Aboriginal Lithic Raw Material Procurement in Glen Canyon and Canyonlands, Southeastern Utah

This report presents the results of two archeological studies of prehistoric lithic
procurement locations: the Halls Crossing site (42SA14829) in Glen Canyon National
Recreation Area and the White Crack site (42SA17597) in Canyonlands National Park in
southeastern Utah. Both studies suggest that these lithic sources were exploited by mobile
hunter-gatherers who produced bifacial cores that they transported throughout their ranges.
These thin bifaces served as multipurpose implements, sources for flake tools, and a number
of other functionally specific tools.
The Halls Crossing site is an extensive lithic scatter superimposed on alluvial fan
deposits that contain gravels and cobbles of high quality chalcedony. Approximately 10,000
pieces of debitage and four lithic tools were collected from 116,736 square meters. Intrasite
artifact assemblage variation was examined at three spatial scales: 2, 10, and 100 meter grid
units. Artifact assemblage diversity was measured using the Shannon-Weaver information
index and a related measure of redundancy. Our analysis provides insights into activity
patterning within this lithic procurement location.
Small collection areas and narrow transects were employed at the White Crack site.
One feature produced a radiocarbon sample dating approximately 1400-1000 B. c., providing
limited evidence that at least part of the site's lithic assemblage is late Archaic. Analysis
of debitage size and type revealed that bifacial "cores" were produced at this location. The
site now includes a park campground area. Flake size variation appears to be related to
human trampling and recent vehicular traffic.