Folsom Stone Tool Distribution at the Mountaineer Block C Dwelling: Indoor and Outdoor Spaces as Activity Areas

Abstract

Spatial analysis of the Mountaineer Block C Folsom tool assemblage is presented to investigate how a dwelling structure may have influenced where prehistoric people decided to work. Although no statistically significant difference in the toolkits from inside and outside contexts was found, patterns of significance were detected among individual tool types, particularly scrapers and projectile points. These tool types were apparently utilized more often in certain locations. We offer comparisons from the ethnographic and ethnohistoric records of modern hunter–gatherer behavior at campsites, and suggest significant differences in tool distribution occurred when activities were dictated by amount of space required and when processing byproducts would have contaminated indoor spaces. An overall lack of difference in indoor/outdoor tool assemblages supports the idea that dwellings did not necessarily determine use of space by prehistoric peoples, and activities and sets of activities were carried out in both indoor and outdoor spaces.

Keywords:

• Folsom
• spatial analysis
• dwellings
• activity areas

Acknowledgements

Our thanks to David Meltzer and Mark Stiger for their leadership on the Mountaineer Research Project. This work would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the QUEST crew and the WSCU field school. Todd Surovell and two anonymous reviewers provided thoughtful comments that improved this manuscript. This research was supported by the QUEST Archaeological Research Program at Southern Methodist University, the Office of Research and Graduate Studies at Southern Methodist University, and National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant BCS-1214509 (Morgan).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Brooke Morgan

Author Biographies

Brooke Morgan is an Archaeology Collections Assistant at the State Historical Society of North Dakota in Bismarck. She earned her PhD in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University in 2015.

Brian Andrews

Brian Andrews is an Assistant Professor of Social Science in the Department of Psychology, Sociology, and Criminal Justice at Rogers State University in Claremore, Oklahoma. He earned his PhD in Anthropology from Southern Methodist University in 2010.