Tools for Thought: Some Comments on the Analysis of Puebloan Chipped Stone Assemblages

ABSTRACT

Using chipped stone assemblages from five Puebloan sites located in central Arizona, an analysis of both tools and waste materials was recently undertaken as part of the Arizona Public Service Cholla Project. Based on this study we suggest that much of the use of chipped stone was opportunistic and that few formal tool types exist. Viewing data from other assemblages this pattern appears confirmed for much of the Puebloan Southwest. The investigation of entire chipped stone assemblages is, therefore, a necessary and informative procedure.