Date of Award
Spring 2022
Degree Type
Honors Project
School
College of Liberal Arts
First Advisor
Brian Hoffman
Abstract
Although often referred to as ‘waste’ flakes, lithic debitage can provide a great deal of information about how past peoples lived and created their stone tools. While we can never have all the answers, lithic debitage analysis can help us fill in these historic gaps. This thesis employs lithic debitage analysis of nine experiments provided by expert flintknapper Dan Wendt to better understand early biface, late biface, and core/flake reduction techniques. Recording attributes including flake class, raw material, general size characteristics, platform grinding, platform lip, percussion bulb, and flake termination allow for a thorough and impressive dataset. Additionally, Wendt’s experiments have provided an opportunity to review and critique Hamline’s Archaeology Lab Lithic Waste Analysis Protocol, focusing on platform angles and dorsal flake scar counts. Analyzing these experiments helps us better understand the production stages and techniques of stone tool manufacture, as well as the role of raw material in attribute data collection. The resulting distinctions between reduction strategies lend themselves to later comparison and applications against debitage from archaeological pre-contact sites across Minnesota.
Recommended Citation
Larson, Eva, "Experimental Archaeology: Assessing Methods in Lithic Debitage Analysis" (2022). Departmental Honors Projects. 104.
https://digitalcommons.hamline.edu/dhp/104
dc_type
text
dc_publisher
DigitalCommons@Hamline
dc_format
application/pdf
dc_source
Departmental Honors Projects