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Gifts of the Ancestors: Secondary Lithic Recycling in Appalachian Summit Prehistory

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Thomas R. Whyte
Thomas R. Whyte*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC 28608 (whytetr@appstate.edu)
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Abstract

Evidence of systematic secondary lithic recycling at the Katie Griffith site and Church Rocksheiter No. 2 in the mountains of western North Carolina is presented. It is proposed that recycling and reuse of found stone artifacts in the Early Woodland period of the Appalachian Summit region of the southeastern United States was a regular lithic procurement option. It is concluded that systematic secondary lithic recycling was widespread in prehistory, provides an avenue for exploring economizing responses to raw material procurement challenges, and must be accounted for when using lithic artifacts in reconstructions and explanations of human mobility, exchange, and technological organization, and in archaeological constructions of lithic artifact typologies.

Resumen

Resumen

Se presenta evidencia de reciclamiento lίtico secundario en el sitio Katie Griffith y Church Rockshelter No. 2 en las montañas occidentales de Carolina del Norte. Se propone que el reciclamiento y reuso de los artefactos de piedra hallados en el periodo Early Woodland de la región de Appalachian Summit del sureste Estado Unidense fue una opción para la obtención regular lίtico. Se concluye que el reciclamiento lίtico sistemático y secundario fue amplio en la prehistoria, provee avenida para explorar respuestas economisadoras (de ahorro) al desafío de la obtención de materias primas y explicaciones de movilidad humana, intercambios, y organización tecnológica, así como en las construcciones arqueológicas de artefactos tipológicos lίticos.

Type
Articles
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 79 , Issue 4 , October 2014 , pp. 679 - 696
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 2014

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