Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-fscjk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:30:22.808Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Microwear, Microdrills, and Mississippian Craft Specialization

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Richard W. Yerkes
Richard W. Yerkes*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, The University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wl 53706
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Samples of microdrills, microblades, and microcores from the Powell Mound (11-Ms-46) and the Dunham tract (11-S-34/4) of the Cahokia site near St. Louis, and a small number of Jaketown perforators from the Poverty Point site, Louisiana, were examined for microwear traces, using the methods outlined by L. H. Keeley. Many archaeologists have assumed that the microdrills in the Cahokia microlithic industry were used by craft specialists to produce drilled disc beads and other items made from marine and freshwater shell. Microwear analysis of the Cahokia microdrills showed they were specialized tools, used almost exclusively to drill shell material, while the Jaketown perforators were used to drill a variety of materials. This alone does not establish the existence of craft specialization at Cahokia. The distribution of microdrills and shell artifacts at Cahokia and throughout the Cahokia settlement system on the American Bottom indicates shell craft production was not restricted to “guild areas.” The shell beads produced by the microdrills may have served as ritual tokens or currency as well as ornaments, but they were not necessarily produced by full-time specialists who were part of a state-level society.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Antiquity , Volume 48 , Issue 3 , July 1983 , pp. 499 - 518
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for American Archaeology 1983

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

References Cited

Ahler, Steven R., and De Puydt, Peter J. 1980 A Preliminary Report on the Powell Mound Excavations, 1931. Ms. on file, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Archaeological Research Laboratory.Google Scholar
Baker, Frank C. 1928 The Use of Molluscan Shells by the Cahokia Mound Builders. In The Cahokia Mounds, by Moorehead, Warren K.. University of Illinois Bulletin 26(4):147-154. Urbana.Google Scholar
Bamforth, Douglas R. 1980 Stone Tool Function at Lubbock Lake: Beyond Bison Procurement in Great Plains Prehistory. Paperpresented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Philadelphia. Google Scholar
Becker, Marshall J. 1973 Archaeological Evidence for Occupational Specialization Among the Classic Period Maya at Tikal, Guatemala. American Antiquity 38:396–406.Google Scholar
Bousfield, John C. 1949 The Geology of the Manchester Quadrangle. Unpublished Master's thesis, Department of Geology, Washington University, St. Louis. Google Scholar
Braidwood, Robert J., and Willey, Gordon K. (editors) 1962 Courses Toward Urban Life. Aldine, Chicago. Google Scholar
Bushnell, David I. Jr. 1904 The Cahokia and Surrounding Mound Groups. Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeologyand Ethnology 3(1):3-20. Cambridge, Mass. Google Scholar
Cahen, D., Keeley, L. H., and Noten, F. L. Van 1979 Stone Tools, Toolkits, and Human Behavior in Prehistory. Current Anthropology 20:661–683.Google Scholar
Ceci, Lynn 1982 The Value of Wampum Among the New York Iroquois: A Case Study in Artifact Analysis. Journal of Anthropological Research 38:97–107.Google Scholar
Childe, V. Gordon 1950 The Urban Revolution. The Town Planning Review 21:1–17.Google Scholar
Conant, A. J. 1879 Footprints of Vanished Races. Barns, C. R., St. Louis.Google Scholar
Crabtree, Don E. 1972 An Introduction to Flintworking. Occasional Papers of the Idaho State University Museum 28. Pocatello.Google Scholar
Evans, Robert K. 1978 Early Craft Specialization: An Example From the Balkan Chalcolithic. In Social Archaeology:Beyond Subsistence and Dating, edited by Redman, C. L., Berman, M. J., Curtin, E. V., Langhorne, W. T., Jr. , Versaggi, N. M., and Wanser, J. C., pp. 113–129. Academic Press, New York.Google Scholar
