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The Big Black Site (32DU955C)

The Big Black Site (32DU955C)

A Folsom Complex Workshop in the Knife River Flint Quarry Area, North Dakota

Edited by Jerry D. William

by S. A. Ahler, Alice M. Emerson, E. J. Feiler and M. E. Timpson

Published by: WSU Press

Imprint: WSU Press

318 Pages, 216.00 × 279.00 × 19.00 mm

Paperback
9780874222418
Published: March 2001

£38.00

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Description
Contents
Authors

Three years of intensive excavations at the Big Black site--named after a 19th century Awatixa Hidatsa medicine bundle owner--have revealed multiple Folsom occupational levels. In this volume, individual contributors present their analyses of nearly a thousand stone tools that were found during the study, including over two hundred Folsom points, pre-forms, and channel flakes.

With U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service support and assistance, the excavations at the Big Black site were part of a multi-year archaeology investigation of the Lake Ilo National Wildlife Refuge in western North Dakota. These comprehensive investigations also included work at the nearby Bobtail Wolf site. Along with a companion volume reporting on the Bobtail Wolf site, The Big Black Site (32DU955C) study presents essential new information on Paleoindian adaptations.

For the companion study, see Matthew J. Root, ed., The Archaeology of the Bobtail Wolf Site: Folsom Occupation of the Knife River Flint Quarry Area, North Dakota (Pullman: Washington State University Press, 2000).

Foreword

1. Overview Jerry D. William

2. Background Jerry D. William
Setting, History, Culture History, Present Environment

3. Research Design Jerry D. William

4. Site Description and Field Work Jerry D. William
Previous Investigations, Field Methods, 1993-94 Investigations

5. Geologic Studies and Natural Stratigraphy M. E. Timpson

6. Cultural Stratigraphy and Analytic Unit Structure Jerry D. William
Diagnostic Artifacts and Radiocarbon Dates, Vertical Distributions of Artifacts, Analytic Units

7. Analysis of Artifacts from Surface Collections E. J. Feiler
Stone Tools, Chipped Stone Flake Debris, Other Material Classes, Technology and Patination, Spatial Analysis

8. Pottery From Site 32DU955C S. A. Ahler

9. Vertebrate Remains from the Big Black Site Alice M. Emerson
General Description of Site Faunal Assemblage
Assessing Assemblage Contemporaneity of Large and Small Mammal Components
Evidence of Cultural Association
Evidence of Natural Association
Characterization of Prehistoric Environmental Change
Characterization of Prehistoric Subsistence

10. Features Jerry D. William
Archaic Component, Folsom Component

11. Stone Tools from Post-Folsom and Mixed Contexts Jerry D. William
Post-Folsom and Mixed Context Collection, Stone Tools

12. Folsom Stone Tools Jerry D. William
Folsom Stone Tools, Folsom Fluted Point Production

13. Site Discussion and Summary Jerry D. William
Late Prehistoric Component
Archaic Component
Folsom Component
Late Folsom Occupation: Block 2
Early Folsom Occupation: Block 2
Block 3
Block 4
Block 5 Folsom
Comparative Information

Appendix A: Big Black (32DU955C) Paleoethnobotanical Analysis

Jerry D. William served as a Senior Research Associate at Rain Shadow Research in Pullman, Washington. He holds a Master's degree from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Kansas.