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Stability with Change: Characterizing Early-to-Late Holocene Lithic Technology at the Richard Beene Site
By
John E. Dockall
Prewitt & Associates, Inc.
Austin, Texas
Illustrations courtesy of www.TexasBeyondHistory.net
Site Resources
• Locally available lithic resources
• Upland: bison, deer, pronghorn, small game
• Floodplain: onions, false garlic, prickly pear tunas, other root and nut foods
• Riverine: fish, shellfish, turtles
Early, Early Archaic Angostura Points
Represented by heavily resharpened and broken specimens.
Angostura preforms absent.
Breakage patterns and resharpening suggest hunting gear was being replaced and repaired.
Alternate beveling common.
Lerma Bifaces
Co-occurred with Angostura points in Upper Perez contexts.
No preforms for Lerma points present in the assemblages.
Use-wear and breakage patterns suggest that Lerma bifaces functioned as hafted knives and projectile points.
Early, Early Archaic
Beveled Bifaces
Common in Upper Perez.
Technological affinities with other similar implements such as Clear Fork bifaces and
Dalton adzes.
Fracture patterns suggest on site use, discard, and resharpening.
Use-wear damage suggests woodworking.
Early, Early Archaic Cores
Types in Upper Perez contexts are discoid, conical, amorphous, and
prepared.
Indicates a variety of reduction techniques were applied to produce
flakes for tools.
Early, Early Archaic Lithic Assemblages
Common to Upper Perez contexts.
Includes gravers, denticulate flake tools, other flake tools, pieces esquilles, and burin spalls and tools.
Middle, Early Archaic Lithic Assemblages
From Elm Creek contexts.
Includes a variety of edge modified tools and cores, bifacial adzes, and a bola stone.
Middle, Early Archaic Lithic Assemblages
Present in Elm Creek contexts.
Massive quartzite cobble tools and sandstone milling stones
Late, Early Archaic
Stemmed-Indented Base Points
Common to Lower Medina contexts.
Uvalde, Baker, Martindale, Bandy types.
No preforms present in the lithic assemblages.
Specimens exhibit consistent resharpening and alternate edge-beveling.
Late, Early Archaic Assemblages
From Lower Medina contexts.
Includes amorphous and conical cores, simple flake tools and unifaces, and occasional bifacial adzes.
Middle Archaic Diagnostics
Common to Upper Medina contexts.
Bell/Andice, Desmuke, Uvalde, Travis? types.
No preforms present in the lithic assemblages.
Specimens are broken or heavily resharpened.
Middle Archaic Lithic Assemblages
From Upper Medina contexts.
Includes bifaces, unifaces, large hafted cobble tools, bifacial adzes and simple flake tools.
Early, Late Archaic Diagnostics
Common to Upper Leon Creek contexts.
Includes Ensor, Lange, Marcos, Marshall, Pedernales, and Langtry.
No preforms present in the lithic assemblages.
Whole points with bifacial blade resharpening.
Early, Late Archaic
Lithic Assemblages
Common to upper Leon Creek contexts.
Generalized percussion cores.
A variety of retouched flake tools.
Late Prehistoric
Lithic Assemblages
From Payaya contexts.
Perdiz arrow points but no arrowpoint preforms.
Small chert drill and expedient flake tools.
Generalized percussion cores.
Small number of plain ceramics.
Toyah phase occupation.
Raw Material Usage
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
UP EC LM UM LLC ULC Payaya
Medina cherts Sandstone Other cherts Quartzites
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
UP EC LM UM LLC ULC Payaya
Component
Per
cent
>19 mm 9.5-19mm <9.5 mm
Size Grade Groups by Component
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Block
Per
cent
> 19 mm 9.5-19 mm < 9.5 mm
Size Grade Variability by Block
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
UP EC LM UM LLC ULC Payaya
Component
Pe
rce
nt
Bending Conchoidal Missing platform
Flake Types by Component
Comparative Ratios
• Flake/Core• Flake/Biface• Points/Formal Tools• Core/Biface• Core/Point• Flakes/Formal Tools
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Block
Rat
io V
alue
Point/Other Formal Tools Core/Biface Bifaces/Points
Selected Ratios by Block
0100
200300
400500600
700800
9001000
Block
Rat
io V
alu
e
Debitage/Cores Debitage/Non-point Bifaces
Additional Ratios
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
Block
Inte
ns
ity
Va
lue
Use Intensity
(Total Debitage Density per M2/total millennia)
Use Intensity
Shannon-Wiener Diversity IndexH pi p i
i
s
1
lo g
Assemblage Diversity
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
H Ha Hb Hc J L T Au Ga Gb Gc B lower
Block
Va
lue
D1
Conclusions
Assemblages tend to reflect low diversity and low use intensity
Patterning suggests decreasing group ranges or territories or increasing numbers of smaller groups with restricted territories through time
Similar patterns of use through time but with decreasing frequency of use from Early Archaic to Late Prehistoric
Behaviors reflect a mix of hunting and non-hunting subsistence related activities related to site location within an area of varied resource potential