Faulkner, Alaric 1974 Flintworking Mechanics: Fracture Forms and Processes. Paper presented at the Symposium for Primitive Technology and Art at the Department of Archaeology, University of Calgary. Google Scholar
Ford, James A., Phillips, Philip, and Haag, William D. 1955 The Jaketown Site in West-central Mississippi. Anthropological Papers of the American Museum of Natural History 45(1). New York.Google Scholar
Ford, James A., and Webb, Clarence H. 1956 Poverty Point: A Late Archaic Site in Louisiana. Anthropological Papers of the American Museumof Natural History 46(1). New York.Google Scholar
Ford, Richard I. 1974 Northeastern Archaeology: Past and Future Directions. Annual Review of Anthropology 3:385–413.Google Scholar
Fowler, Melvin L. 1969 The Cahokia Site. In Explorations into Cahokia Archaeology, edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 1–30. Illinois Archaeological Survey Bulletin 7. Urbana.Google Scholar
Fowler, Melvin L. 1974 Cahokia: Ancient Capital of the Midwest. Addison-Wesley Module in Anthropology 48:1-38. Reading, Mass.Google Scholar
Fowler, Melvin L., and Hall, Robert L. 1975 Archaeological Phases at Cahokia. In Perspectives in Cahokia Archaeology , edited by Brown, J. A., pp. 1–14. Illinois Archaeological Survey Bulletin 10. Urbana.Google Scholar
Gendel, Peter A. 1982a A Test of Microwear Analysis on Experimental Stone Tools. Paper presented at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Minneapolis. Google Scholar
Gendel, Peter A. 1982b Functional Analysis of Scrapers (from Neerharen-De Kip). In Contributions to the Study of the Mesolithic of the Belgian Lowland , edited by Vermeersch, P. M., pp. 49–51. Studia Praehistorica Belgica 1. Musee royal de l'Afrique centrale, Tervuren, Belgium.Google Scholar
Gerwitz, Laura E. 1980 A Microwear Analysis of Labras Lake Artifacts. In Investigations at the Labras Lake Site: Volume I—Archaeology, edited by Phillips, J. L., Hall, R. L., and Yerkes, R. W., pp. 265–317. University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Department of Anthropology Reports of Investigations 1. Chicago.Google Scholar
Gregg, Michael L. 1975 Settlement Morphology and Production Specialization: The Horseshoe Lake Site, A Case Study. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation, Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee.Google Scholar
Greber, N'omi, Davis, Richard S., and Du Fresne, Ann S. 1981 The Micro Component of the Ohio Hopewell Lithic Technology: Bladelets. In The Research Potential of Anthropological Museum Collections, edited by Cantwell, A-M. E., Griffin, J. B., and Rothschild, N. A., pp. 489–528. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 376. Google Scholar
Haag, William G., and Webb, Clarence H. 1953 Microblades at Poverty Point Sites. American Antiquity 18:245–248.Google Scholar
Hall, Robert L. 1967 The Mississippian Heartland and its Plains Relationship. Plains Anthropologist 12(36):175–183.Google Scholar
Hall, Robert L. 1975 Some Problems of Identity and Process in Cahokia Archaeology. Revision of a paper prepared fordiscussion Nov. 10-15, 1974, at a seminar on Mississippian cultural development sponsored by the Schoolof American Research, Santa Fe, New Mexico. Google Scholar
Hall, Robert L. 1981 The Quartered Circle and the Symbolism of the Mississippian World. Ms. on file, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle.Google Scholar
Ham, Alan D. 1971 Archaeological Survey of the American Bottoms in Madison and St. Clair Counties, Illinois. Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigations 21, Part 2. Springfield.Google Scholar
Hoffman, Michael A. 1981 An Analysis of the Lohmann Chipped Stone Industry. In Final fleport on FAI-270 and Illinois Route460 Related Excavations at the Lohmann site (ll-S-49), St. Clair County, Illinois, by Duane, Esarey with Good, Timothy W., pp. 198–224. Archaeological Research Laboratory Reports of Investigations 3. Western Illinois University, Macomb.Google Scholar
