Flaked Lithic Debitage

The Reductive Technologies Group (RTG) was responsible for supporting the broad research goals of the DAP through the implementation of a mid-level research design governing the collection and analysis of data from “artifacts which were manufactured by reductive, or subtractive techniques” (Phagan 1986a:79). Independent datasets for each of the four preliminary analysis systems reflect the technological distinctions made between flaked lithic tools (FLT10a and FLT10b); the debitage created in their manufacture (DEBTG10); modes of tool production incorporating pecked, polished, or ground techniques (NFLT10, MANO10, and METAT10); and finally, culturally modified bone and shell (WBONE20). The RTG defines debitage as "the residual lithic material from the controlled manufacture of lithic tools by flaking" (Phagan and Hruby 1984:64). A distinction was drawn between angular debris produced in the early stages of lithic reduction, usually from irregularities or weaknesses in the lithic material and flakes and flake fragments exhibiting “expressions of various kinds or degrees of control over the fracture process” (Phagan and Hruby 1984:67). Owing to the difficulty of consistently differentiating angular debitage produced in a cultural system from naturally occurring chunks or fragments, the RTG gave little interpretive value to this class of debitage (Phagan and Hurby 1984:65-67). Their count and weight were totaled for each field specimen number and in most cases these items have not been included in statistical analysis. Flakes and flake fragments are unique examples of debitage in that they “display one of several possible characteristic ventral or inner fracture surface configurations, and/or a recognizable locus of force application at the margin of that surface” (Phagan and Hruby 1984:67). Since it was anticipated that grain-size categories were well suited for making inferences about tool production and maintenance from debitage-to-tool comparisons, flakes and flake fragments from a single field specimen number were divided into four grain-size groups prior to analysis. Variables therefore represent summed values for a single lot of these items.

Variables for the flaked-lithic debitage dataset have been described by Wilshusen et al. (1999); see especially the section "Flaked Lithic Artifacts" by Sarah B. Barber in chapter 3. In most cases, her descriptions are suitable for use as metadata and have been repeated almost verbatim here. See also Chapter 11, "Technology: Lithic Tools," by Carl Phagan, in the Final Synthetic Report. Selected resources from the collection of published and unpublished DAP reports may have been used for clarification in some cases and will be appropriately referenced.