Ecological and consumer group variation in expedient chipped stone technology of the Pueblo period: An exploratory study in the Silver Creek drainage, Arizona

Abstract

Lithic raw material variety and abundance reveals the technological utility of different source materials from 20 chipped stone surface collections in the Silver Creek area of east-central Arizona, from sites dating between the 9th and 14th centuries. A rich raw material environment obviates distance-from-source constraints, freeing debitage analysis from traditional spatial interpretations regarding the intensity of reduction. Rather the intensity of reduction and the frequency of distinct material types in each assemblage reflects the impact of social organization, community size, exchange and subsistence variation on the organization of chipped stone technology.