An Examination of Terminal Archaic Bone and Antler Implements from the Firehouse Site, Dearborn County, Indiana. Issue 3 (2nd September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Moore, Christopher R.
• Is Part Of: Midcontinental journal of archaeology. Volume 42:Issue 3(2017)
• Page Start: 223
• Page End: 243
• Publication Date: 2017-09-02
• Subjects: Riverton Culture -- Terminal Late Archaic -- Bone Tools -- Antler Tools -- Microtrace Analysis -- Indiana; Indians of North America -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; United States -- Antiquities -- Periodicals; 977
• DOI: 10.1080/01461109.2017.1368964
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-1109

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The Firehouse site (12D563) is a Terminal Archaic Riverton culture site located on a bluff overlooking the confluence of the Ohio and Great Miami Rivers in Dearborn County, Indiana. Excavations at the site in 2003 and 2004 yielded a highly diverse assemblage of around 300 bone and antler implements. Such large assemblages of organic tools are rare outside of wet sites, rockshelters, and shell middens and provide a unique opportunity for the study of tool forms not typically recovered in the Midwest. A typological analysis of the Firehouse assemblage indicates some similarities between these tools and Riverton culture bone and antler implements from the type sites in Illinois. Additionally, a microscopic analysis of manufacturing microtraces indicates that most tools were made using a lithic shaving (rather than an abrasion) technique.