Holmes, William H. 1883 Art in Shell of the Ancient Americans. In Second Annual fleport of the Bureau of Ethnology, 1880-1881, pp. 185–267. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Iseminger, William R. 1980a Cahokia: A Mississippian Metropolis. Historic Illinois 2(6):1-4. Illinois Department of Conservation, Springfield.Google Scholar
Iseminger, William R. 1980b Yes, A True Metropolis. Cahokian July, 1980:6-8. Cahokia Mounds Museum Society, Collinsville, Illinois.Google Scholar
Ives, David J. 1975 The Crescent Hills Prehistoric Quarrying Area. Museum Brief 22. Museum of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia.Google Scholar
Keeley, Lawrence H. 1974. Technique and Methodology in Microwear Studies: A Critical Review World Archaeology 5:323–336.Google Scholar
Keeley, Lawrence H. 1980 Experimental Determinations of Stone Tool Uses. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Keeley, L. H., and Newcomer, M. H. 1977 Microwear Analysis of Experimental Flint Tools: A Test Case. Journal of Archaeological Science 4:29–62.Google Scholar
Kelly, A. R. 1933 Some Problems of Recent Cahokia Archaeology. Transactions of the Illinois State Academy of Science 25(4):101-103. Springfield.Google Scholar
Kelly, John E. 1980 Formative Developments at Cahokia and the Adjacent American Bottom: A Merrell Tract Perspective. Archaeological Research Laboratory, Western Illinois University, Macomb.Google Scholar
Kelly, J. E., Linder, J. R., and Cartmell, T. J. 1979 The Archaeological Intensive Survey of the Proposed FAI-270 Alignment in the American Bottom Region of Southern Illinois. Illinois Transportation Archaeology Scientific Reports 1. Illinois Departmentof Transportation, Springfield.Google Scholar
Loeb, Edwin M. 1926 Pomo Folkways. University of California Publications in American Archaeology and Ethnology 19:149-409. Berkeley.Google Scholar
Lynott, Mark J. 1975 Explanation of Microwear Patterns on Gravers. Plains Anthropologist 20(68):121-128.Google Scholar
Mason, Ronald J. , and Gregory, Perino 1961 Microblades at Cahokia, Illinois. American Antiquity 26:553–557.Google Scholar
Meltzer, David J. 1981 A Study of Style and Function in a Class of Tools. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:313–326.Google Scholar
Meyers, J. Thomas 1970 Chert Resources of the Lower Illinois Valley. Illinois State Museum Reports of Investigations 18. Springfield.Google Scholar
Milner, George R. 1981 Annual Report of Investigations at the Demange and Turner Sites. In Annual Report of 1980 Investigationsby the UI-UC FAI-270 Archaeological Mitigation Project , edited by Porter, J. W., pp. 34–39. Urbana.Google Scholar
Montet-White, Anta 1963 Analytical Description of the Chipped Stone Industry From Snyders Site, Calhoun County, Illinois. In Miscellaneous Studies in Typology and Classification, pp. 1–70. Anthropological Papers, Museum of Anthropology, University of Michigan 19. Ann Arbor.Google Scholar
Morse, Dan F. 1974 The Cahokia Microlithic Industry. Newsletter of Lithic Technology 3(2):15-18. Pullman, Washington. Google Scholar
Morse, Dan F. 1975 Report of Excavations at the Zebree Site, 1969. Arkansas Archaeological Survey Research Report 4. Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Norris, Terry 1978 Excavations at the Lily Lake Site: 1975 Season. Reports in Contract Archaeology 4. Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville.Google Scholar
Norrish, Dick 1980 A True Metropolis? Cahokian July 1980:4-5. Cahokia Mounds Museum Society, Collinsville, Illinois. Google Scholar
O'Brien, Patricia J. 1972 Urbanism, Cahokia, and Middle Mississippian. Archaeology 25(3):189–197.Google Scholar
Odell, George H. 1975 Microwear in Perspective: A Sympathetic Response to Lawrence H. Keeley. World Archaeology 7(2):226–240.Google Scholar
Odell, George H. 1981 The Mechanics of Use-breakage of Stone Tools: Some Testable Hypotheses. Journal of Field Archaeology 8:197–209.Google Scholar
Odell, George H., and Odell-Vereecken, Frieda 1980 Verifying the Reliability of Lithic Use-wear Assessments by “Blind Tests“: The Low-power Approach. Journal of Field Archaeology 7:87–120.Google Scholar
