sharpening

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Results

• Hoe Flake
• 15 of tool assemblage
• Sharpening hoes
• Polish

• Scrapers
• -4 of tool assemblage
• -Retouching
• -Burlington
• -Norton reworked into scraper
• -Glacial Till
• -Exhausted humpback scraper
• -Ste. Genevieve
• -Side scraper

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Results

• Cores
• -3 of tool assemblage
• Bipolar reduction
• Heat-treated Burlington
• Multidirectional
• Burlington

• Spear Points
• 5 of tool assemblage
• Norton
• Ste. Genevieve
• Unidentified
• Burlington
• Etley
• Burlington

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Middle Woodland Diagnostics of Plowzone and
Surface

• Plowzone
• 49 blades

• Surface
• 121 blades
• Waubesa point
• Dickson point

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Conclusion

• Holding Phase
• Farming
• Hoe flakes
• Tool production site?
• Trade versus migration
• Regions of interaction
• Southern Illinois, Illinois river valley,
  southwestern Illinois
• Trade versus migration?

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Acknowledgments

• I want to thank Dr. Holt for all of the wisdom
  that she shared, without her guidance this
  research would not have been possible
• Larry Kinsella for making my comparative
  collection without which the unidentified
  category would be much larger.
• Miranda Yancey and Ken Farnsworth for looking
  over my first attempts at lithic analysis and for
  guiding me in the right direction.