Under the guidance of Dr. David Dye, Ryan Parish will examine the source of prehistoric stone resources used in the manufacture of Mississippian symbolic weaponry "swords" through non-destructive reflectance spectroscopic analysis. Mr. Parish will test the single source hypothesis which postulates that the sword artifacts are manufactured from chert prehistorically quarried from deposits located near Dover, Tennessee. Source data for the Mississippian chert swords will allow Mr. Parish to examine whether preferential selection of Dover chert existed despite the presence of local visually similar Ft Payne deposits. Through the application of reflectance spectroscopy, Mr. Parish will investigate whether the source of the material used in the manufacture of the Mississippian sword artifacts was culturally significant as implied by current source assignments.
The sourcing of Mississippian chert swords will allow archaeologists to study resource selection, inter-regional exchange, socio-political organization, and craft specialization in ranked chiefdoms during the Middle Mississippian Stage (1200-1400 AD). Source data also provices the ability to construct hypotheses regarding the use of exotic resources by elites. Currently a large number of Mississippian swords are visually identified as being manufactured from Dover chert. Dover chert is a material type represented in archaeological assemblages from Oklahoma to Georgia and as far north as New York spanning a large portion of what is broadly recognized as Mississippian societies. The distribution of Dover chert signifies an extensive long distance trade network in place during the Mississippian Period. However, the presence of macroscopically similar variants of Ft Payne and Lower St. Louis (Dover) chert outcropping across the Southeast makes the source of the "Dover" chert swords uncertain.
The project involves the non-destructive analysis of Mississippian chert swords from curated collections that have received no previous analytical study. The nature of variation within chert necessitates the creation of a large database of representative samples. The creation of a regional database representing two of the major chert types in the Southeast will contribute to future studies relating to the prehistoric record of the region. The potentially fast, inexpensive, accurate, and non-destructive characteristics of reflectance spectroscopy promote the creation of a dynamic database that will be useful for future research relating to prehistoric chert utilization, selection, distribution, and acquisition.
The project takes a multidisciplinary approach drawing from the fields of Anthropology, Archaeology, Chemistry, Geography, Geology and Statistics. Development of reflectance spectroscopy techniques addresses current limitations to chert sourcing including accuracy, large numbers of samples, non-destructive analysis of curated artifacts and speed. The project will bring together archaeologists, flintknappers and geologists. The study will signify a long term chert provenance research focus at the University of Memphis and at Murray State University, thus encouraging multi-institutional collaboration that will benefit future students. Specifically, the project will provide training to undergraduate students at all stages of the project. The prehistoric acquisition and consumption of chert resources for symbolically charged items provides an anthropologic case study aiding our understanding of resource selection, use and reuse.
The project sought to accomplish three main objectives; 1) to develop a non-destructive artifact analysis method to accurately identify where prehistoric peoples got stone to make their stone tools, 2) to study if Mississippian chiefdom level societies only selected one specific chert/flint type (Dover) to make large 'ceremonial' swords, and 3) to establish a large chert type database for the Southeast in order to compare other artifact types. The results of the project demonstrates that the analysis of chert artifacts is a powerful tool in helping us explain prehistoric behavior. Continuing research since the completion of the project is helping us understand group movements and interaction between culture groups through time. The technique used in the study to analyze chert artifacts and the geologic reference samples in the database was reflectance spectroscopy. Two complimentary reflectance spectroscopy instruments were used to produce information about the atomic and molecular configuration of the chert being analyzed. Each chert type being analyzed is potentially different depending on how it formed geologically in that unique location on the landscape. Reflectance spectroscopy proved to be a very accurate technique in distinguishing between different types of chert (Figure 1). The technique was also able to non-destructively analyze the Misssissippian chert 'swords' and assign them to unique potential sources. Mississippian chiefdoms in the Mid-west and Southeast used chert for many items usually associated with agriculture such as hoes. However, large chert batons or maces were also crafted demonstrating extreme skill. We hypothesize that these over sized chert maces were used in ceremony not as weapons. One style of mace is referred to as a 'sword' or 'Duck river sword'. Archaeologists commonly call the chert used to manufacture the 'swords' Dover chert which outcrops in north-central Tennessee and has well known prehistoric quarry sites. However, the results of analysis upon 30 'swords' showed the majority of them were manufactured from Fort Payne chert which can look very similar to Dover. The results showed that Mississippian peoples may have gotten there chert from multiple possibly more local outcrops than trading for or traveling to the Dover vicinity. A combination of other types of data including where the swords were found, Mississippian art depicting the 'swords', and historic accounts of people using these items in ceremonies, allowed me to speculate on the use of the 'swords' in ceremonies. In order to identify potential source of the 'swords' it was necessary to create a large chert type database for the Midwest and Southeast consisting of both Dover and Fort Payne varieties. A total of 1,050 chert geologic samples were gathered from 35 locations in Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia (Figure 2). The creation of the chert "library" allowed me to compare the swords within unknown source to the samples with known source. Currently, the chert database contains over 3,000 samples from over 100 deposits and reflects most of the major chert types used by prehistoric people in the Southeast. The continued growth of the chert database will benefit future chert source projects. Ongoing projects include analysis of early materials from the Lower Tennessee River Valley and the Lower Ohio River Valley. The chert database was duplicated into multiple collections and sent to Texas A&M, Mississippi State University and the Division of Archaeology in Nashville, TN. Finally, the project established a chert source research laboratory at the University of Memphis and at Murray State University which will benefit both students, the institutions and the communites by providing experiences for interdisciplinary collaboration and involvement in cultural resource management consulting. Also, non-destructive analysis upon artifacts will allow museum quality specimens to be analyzed in public and private collections. The project successfully demonstrated that it is possible to analyze chert artifacts and talk about where people got those resources from. Studying resource use and overuse are topics directly applicable to our present culture. Hopefully, an in depth look at how prehisoric people utilized stone when confronted with dwindling resources will allow us to best understand our use of non-renewable resources. I would like to thank the National Science Foundation and the public in sponsoring this research. Without this support, the project would not have been possible.
