Arch Lake Woman: Physical Anthropology and Geoarchaeology

Burial Assemblage

Microprobe Analysis, Iron-bearing Sediment 53 Burial Assemblage ✦ T he Arch Lake burial included a total of twenty-two artifacts: nineteen drilled beads, a unifacial stone tool, apparently pulverized red ocher, and a probable bone tool. none of these material culture items is culturally diagnostic. Flake tool A resharpened flake tool was found near the woman’s waist on her left side, associated with a dense concentration of red ocher (see 1 in fig. 4, color plate). Excavation photos show red pigment adhering to the tool upon discovery. Subsequent cleaning removed most of this, but remnants are visible near flake scar terminations. The uniface is made of a fine-grained, cryptocrystalline chert of variegated hues of light brown and cream. The material is identified as Edwards chert on the basis of visual and microscopic examination and direct comparison with geologic samples using short- and long-wave ultra-violet fluorescence. The Arch Lake tool fluoresces in similar shades of orange-yellow to the comparative Edwards samples. Maximum dimensions of this uniface are 51.2 mm long by 25.3 mm wide by 4.9 mm thick. Both lateral edges exhibit extensive, continuous, and regular retouch that extends from the tool margins nearly 2 to 4 mm onto the dorsal face of the flake (fig. 18). One retouched edge is slightly convex with relatively steep edge angles (> 45º) and measures nearly 42 mm long; it terminates in a narrow, truncated bit (4.9 mm wide by nearly 1.3 mm thick) formed at the proximal end of the flake. The opposite lateral margin is gently concave and measures nearly 29.5 mm in length (fig. 19, color plate). The platform and bulb of percussion are missing. The bulb’s former position is overprinted by a flake scar directed at an approximate angle of 45º to the long axis of the flake blank. This flake removal eliminated the bulb of percus53 Study of the Arch Lake Site 54 sion. In turn, invasive tool resharpening on the adjacent dorsal face truncated the proximal end of this bulb-removal flake scar. The distal end of the tool is edge damaged and exhibits snap breaks. Observations of tool morphology and low power microscopic use-wear analysis suggest that the tool was used for tasks requiring light duty cutting and scraping. The multiple edge configurations suggest a Swiss Army knife type of use. The narrow, chisel-shaped bit (4.9 mm wide) is reminiscent of the “tranchet tip” (6 mm wide) reported on the distal end of the Windust stemmed biface found with the Buhl burial (Green et al. 1998:449). TheArchLakeunifaceisnotaculturallydiagnosticartifact.Rather,itfitscomfortably within more than one Paleoamerican tradition of stone tool making. Red Pigment no consolidated pieces of red ocher were recovered. Rather, the pigment appears to have been placed in the grave in an unconsolidated form, perhaps ground or pulverized. The ocher was most concentrated, vivid in color, and thickest in a vertical section in an area measuring approximately 65 mm by 75 mm by 55 mm deep where the stone tool was found. Concentrated pigment extends from here along the lateral side of the left humerus to midshaft. Some Figure 18. illustration of the unifacial flake tool associated with the burial. 55 disturbance to these sediments by bioturbation is evident in the original photograph (fig. 4). A cross-section profile through the matrix block in the abdominal/lumbar region shows variably saturated red-to-pink hues permeating the white sand of the burial pit fill. Areas of diffuse, pink-stained sediment were noted lateral to the right humerus and femur, suggesting that red pigment may have been lightly sprinkled on the grave and/or body. Abundant red ocher covered the adult woman and grave goods buried at Gordon Creek. At Horn Shelter no. 2, a large red ocher nodule was found beneath the head of the adult male, but additional red pigment was not spread over either of the two bodies nor any of the burial goods. Red pigment was similarly absent from Burial 2 at Wilson-Leonard, nor did it appear to accompany the remains at Buhl. Talc Beads nineteen biconically drilled, disc-shaped beads made of opaque to slightly translucent white indurated talc were recovered at Arch Lake. Fourteen beads were found in an arc just above the clavicles, suggesting they were strung in a necklace. Five additional beads were collected while screening burial fill. Fifteeen beads were available...