8HG1312 Amanda's Terrace Lithic Analysis

Year of Award

2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

Master of Arts (MA)

Degree Name

Anthropology

Other Degree Name/Area of Focus

Archaeology

Department or School/College

Anthropology

Committee Chair

Douglas MacDonald

Commitee Members

John Douglas, Ric Hauer

Keywords

Florida, Lithic, Technological, Organization, Prehistoric, Analysis

Subject Categories

Archaeological Anthropology

Abstract

Site 8HG1312, also known as “Amanda’s Terrace,” is a multi-occupational hunter-gather site in the Central Highlands of the Florida Peninsula. Located on the Avon Park Air Force Range, this large site is protected from most modern disturbances. Five-hundred and ninety shovel test pits and six test units determined the boundaries of 8HG1312. Nine-hundred and nine artifacts including lithics, ceramics, and a hearth display patterns of behavior and technological organization. The artifacts at 8HG1312 show land use in Florida’s highlands from the Paleoindian, Archaic, and Formative periods. In this analysis, I discuss theories of lithic technological organization and human behavioral ecology to explain the prehistoric practices of resource procurement, resource ranking, and tool curation. Low-tool diversity, mobility strategies, and the distributions of toolstone show consistent behavioral patterns throughout the multiple site occupations. This lithic analysis uses the quarry-cluster model to reveal how 8HG1312 hunter-gatherers rank non-local chert over their local quarry and the procurement behaviors to maximize the net return of high-utility toolstone. I prove, contrary to my hypothesis, the want for non-local material does not cease despite technological adaptations to increase the utility of the local Peace River chert. An analysis of 8HG1312’s behavioral patterns and lithic production industry tells Florida archaeologists how hunter-gatherers use a landscape to create their preferred stone tool assemblage.


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