Long Barrack Archaeology Update - January 12

From the lab:

All of the excavation units have recovered lithics, or stone tools. This week we would like to describe some of the lithic material archaeologists have recovered.

Stone tools, also referred to as lithics, are commonly found in archaeological sites across Texas.  Although lithics are often recovered from prehistoric archaeological sites, they are found within Mission occupations as well. The current archaeological investigations within the Long Barrack have rendered several types of stone tools; including gun flints, projectile points, informal tools, and debitage. Debitage, also known as chipped stone or flakes, is the debris produced during stone tool manufacture.

Initially, formal tools like gun flints or projectile points, originate from a chert nodule (or other material), that is continuously modified and reduced to produce a tool. The excess material discarded off of the chert nodule is what creates the debitage or chipped stone. Archaeologists can identify debitage by assessing specific characteristics present on the debitage itself. These characteristics can include a bulb of percussion, a platform, and a ripple; all of which are a result of the percussion impact during the manufacturing process. The debitage pictured, was recovered during the current archaeological investigations from different excavation units at varying depths. In the first image, note the various forms of debitage that archaeologists encounter during excavations. The second image shows the characteristics commonly found on debitage.

While not all flakes display these specific characteristics simultaneously, it is important for archaeologists to distinguish culturally produced debitage from mechanically produced debitage. Mechanical debitage is created by artificial or natural means, typically from machinery impacting natural chert or livestock crushing chert cobbles in agricultural settings. In some cases, mechanical debitage can look very similar to culturally manufactured debitage, in that it displays evidence of percussion impact.  However, due to the level of physical impact from machinery or large mammals, these characteristics are often not present or obviously too forceful to be produced by a human. The context in which the debitage is found also plays a vital role in determining whether it is cultural or mechanical. For example, the mechanical debitage pictured is associated with a builder’s trench found across excavation units 1 through 4.