Smudge Pits and Stone “Drills”: The Use of Chipped Stone Tools at Burrell Orchard

Abstract

Recent investigations by the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (CMNH) identified an extensive Late Archaic occupation at Burrell Orchard (33LN15), located on a promontory overlooking the Black River in northern Ohio. CMNH excavations have documented widespread midden deposits, prepared clay floors, post molds, and pit features including numerous smudge pits. The formal chipped stone tool assemblage is dominated by lanceolate projectile points and bifacial “drills.” High-powered lithic microwear analysis was performed on 28 formal chipped stone tools recovered from the 2008 and 2014 CMNH field seasons. Tool types examined included complete and fragmentary lanceolate points, drills, and other bifaces. The results indicate that many “drills” were actually used to perforate dry hide and, thus, may have held a unique place in the hide-processing activities conducted at the site.

Keywords:

• Use-wear
• Archaic
• Bifacial Perforator
• Great Lakes
• Functional Analysis

Acknowledgements

We wish to thank the Lorain County Metro Parks, the Sheffield Village Historical Society, and Firelands Archaeology. Financial support for field work was provided by the Laub Foundation and the Albert G. & Olive H. Schlink Foundation, the Cleveland Archaeological Society, the Kirtlandia Society of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Mr Bucky Kitto and Ms JoAnn Bedore. Grant McCall and three anonymous reviewers provided helpful comments to improve the strength and clarity of the manuscript.

Notes on Contributors

G. Logan Miller is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Illinois State University. His research concentration is on the prehistory of the Midwest and lithic microwear analysis. His current field project is focused on the investigation of a Hopewellian encampment in southwest Ohio.

Brian G. Redmond is Curator and John Otis Hower Chair of Archaeology at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. He also serves as Adjunct Associate Professor in Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University. His research interests include the development of settled village life and community organization in the lower Great Lakes, ceramic analysis, and Paleoindian bone modification.