The Gehring Site: An Analysis of a Middle

Woodland Lithic Assemblage in the American Bottom

Katie Leslie

Hypotheses

• Trade or migration

• Determine regions of interaction

• Phase

• Purpose of site

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

Movement Patterns

• Trade, migration, direct procurement

• Equifinality

• Literature unclear

Surface Collection-85 acres-30,000 piece lithic assemblage

Test units-Six 2x2 meter units- Plowzone- Screening- Features

FeaturesFeature 102, Feature 104

Excavation methods-First half in one level-Second half in cultural episodes-Screening-Floatation samples

Methods

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

Feature Results

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

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

• Debitage– Core reduction

• 33 flakes– 64% Burlington

– Bifacial reduction• 51 flakes

– 53% Burlington

– Shatter• 51 flakes

– 69% Burlington

Blades-58% of tool assemblage-Characteristics

-Parallel sides-Ridges

-Technology

Flake Tools-15% of tool assemblage-Expedient -Re-sharpening

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

Results

• Spear Points– 5% of tool assemblage– Norton

• Ste. Genevieve– Unidentified

• Burlington– Etley

• Burlington

• Cores• -3% of tool assemblage• Bipolar reduction

– Heat-treated Burlington• Multidirectional

– Burlington

Middle Woodland Diagnostics of Plowzone and Surface

• Plowzone– 49 blades

• Surface– 121 blades– Waubesa point– Dickson point

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?

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.