Eric Hammell

12/12/99

Archaeology

In looking at the data for various levels of our excavated units, we can see that the frequency of tools and flakes changed between levels. I used levels 2, 3, and 5 as these were the levels where the highest frequency of both artifacts was found. I hypothesize that the change in tool frequency is a product of cultural processes rather than taphonomic ones.

I reasoned this hypothesis through the observation that as the percentage of flakes decreased in descending levels, the percentage of tools increased. This shows a switch from heavy tool use to heavy flake use over time. If it had been a natural process, I would assume both flakes and tools representative numbers would be effected somewhat proportionately. Instead we see a cultural shift over time. Also, level 3 is an example of a use surface. We can see this was an inhabited area by the high frequencies of all kinds of artifacts. This shows that artifacts were not deposited randomly over time, but were the product of a culture living in that exact area. This is further evidence that the changes in frequency are ordered by the culture that produced them.