Megan King

Southeastern Indians have been using cane (Arundinaria spp.) for basketry and matting for
thousands of years. Unfortunately, it is only under extraordinary preservation conditions that
such items survive archaeologically. Inferring the production of split-cane technology requires an
understanding of prehistoric manufacturing and processing techniques. It is hypothesized that
stone tools were once used to process cane for use in split-cane technologies. In the Southeast,
it is not uncommon to find stone tools with traces of plant use; however attributing wear to
specific plants has been problematic. Pilot experiments, grounded on ethnoarchaeological
observations, were conducted with river cane (Arundinaria gigantea) in collaboration with expert
basket weavers in the Cherokee Nation. The experimental ethnoarchaeological program was
designed to test the efficiency of stone tools in cane processing and document use wear
through microscopic observations. The results found that non-retouched flakes were efficient for
processing river cane and that the different stages of splint preparation resulted in the
differential development of use-related wear. Additional experimentation with river cane is
necessary to better define use wear and establish criteria for identification in archaeological
contexts. Nonetheless, the collaborative and experimental approach undertaken demonstrated
the utility of combining traditional archaeological methods with experimentation,
ethnoarchaeology, and tribal knowledge.

Perishable artifacts made from plants and fibers were likely an integral part of daily life in the prehistoric Southeast.  While these items rarely survive in the archaeological record, their manufacture may be identified through the examination of non-perishable tools, specifically lithic artifacts.  Observations by ethnographers, travelers, and missionaries in the Southeast have cross-culturally identified women as the primary harvesters and collectors of plant materials for both subsistence and material culture production.  While most accounts leave out specific details regarding the tools utilized in production of perishable objects, there is reason to suspect that lithic artifacts were used in various plant processing activities.  Unfortunately there has been minimal experimentation with stone tools and native Southeastern plants, and few studies which attempt to link such activities to gendered individuals in the past.  This dissertation focuses primarily on the processing of river cane for the production of split-cane technology and attempts to understand how production related activities manifest in the archaeological record. 
By combining an Organization of Technology Approach with an Anthropology of Technology perspective, I examine the Archaic and Woodland flake tool assemblage at the Mussel Beach site in Tennessee and attempt to understand, through changes in tool form and function, how gender and population demographics changed during each temporal occupation. As a means of inferring tool type and function, flake tools were examined and characterized by morphological and technological characteristics. In order to infer tool function, lithic artifacts from the Mussel Beach site were examined using both low and high-power microscopy.  When the results of the functional analysis are combined with the data from the faunal and paleobotanical assemblages, it is possible to discuss site activities at Mussel Beach from a gendered perspective, and moreover recognize split-cane production in the archaeological record.

edges, flake tools may be used to complete a myriad of tasks, however their uselife tends to be shorter than formally retouched implements. Although expedient flakes may constitute a large component of lithic assemblages, their identification requires that individual debitage specimens be analyzed at macroscopic and microscopic levels.  The identification and analysis of flake tool assemblages may offer insight into site activities that may otherwise have been overlooked. The goal of this study was to examine lithic debitage from the Mussel Beach site in Marion Co., Tennessee to identify, describe, and classify expedient flake tools based on morphology and function. This study combines ethnographic, experimental, and ethnoarchaeological methods to demonstrate that some flake tools at Mussel Beach were utilized in the processing of river cane for the production of perishable technology.

The lithic debitage excavated from pre-Clovis age deposits at the Topper Site were analyzed to determine their authenticity as humanly produced artifacts.  All artifacts were analyzed using traditional methods associated with the analysis of lithic debitage.  This included mass analysis in addition to individual flake analyses.  The goal was to identify characteristics associated with humanly produced tools on artifacts associated with the pre-Clovis aged deposits and compare their distribution with similar artifacts from culturally known deposits.  Statistical tests were utilized to determine the relationships between pre-Clovis aged artifacts and those derived from overlying strata in addition to relationship between pre-Clovis aged artifacts and non-cultural material found in association.  No significant difference was observed between the physical attributes of the debitage found within strata associated with known prehistoric populations and the lithics found within pre-Clovis aged deposits.  Two alternate explanations for these patterns are proposed one which argues for the presence of a legitimate pre-Clovis occupation at the Topper Site and the other citing downward movement and/or fluvial processes to account for the presence of debitage below Clovis strata.