This report presents the results of two archeological studies of
prehistoric lithic procurement locations: the Halls Crossing site
(42SA14829) in Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the White Crack
site (42SA17597) in Canyonlands National Park in southeastern Utah. Both
studies suggest that these lithic sources were exploited by mobile
hunter-gatherers who produced bifacial cores that they transported
throughout their ranges. These thin bifaces served as multipurpose
implements, sources for flake tools, and a number of other functionally
specific tools.
The Halls Crossing site is an extensive lithic scatter superimposed on
alluvial fan deposits that contain gravels and cobbles of high quality
chalcedony. Approximately 10,000 pieces of debitage and four lithic tools
were collected from 116,736 square meters. Intrasite artifact assemblage
variation was examined at three spatial scales: 2, 10, and 100 meter grid
units. Artifact assemblage diversity was measured using the Shannon-Weaver
information index and a related measure of redundancy. Our analysis
provides insights into activity patterning within this lithic procurement
location.
Small collection areas and narrow transacts were employed at the White
Crack site. One feature produced a radiocarbon sample dating approximately
1400-1000 B.C., providing limited evidence that at least part of the site's
lithic assemblage is late Archaic. Analysis of debitage size and type
revealed that bifacial "cores" were produced at this location. The site
now includes a park campground area. Flake size variation appears to be
related to human trampling and recent vehicular traffic.