With National Science Foundation support, Drs. Bonnie Pitblado and Carol Dehler will conduct experiments to determine the extent to which petrographic (microscopic) and geochemical methods can be used to characterize the unique "fingerprints" of quartzite sources in the Gunnison Basin, southwest Colorado. Neither archaeologists nor geologists have previously developed methods for sourcing quartzite, yet this rock type is the most ubiquitous in the world, and many prehistoric people throughout time preferred to use it to manufacture their projectile points, scrapers, and other chipped stone tools.
The research will expand pilot sourcing studies conducted by Pitblado and Dehler in 2005 - 2006, which suggested that contrary to conventional wisdom, distinct sources of quartzite can be discriminated from one another both on the basis of microscopic characteristics and chemical composition. The NSF-supported research will (a) use a geoarchaeological model to locate and sample a dozen different quartzite formations and numerous secondary gravel deposits of quartzites in the Gunnison Basin; (b) confirm the best method(s) for differntiating among the sources; and (c) profile archaeological occurrences of quartzite at the 8,000 year-old Chance Gulch site, also in the Gunnison Basin, to determine their likeliest quarry sources on the landscape.
Component "c" of the research will allow the researchers to reconstruct the landscape use of some of the most ancient hunter-gatherers in the Rocky Mountains. This is important because both ecological theory and what little archaeologically derived data exist suggest that early hunter-gatherers in the Rockies, in stark contrast to better-known regions like the Great Plains, followed a geographically restricted annual round. Confirming or rejecting this suggestion will contribute to archaeologists' understanding of the peopling of North America, in all the continent's ecological variability.
Utah State University co-PIs Bonnie Pitblado, a Paleoindian archaeologist, and Carol Dehler, a geologist, will collaborate in the research with geochemical sourcing specialist Hector Neff (University of California, Long Beach), geochemist Stephen Nelson (Brigham Young University), and statistician Dennis Eggett (also of Brigham Young University). Senior personnel bring to the undertaking a wide range of areas of expertise and together will maximize the chances for successfully completing all components of the three-year project.
The most important intellectual contributions of the research lie in the realms of both method and theory. Methodologically, the project will refine currently non-existent techniques for fingerprinting quartzite"a contribution that will be valued by earth scientists aiming to solve a host of research problems. Theoretically, the research will help refine archaeological understanding of the colonization of the Rockies and North America in general.
In terms of broader impacts, the research program will train undergraduate university students both in the field and in the laboratory. About twenty students will help collect the quartzite samples and another four or five will be trained to conduct petrographic analyses of the samples. As well, the co-PIs will continue a tradition of recruiting Northern, Southern and Ute Mountain Ute high school students to participate in the fieldwork. This will allow the students to learn about the life ways of their Rocky Mountain hunter-gatherer predecessors; to earn college and high school credits; and to gain exposure to a university atmosphere ideally resulting in their later matriculation to college.
