Date of Award

Fall 2020

Document Type

Open Access Thesis

Department

Anthropology

First Advisor

Joanna Casey

Abstract

The site of Dorn Levee #1 (38FA608) in the South Carolina Piedmont has the potential to provide unique information regarding the behaviors and activities of the hunter-gatherer populations who inhabited it throughout prehistory. The Late and Terminal Archaic Period landscape in the Southeast saw with it many major changes in hunter-gatherer lifeways that had begun initial development in periods prior. The continued use of Dorn Levee #1 suggests that it was highly important for these hunter-gatherers, and an analysis of their mobility patterns and general behaviors through the associated lithic debitage material can assist in illuminating its role within a largely complex social and economic landscape. This thesis demonstrates the role that lithic assemblage formation has in providing indications of overall site use and hunter-gatherer activity patterns. Several factors are included in this first formal lithic analysis from the site, including raw material diversity and availability, relative debitage size, and environmental conditions. These factors assist in drawing interpretations regarding how Dorn Levee #1 was used during these periods, and how it featured within the complex Southeast.

Rights

© 2020, Robert Altom Cesarini Lyerly

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