Stone Tools and Mobility in the Illinois Valley: From Hunter-Getherer Camps to Agricultural Villages

by George H. Odell (Editor)

Overview

In this volume, Odell presents a detailed comparative analysis of standardized lithic data from 10 Illinois Valley components spanning 7500 years from the Early Archaic through the Mississippian—perhaps the first time that such a comprehensive set of lithic variables has been analyzed for the entire Holocene of a region. A major part of this study constitutes the most extensive application of low-power lithic use-wear analysis to be found in the literature, accompanied by full discussion of the technique and a suite of new experimental data. The results provide significant information on prehistoric mobility and technological organization in mid-continental North America, revealing clearly for the first time a number of significant behavioral trends: e.g., an increase in the hafting of tools, economizing behavior in chert-poor areas, apparent change in projectile technology, changes in tool use intensity, and symboling behavior. These trends are supported by a massive set of easily accessible tables of data located in the appendix.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781879621220
Publisher:	International Monographs in Prehistory
Publication date:	04/01/1996
Series:	Archaeological Series
Pages:	418
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

Table of Contents

Contents: 1. The Lower Illinois Valley; 2. Questions and Models; 3. Methods of Analysis: Procurement, Manufacture, and Form; 4. Methods of Analysis: Function; 5. Campbell Hollow: The Early–Middle Archaic Transition; 6. Napoleon Hollow: Middle–Late Archaic Contrasts; 7. Elizabeth: Blufftop Mounds and a Middle Archaic Camp; 8. Napoleon Hollow: Two Middle Woodland Mortuary Loci; 9. Smiling Dan: A Middle Woodland Base Camp; 10. Hill Creek: A Mississippian Farmstead with Structures; 11. Generic Assemblage Comparisons; 12. Systemic Questions; 13. Conclusions; Appendix