Lithic technology and social complexity at a north Florida Weeden Island period site
By: by G. Michael Johnson.
Published: 1985
Language: eng
Number of pages: 158
Subjects: Weeden Island culture.; Indians of North America -- Florida -- Antiquities.; McKeithen Site (Fla.)
First sentence: One hallmark of the transition from egalitarian to more complex social systems is increasing specialization in the production of goods.
Description: In this thesis, I discuss the analysis of lithic materials from the McKeithen site, a Weeden Island Period mound and village complex in North Florida which at its peak of complexity was the home of an advanced tribal or proto-chiefdom level society.  I use flintknapping experimentation as an aid in determining the McKeithen knappers' strategies of raw material procurement, heat treatment, and reduction.  I document the heat treatment of the lithic materials through the use of scanning electron microscopy.  I then use the findings of previous archaeological studies of lithic reduction in rank societies to construct a model of how lithic reduction might be organized at the McKeithen site.  I suggest and test the hypothesis that the manufacture of flaked stone tools became more specialized as McKeithen society became larger and more complex, then less specialized as the site's population declined.

The findings of the hypothesis testing generally support the model.  I interpret increased spatial clustering of the debitage and spatial differentiation of reduction stages during the period of greatest cultural complexity as evidence of increasing lithic specialization. Increased proportions and spatial clustering of heat treated and hinge fractured debitage also appear to reflect increasing specialization.  Subsequent decreases in spatial clustering of the debitage, in reduction stage differentiation, and in proportion and spatial clustering of heat treated debitage are consistent with decreasing lithic specialization as the McKeithen population decreased.
Notes: Typescript.

Thesis (M.A.)--Washington State University, 1985.

Bibliography: leaves 138-151.

WSU:"Department of Anthropology."
Table of contents: pagenum: iii
class: section
title: Acknowledgments; pagenum: v
class: part
title: Abstract; pagenum: ix
class: part
title: List of Tables; pagenum: x
class: part
title: List of Illustrations; title: Introduction
pagenum: 1
class: part
label: 1; pagenum: 5
class: part
title: Material Correlates of Production Specialization; pagenum: 7
class: part
title: Thesis Organization; title: Social Complexity in the Southeast
pagenum: 8
class: part
label: 2; pagenum: 9
class: part
title: The Development of Social Complexity; pagenum: 14
class: part
title: Material Correlates of Social Complexity; pagenum: 17
class: part
title: The Emergence of Social Complexity in North Florida; label: 3
pagenum: 20
class: part
title: The McKeithen Weeden Island Culture; pagenum: 20
class: part
title: Weeden Island Culture Studies; pagenum: 27
class: part
title: The McKeithen Site; label: 4
pagenum: 43
class: part
title: The Technological Analysis of the McKeithen Lithic Assemblage; pagenum: 43
class: part
title: Critique of Weeden Island Period Lithic Studies; pagenum: 45
class: part
title: The McKeithen Lithic Assemblage; pagenum: 75
class: part
title: Discussion; pagenum: 76
class: part
title: Lithic Technology at the McKeithen Site; pagenum: 105
class: part
title: Summary and Discussion; title: The Organization of Lithic Reduction at the McKeithen Site
pagenum: 107
class: part
label: 5; pagenum: 107
class: part
title: Lithic Specialization Studies; pagenum: 113
class: part
title: A Model for the Organization of Lithic Reduction at the McKeithen Site; pagenum: 115
class: part
title: A Test of the Model; pagenum: 132
class: part
title: Discussion; label: 6
pagenum: 135
class: part
title: Discussion and Conclusions; pagenum: 136
class: part
title: Suggestions for Future Research; pagenum: 138
class: part
title: References Cited; pagenum: 152
class: part
title: Appendix