43
The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222 by Richard E. Martens, Brad Koldehoff, Juliet E. Morrow, and Toby A. Morrow T he Martens site, 23SL222, in St. Louis County, Mo., is one of the larg- est Clovis habitation sites in the Midwest. A large number of Clovis artifacts, including fluted points and preforms, blade cores, blades, limaces, end and side scrapers, and manufacturing rejects were surface collected over a 30- year period by Richard Martens. Based on morphological and technological attributes, 125 of these artifacts are categorized as either Clovis or Possible Clovis. The collection also includes 79 artifacts from the Late Paleoindian (Dalton); Early, Middle and Late Archaic; Early, Middle, and Late Woodland, and Mississippian periods. The objective of this report is to document the surface collection from this important site for use in future Clovis studies and to provide a record of our archaeological heritage. Brad Koldehoff is stationed in Belleville, Ill., where he is the coordinator of the American Bottom Survey Division of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, a joint program between the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Department of Transportation. For the past 25 years, Brad has been conducting archaeo- logical research in the Mississippi Valley, focusing on lithic resources and technology. Richard E. Martens is a retired aerospace manager with a B.S. and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. A member of the Missouri Archaeological Society (MAS) since 1967, he was an MAS trustee from 1973 to 1983. He became a mem- ber of the MAS board of directors in 1984 and has been treasurer for the last 11 years.

The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

  • Upload
    lykhue

  • View
    217

  • Download
    2

Embed Size (px)

Citation preview

Page 1: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

by Richard E. Martens, Brad Koldehoff, Juliet E. Morrow, and Toby A. Morrow

The Martens site, 23SL222, in St. Louis County, Mo., is one of the larg-est Clovis habitation sites in the Midwest. A large number of Clovis artifacts, including fluted points and preforms, blade cores, blades, limaces, end and side scrapers, and manufacturing rejects were surface collected over a 30-year period by Richard Martens. Based on morphological and technological attributes, 125 of these artifacts are categorized as either Clovis or Possible Clovis. The collection also includes 79 artifacts from the Late Paleoindian (Dalton); Early, Middle and Late Archaic; Early, Middle, and Late Woodland, and Mississippian periods. The objective of this report is to document the surface collection from this important site for use in future Clovis studies and to provide a record of our archaeological heritage.

Brad Koldehoff is stationed in Belleville, Ill., where he is the coordinator of the American Bottom Survey Division of the Illinois Transportation Archaeological Research Program, a joint program between the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Department of Transportation. For the past 25 years, Brad has been conducting archaeo-logical research in the Mississippi Valley, focusing on lithic resources and technology.

Richard E. Martens is a retired aerospace manager with a B.S. and an M.S. in aeronautical engineering from the University of Michigan. A member of the Missouri Archaeological Society (MAS) since 1967, he was an MAS trustee from 1973 to 1983. He became a mem-ber of the MAS board of directors in 1984 and has been treasurer for the last 11 years.

Page 2: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Background

This report has been a “work in progress” for more than 30 years. Mar-tens found the first two fluted point bases in 1968 and 1969 respectively, and reported them to Carl H. Chapman for his fluted-point survey of Missouri (Chapman 1975:67). Chapman encouraged Martens to write a report on the site and the surface finds. This was a daunting task for an amateur archaeolo-gist, especially the identification of the Clovis artifacts. Chapman suggested that Irwin and Wormington (1970) be used to identify the Clovis material and categorize the artifacts by tool type. Unfortunately, this document lists 33 tool types, including 11 types of end scrapers, but does not address blades, blade cores, preforms, or manufacturing failures. Martens found that a confident identification of the Clovis material was insurmountable. Documentation of the collection entered a hiatus until 1976, when Mar-tens wrote a chapter on the Native Americans of the area for the city of Creve Coeur’s bicentennial book (Martens 1976). In discussing the Clovis period, he provided photographs of fluted points, end scrapers, side scrapers, blades, and a limace from the site. In 1986 an annotated display of artifacts from the site was presented at the annual meeting of the Missouri Archeological Society (Martens 1986). Archaeologist Brad Koldehoff saw the exhibit and subsequently categorized the artifacts and chert types, recorded their weights and dimensions, and provided illustrations (Koldehoff et al. 1995).

A St. Louis native, Juliet E. Morrow attended Washington University, where she received a Ph.D. in anthropology (archaeology) in 1996. She currently works for the Arkansas Archaeological Survey at Arkansas State University. Her primary interests are the evolu-tion of stone tool technologies, early settlement of North America, and Clovis-era sites in the Central Mississippi Valley.

Toby A. Morrow received his M.A. in anthropology from the University of Iowa in 1984. He currently is a private consultant in Arkansas and Missouri and has conducted demonstrations and workshops in pre-contact Native American technology across the country. He has provided many museums and anthropology departments with replicas for exhibits and for conducting experiments in ancient technologies.