Parmalee, Paul W. 1958 Marine Shells of Illinois Indian Sites. Nautilus 71(4):132–139.Google Scholar
Pi-Sunyer, Oriol 1965 The Flint Industry. In The McGraw Site, A Study of Hopewellian Dynamics, edited by Prufer, O., pp. 60–90. Scientific Publications of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History (N. S.) 4(1).Google Scholar
Porter, James W. 1969 The Mitchell Site and Prehistoric Exchange Systems at Cahokia AD 1000 ± 300. In Explorationsinto Cahokia Archaeology , edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 137–164. Illinois Archaeological Survey Bulletin 7. Urbana.Google Scholar
Porter, James W. 1974 Cahokia Archaeology as Viewed from the Mitchell Site: A Satellite Community at A. D. 1150-1200. Unpublished Ph. D. dissertation. Department of Anthropology, University of Wisconsin, Madison.Google Scholar
Prentice, G., and Mehrer, M. 1981 The Lab Woofie Site (ll-S-346): An Unplowed Mississippian Site in the American Bottom Regionof Illinois. Mid-Continental Journal of Archaeology 6:33–54.Google Scholar
Sabo, Deborah Rowland 1982 Preliminary Use-wear Analysis of a Michigan Chert: The Michigan Archaeologist 28(3):55–72.Google Scholar
Sahlins, Marshall 1972 Stone Age Economics. Aldine-Atherton, Chicago.Google Scholar
St. Louis, Gene 1973 An Edge Damage Analysis of Selected Lithics from Cahokia. Unpublished undergraduate honorsthesis, Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Google Scholar
Sanger, David 1970 Mid-latitude Core and Blade Traditions. Arctic Anthropology 7(2):106–114.Google Scholar
Sanger, David, McGhee, Robert, and Wyatt, David 1970 Appendix I: Blade Description. Arctic Anthropology 7(2):115–117.Google Scholar
Semenov, S. A. 1964 Prehistoric Technology. Translated by Thompson, M. W.. Cory, Adams, and Mac Kay, London.Google Scholar
Service, Elman R. 1971 Primitive Social Organization: An Evolutionary Perspective. 2nd ed. Random House, New York.Google Scholar
Sierzchula, Michael C. 1980 Replication and Use Studies of the Zebree Microlithic Industry. Unpublished Master's thesis, Departmentof Anthropology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville.Google Scholar
Swanton, John R. 1928 Aboriginal Culture of the Southeast. 42nd Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology 1924-1925, pp. 673–726. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Swanton, John R. 1946 The Indians of the Southeastern United States. Smithsonian Institution Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 137. Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Titterington, Paul F. 1938 The Cahokia Mound Group and its Village Site Materials. P. F. Titterington, St. Louis.Google Scholar
Tooker, Elisabeth 1978 The League of the Iroquois: Its History, Politics, and Ritual. In Northeast, edited by Trigger, B. G., pp. 418–441. Handbook of North American Indians, vol. 15. Smithsonian Institution, Washington, D. C. Google Scholar
Vayda, Andrew P. 1967 Pomo Trade Feasts. In Tribal and Peasant Economies, edited by Dalton, G., pp. 494–500. Natural History Press, Garden City, N. J. Google Scholar
Webb, Clarence H. 1968 The Extent and Content of Poverty Point Culture. American Antiquity 33:297–321.Google Scholar
Webb, Clarence H. 1977 The Poverty Point Culture. Geoscience and Man 17. Baton Rouge.Google Scholar
Webb, Clarence H., and Gibson, Jon L. 1981 Studies of the Microflint Industry at Poverty Point Site. Geoscience and Man 22:85-101. Baton Rouge.Google Scholar
Winston, Jon H. 1963 Lithic Analysis 11. In Second Annual Report: American Bottoms Archaeology, July 1, 1962—June 30, 1963 , edited by Fowler, M. L., pp. 12–13. Illinois Archaeological Survey, Urbana.Google Scholar
Yerkes, Richard W. 1980 A Microblade Drill from the Mississippian Component of the Labras Lake Site (1 l-S-299). In Investigations at the Labras Lalce Site—Volume I, Archaeology, edited by Phillips, J. L., Hall, R. L., and Yerkes, R. W., pp. 318-324, University of Illinois at Chicago Circle Department of Anthropology Reports of Investigations. Chicago. Google Scholar