Lithics from Unit J5
June 2021 - James Walker
The home for this page is J5
Lithic artifacts comrise 43% of the items excavated so far in Unit J5. The vast majority range from obsidian and chert blades (65) including debitage (28), to stones for grinding (63) and polishing (18). There were also four beads, four door sockets, and six lithic specimens.
Coincidentally, this is virtually the same percentage of lithic artifacts excavated in J2.
Small worked stone
Fragments of flint blades, scrapers, and other small tools, as well as the debitage from their manufacture were the single-most common items. None of the blades was complete. One may have been a projectile point. In addition they were widely distributed in space and time. There were only a few obsidian fragments found.
| Obsidian Exemplars |
i2 |
q204.2 |
Grinding and Polishing Stones
There were almost as many grinding stones as blades excavated. As with other types of items, most were widely scattered. However a13 comprised 12 whole and broken basalt pestals while i27 comprised two basalt pestals with a trace of bronze residue. There were a significant number of medium-sized stone polishing tools of various shapes. We identified them by at least one smooth surface.
Beads
There were several beads excavated; two exemplars are presented.
Miscellaneus
There were several broken stone artifacts shaped roughly like stone donuts. See q436.1. Several uses have been proposed, including pivot stones for pottery wheels, door sockets, and soil tampers.
Seven lithic samples were retained. The most unusual was a quartz crystal.
