Marie-Blanche Roudaut, under the supervision of Dr. Michael Adler (Southern Methodist University) will investigate whether flaked stone artifacts such as projectile points can be used to determine the identity of the prehistoric human groups who manufactured them. Even though stone tools and their byproducts are abundant at archaeological sites because they were used in almost every aspect of economic life, they are rarely used as clues to determine prehistoric group affiliation. This study will focus on flaked stone artifacts recovered from archaeological sites dating to the thirteenth century in northeastern and southeastern Arizona. By AD 1250 prehistoric Native American groups, the Kayenta and the Tusayan were living in northeastern Arizona and began migrating southward. The Kayenta region was essentially abandoned by the end of that century. By the end of the thirteenth century Kayenta/Tusayan communities began appearing in southeastern Arizona, particularly in the Safford Basin and in the Lower San Pedro River Valley. These communities exhibit a set of characteristics, such as specific house architecture and pottery style typically found in communities of northeastern Arizona.
This study will first focus on the analysis of the flaked stone artifacts recovered from recent excavations at archaeological sites located in northeastern Arizona dating between AD 1250 and 1300. In this analysis, each step of the manufacturing process will be reconstructed in order to understand how the Kayenta/Tusayan people made their stone implements. These manufacturing techniques will then be compared to the manufacturing techniques identified at migrant communities in the Safford area and the San Pedro River Valley to test whether migrant groups from northeastern Arizona retained their specific ways of making stone tools. The final step of this analysis is to then compare the manufacturing techniques from migrant communities in southeastern Arizona to the manufacturing techniques used by local indigenous groups to see if the migrant groups have retained their manufacturing techniques or if they adopted the techniques of the local populations.
Beyond research questions of interest to the community of archaeologists who study stone tools in prehistoric societies, this project will have a broader impact for other fields of social science, particularly research focused on the scale of population movements and their impact on local populations. In addition, this project will enhance the level of public understanding on how science can play an essential role in understanding group migration and how it impacts group identity and how different groups relate to each other. After completion of this project, publication in both refereed journals and professional newsletters will communicate the results to the scientific community while preparation of a website will make the results of this project accessible to the general public. Furthermore, this project will provide the author an invaluable opportunity to gain training in the various methods of flaked stone analysis.
