Chert raw material utilization at the Bark site (BbGp-12), Peterborough County, Southern Ontario
Faculty Advisor
Date
2006
Keywords
cherts, chert sources, archaeology
Abstract (summary)
To understand how specific cherts were used in stone tool manufacture at the fifteenth-century Bark site (BbGp-12), Peterborough County, Ontario, 164 artifacts from the chert assemblage are analysed for their raw material attributes. A combination of macroscopic, petrographic, and palynological analyses are used to identify the provenance of the most abundant chert types used by site inhabitants, assigning them to the Onondaga, Fossil Hill, and Upper Gull River Formations. We conclude, contraEley and von Bitter (1989), that acritarch genus identification is not required to discriminate among these chert types. Instead, relative abundance of different palynomorph subgroups (based on morphology), and relative abundance of acritarchs versus other microfossils (chitinozoan, graptolite, scolecodont, and trilete spore fragments) are more significant identifying characteristics. The attribution of cherts to distant sources allows us to explore ideas about local kin-based access to high quality, exotic materials.
Publication Information
Biittner, K.M. and S.M. Jamieson. 2006. Chert Raw Material Utilization at the Bark Site (BbGp-12), Peterborough County, Southern Ontario. Ontario Archaeology 81/82: 13-29.
DOI
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