Production for Exchange at the Knife River Flint Quarries, North Dakota

Abstract

A methodological problem in debitage analysis is determining the origin and composition of mixed assemblages. I use multiple linear regression to estimate the kinds and amounts of tool-making activities represented in the debitage collection from the Benz site (32DU452A). a Knife River flint (KRF) workshop. The multiple regressions were calibrated using 205 replications of KRF tool manufacture. Estimates of the technological composition of debitage assemblages allow estimation of the numbers of tools manufactured. Results suggest that tool production was most efficient during the Late Paleoindian and Late Archaic periods, and that flintknappers may have produced tools for exchange during these times. There is no evidence of production for exchange during the Early and Middle Archaic period.