Red Chert Quarries in the Munsungun Lake Formation: Moving beyond Norway Bluff

ABSTRACT

Red chert attributed to the Munsungun Lake geologic formation located in northern Maine is common in terminal-Pleistocene, fluted-point-period lithic assemblages throughout New England. A visually identical material also appears in some later-period sites in coastal Maine. Until recently no bedrock source for this red chert showing convincing evidence of precontact use was known. Here we present the NKP site complex, a series of quarry-related stone-tool-manufacturing workshop sites associated with outcrops of high-quality red/green chert. These outcrops represent the only known source of this material with evidence of precontact human use within the Munsungun Lake formation. Although unequivocal fluted-point-period artifacts, such as fluted bifaces, are not yet documented at the NKP complex, the recurrent appearance of red Munsungun chert in fluted-point-period lithic assemblages in New England suggests the manufacture of fluted points took place in the vicinity of these outcrops.

KEYWORDS:

• Paleoindian
• quarries
• toolstone acquisition
• New England
• Pleistocene

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the many individuals who have contributed their time and labor to this project including Richard Boisvert, Deb Boisvert, Dan Stevens, George Leduc, Tom Sherman, Mike Malburn, Linda Fuerderer, Ingrid-Morgane Gauvin, and Roger Ulrich, among others. We would also like to thank Maine State Archaeologist Arthur Spiess for his ongoing support of this research. We also acknowledge the generosity and support of the 7 Islands Land Company and the North Maine Woods organization who allow access to this important site.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Nathaniel R. Kitchel holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming. His research interests include the archaeology of the fluted-point period, human settlement of unknown landscapes, lithic technology, and the application of geochemistry to archaeology. He is currently the Ecology, Evolution, Environment & Society (EEES) Graduate Program postdoctoral fellow at Dartmouth College.

Heather M. Rockwell holds a PhD in Anthropology from the University of Wyoming. Her research focus includes archaeology of the fluted-point period, computational methods in archaeology, and microware analysis. She is the deputy Wyoming State Historic Preservation Officer and an adjunct professor at the University of Wyoming.

Amanda Barker worked for many years for the Maine Forest Service. She is an expert in the human and natural history of the woods or northern Maine. She teaches science at the Maine School Advisory District 32 in Ashland, Maine.

Notes

1 Munsungun is not consistently spelled and sometimes appears as “Munsungun” or “Munsungan”. Conventionally “Munsungun” refers to the geologic formation and chert (e.g., Munsungun chert), while “Munsungan” refers to toponyms (e.g., Munsungan Lake). We employ these spellings here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by a National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant (DDIG) under Grant #1342656; the Roy J. Shlemon Center for Quaternary Studies at the University of Wyoming, the Rust Family Foundation, and The Claire Garber Goodman Fund for Anthropological Research at Dartmouth College.