Contemporary Lithic Analysis in the Southeast: Problems, Solutions, and Interpretations

7. Provisioning Middle Archaic Places: Changing Technological Organization and Raw Material Economy in the Uwharrie Mountains

7 Provisioning Middle Archaic Places changing technological organization and raw Material economy in the uwharrie Mountains Paul T. Thacker, Joël Hardison, and Carolyn Conklin constructing hypotheses about past cultures based on flaked stone assemblages is a complex undertaking, requiring the collection of large data sets of observations and appropriate middle range theory linking organized patterns of attributes to human behaviors. often the sample sizes are small, the assemblage or site representativeness open to question, and/or the linking arguments are weak. nevertheless, the interpretation and integration of lines of evidence from lithic assemblages is an essential source of anthropological knowledge, especially in earlier periods of prehistory with poor preservation of organic artifacts and ecofacts. This chapter is a response to carr, bradbury, and Price’s challenge to generate new and broadly relevant interpretations of the archaeology of the southeastern united states using data primarily from lithic assemblages. our work investigates changing technological organization and raw material economy at an important, stratified, prehistoric site (31MG328) in the uwharrie Mountains of central north carolina. Flaked stone artifacts typify the Archaic record of the Piedmont and also dominate the region’s influence on archaeological space-time systematics in the eastern united states. The geographical area contains major geological formations of knappable rhyolite and dacite, including the famous Morrow Mountain rhyolite (Daniel and butler 1996). The prehistoric exploitation of these raw material sources and the resulting distribution of artifacts at the end of their use lives have played major roles in formulating anthropological models of mobility of late Paleoindian and early Archaic hunter-gatherers on the Middle Atlantic slope (Anderson 1996; Daniel 1998; Moore et al. 2004). Given the important contributions of stone tool analysis to regional culture history in the Piedmont, surprisingly few sustained archaeological projects have proposed and evaluated anthropological hypotheses of Archaic and Provisioning Middle Archaic Places / 97 woodland period culture change in north carolina using lithic artifact assemblages . some of this hesitation is attributable to the Piedmont’s poor preservation conditions for other types of corroborating archaeological remains such as organic artifacts and ecofacts or well-preserved features and site activity areas. however, it is our position that lithic analysts should not wait for a Middle Atlantic Koster to be found and excavated before building hypotheses of prehistoric culture change in the Piedmont after early Archaic times. rich assemblages from currently known stratified sites such as 31MG328 are appropriate data that, in combination with suitable middle range theory, facilitate an understanding of prehistoric native American settlement and subsistence systems during the Mid-holocene. A Stratified Site in the Uwharries: Lithic Assemblages from 31MG328 site 31MG328 is located in the uwharrie national Forest, approximately 19 km from troy, north carolina, on a long, narrow ridge at the base of a large hill. The construction of roads and trails, as well as logging activities and tree fall, have all contributed to surface disturbance of the site. The location is not a quarry but is within a few hundred meters of both sizeable rhyolite outcrops and regionally ubiquitous quartz veins. since the discovery of the site in 1978, several archaeological investigations have defined the boundaries through limited shovel testing and unit excavations (Abbott 1996; cooper and norville 1979; cooper and smith 1981; harmon and snedeker 1993). The most recent excavation at 31MG328 was conducted in 2006–2007 as part of the national Forest service’s Passport in time public volunteer field training program. led by Joël hardison, the field program excavated more than 30 units, including a 20-m-long trench, and recovered a very large assemblage of over 35,000 stone artifacts. Projectile points and other diagnostic artifacts from the 2006–2007 excavations indicate a very long chronological sequence at 31MG328, spanning the entire holocene and each subperiod from the early Archaic to the Middle woodland (hardison 2007). The stratigraphic integrity of the trench and units was assessed using vertical and horizontal patterning in diagnostic projectile points, ground stone tools, and ceramic artifacts (conklin 2008). tree throw and road construction contributed to the reverse stratigraphy present in the disturbed top levels along most of the trench. cultural stratigraphy is intact along sections of the trench and in most of the 2-×-2-m units, a determination reinforced by the recovery of intact archaeological features. Artifacts from each major chronological subperiod from the early Archaic through the Middle woodland have been found at 31MG328. The uppermost 98 / Thacker, Hardison...