Aspects of Late Paleoindian Lithic Technological Organization in the Northwestern Lake Superior Region of Canada

This chapter focuses on selected aspects of Late Paleoindian lithic technological systematics including: their sources of lithic raw materials, the effect of distance from local raw material sources on certain aspects of tool assemblages (standardization, curation and versatility), and evidence regarding biface preform production and transportation. The data used is from a three-year field research program at Cummins site near Thunder Bay, Canada, and from other regional sites and caches in the Thunder Bay region. Possible finds have been reported from northwestern Minnesota, Lake Agassiz beaches in northwest Ontario and east to Thunder Bay. The siltstone provenance studies have been hampered by a lack of adequate geological control samples. The only bedrock material sampled and tested is from the Knife Lake area, about 150 km west of Thunder Bay. The lithic industry of Lakehead Complex sites is characterized by a reliance on local taconites mixed with some curated non-local stone tools.

Archaeology · Geography · Archaeology and ancient environmental studies · History · Image Processing and 3D Reconstruction · Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology