Examining household identity through lithic technology at the Harris Site

Utilitarian technology is often studied by archaeologists to understand what specific functions and activities these items represent in a past population's daily life. However, it is important not to forget that technology manufacture, use, and discard is embedded in a social context. Flintknapping is a skill that requires close instruction and training so that the desired outcome can be achieved. This training requires daily mentoring from other individuals in the community, many times within one's own family. These daily interactions create learning frameworks through which craft knowledge is transmitted. Technological style and domestic processing activities can be used as an indicator of social identity, therefore enabling archaeologists to trace these learning frameworks.;It has been hypothesized that the Harris Site, a Late Pithouse period (A.D. 500--1000) Mimbres Mogollon community in southwestern New Mexico, has evidence of corporate group organization. This is supported by clusters of pithouses sharing similar household traits and extramural areas. This thesis seeks to add to this research by investigating if learning frameworks exist within these clusters of households by examining the lithic artifacts recovered from the contexts of these pithouses. If the clusters show distinct differences in technological style and household activities, then the hypothesis of separate learning frameworks within each corporate group can be supported. If the clusters show similar patterns to each other, it would suggest that the learning framework is on the level of the community.