The Effects of Distance on Lithic Material Reduction Technology

Abstract

A number of lithic studies over the past several years have indicated that average flake weight (size) appears to be a direct reflection of the ease of lithic procurement, with the greater the distance to the lithic source, the smaller the respective general flake size. Similar high-quality lithic materials from Pot Creek Pueblo and the Cerrita pithouse site of the Taos area of the northern Rio Grande Valley in New Mexico provide an excellent basis for the study of the effects of source distance on the metrical attributes of lithic material due to the wide array of local and nonlocal lithic resources available at varying distances from the two settlements and utilized within them. The analysis indicates that flake thickness and volume (flake length × width × thickness) provide statistically significant linear trends and patterns in relation to respective source material distance. The general flake dimensional-decremental trend with increasing source distance probably reflects smaller lithic parent material sizes with increasing material source distance as well as a lithic technology oriented toward greater material conservation and less technological variability as the distance to the respective lithic material source increases.