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

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Medina cherts Sandstone Other cherts Quartzites

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Component

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>19 mm 9.5-19mm <9.5 mm

Size Grade Groups by Component

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Size Grade Variability by Block

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Component

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Bending Conchoidal Missing platform

Flake Types by Component

Comparative Ratios

• Flake/Core• Flake/Biface• Points/Formal Tools• Core/Biface• Core/Point• Flakes/Formal Tools

Other Comparative Measures

Measure of Use Intensity

Shannon-Wiener Diversity Index

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Point/Other Formal Tools Core/Biface Bifaces/Points

Selected Ratios by Block

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9001000

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Debitage/Cores Debitage/Non-point Bifaces

Additional Ratios

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Use Intensity

(Total Debitage Density per M2/total millennia)

Use Intensity

Shannon-Wiener Diversity IndexH pi p i

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lo g

Assemblage Diversity

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H Ha Hb Hc J L T Au Ga Gb Gc B lower

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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