PROCUREMENT AND UTILIZATION OF CHIPPED STONE RAW MATERIALS: A CASE STUDY FROM THE BIGHORN MOUNTAINS AND BASIN OF NORTH-CENTRAL WYOMING

Ethnographic and ethno-archeological evidence indicates that there is considerable variation in terms of how people exploit different chipped stone raw material resources, and how artifacts made of these different materials are used and discarded. This research was designed to examine the different procurement activities carried out at lithic source areas and relate them to the utilization of the different raw materials found in habitation and limited activity sites not associated with lithic sources. It was also designed to examine factors which can explain variation in procurement and utilization strategies. Using data from 16 lithic procurement sites and 78 habitation and limited activity sites dating to the Late Archaic and Late Prehistoric periods (ca 2500-500 B.P.), several hypotheses regarding the procurement and utilization of chipped stone raw material resources in the Bighorn Mountains and Basin of north-central Wyoming are evaluated. Hypothesis testing indicates that the abundance and accessibility of raw material resources are important factors which can explain variation in artifactual assemblages on lithic procurement sites, and variation in tool and debitage assemblages on habitation and limited activity sites. Moreover, these factors can explicate discard patterns, and raw material distributions from source locations.