Page 3: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Michael J. O’Brien examined the Martens site artifacts in the spring of 1995 and had photographs taken of the significant Clovis material. The site is briefly discussed in O’Brien and Wood (1998:60, Figures 2.20, 2.25, 2.26), with general observations on the location and its artifacts. They illustrated Clovis artifacts from it, including points, a side scraper, blades, a blade core, and a limace. In 1995, Juliet Morrow contacted Martens, asking to use the collection as part of her doctoral research (Morrow 1996). Toby and Juliet Morrow’s ac-tivities included recording artifact identifications and measurements, drawing many of the artifacts, and assigning manufacturing sequences. The Morrows conducted a 5-week excavation of the Clovis habitation area of the site in 1997 (Morrow 1998), using Martens’ records of fluted-point find locations to locate an approximately 2-acre area in the 80-plus acre site. The Clovis artifacts recovered from these excavations essentially duplicate the tools, flak-ing debris, and preforms in the surface collection. The post-Clovis material recovered was limited to an Early Archaic point, a Late Archaic point and a few Late Woodland pottery sherds. This is not surprising, since most of the post-Clovis material in the surface collection was found on the part of the site beyond the area excavated. A book focusing on the site’s history, the results of the excavations, and analysis of the artifacts from both the surface collection and the excavation is being prepared for publication by the Missouri Archaeological Society. The Martens site was located on a bluff overlooking the Missouri River in St. Louis County, Mo. (Figure 1). It was situated in a cultivated field of more than 80 acres, now a subdivision, and included one of the highest hills around for several miles. The elevation is approximately 670 ft above mean sea level, 40 ft higher than adjacent fields. The topography is gently undulating to rolling uplands that contain circular and elongated limestone sinks. These sinks can become plugged, resulting in marshy conditions or a shallow-water impoundment. Clovis activities were concentrated behind the hill, approximately 1,000 ft southeast and downwind of a large plugged sinkhole in Faust Park, an adjacent county park. This hill provided line-of-sight blockage between the campsite and the sinkhole, which

Page 4: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 1. Location of the Martens site and other features mentioned in the text.

Page 5: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

held water year round and had contained fish. In 1992, about 18,700 cubic yards of soil were used to fill this sinkhole—enough soil to cover three football fields to a depth of 3.7 ft. Additional attractions of the location include a ready supply of Burling-ton and Salem cherts as well as water in the drainages that dissect the lower reaches of the site. The highest part of the site offered a commanding view of the Missouri River valley. Many of the features that made the site attractive to the Clovis people also attracted subsequent cultures.

Surface Collection Summary

The surface collection contains 414 pieces of flaked material, with 204 of them assigned to temporal categories ranging from the Clovis to the Missis-sippian periods. Such assignment was a difficult task. An experienced amateur archaeologist can confidently place some 80% of the collection in the proper periods, but it requires considerable knowledge of prehistoric artifacts, as well as their associated flint types and knapping processes, to characterize the re-maining 20% of the collection. Most difficult, of course, is the identification of the poorly documented Clovis tools and their manufacturing byproducts. Brad Koldehoff, Juliet Morrow, and Toby Morrow brought this expertise to the artifact description. The artifacts from the surface collection are categorized using the temporal periods of O’Brien and Wood (1998). The Probable Clovis category requires definition, however, and as used here it consists of the types of artifacts that would be accepted as Clovis if found on a single-component site but would not be positively placed in that category if they were found on a multi-component one. The surface collection reflects the type of artifacts lost over the entire site, the only bias being the intentional collection of all worked material, independent of perceived temporal assignment. Manufacturing rejects often were recovered from the discard piles of other collectors. The percentages of artifacts in each temporal category are presented in Table 1. The dominance of Clovis artifacts (61.3%) is clear, followed by Late Archaic (19.1%) and Dalton

Page 6: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

(5.9%). Since the duration of each period is known, it is informative to look at the number of artifacts in each period per 100 years. Clovis is dominant again (41.7 artifacts/100 yrs.) followed by Late Archaic (1.6 artifacts/100 yrs.), then both Dalton and Early Woodland (1.1 artifacts/100 yrs.).

Paleoindian Period (9250–7500 B.C.)

The people who made Clovis fluted points were the earliest inhabitants of Missouri. Their points have been found in association with mastodon re-mains at Kimmswick, Mo., some 37 km south of the Martens site (Graham et al. 1981). Fluted points have been found throughout the state, but they seem to be concentrated along the major waterways. The Martens site is one of the largest Clovis habitation sites in the Midwest. The Dalton period, which closes the Paleoindian period, is also represented at the site. The Clovis and Dalton artifacts in the collection are enumerated, together with the materials used in Table 2. There are 125 Clovis artifacts, and Burl-

Table 1. Summary of Artifacts from the Martens Site

Number of Percentage of Number of ArtifactsTemporal Category Artifacts Total Artifacts per 100 years

Clovis 93 45.6 31.0Probable Clovis 32 15.7 10.7Total Clovis 125 61.3 41.7

Dalton 12 5.9 1.1Early Archaic 6 2.9 0.2Middle Archaic 11 5.4 0.6Late Archaic 39 19.1 1.6Early Woodland 4 1.9 1.1Middle Woodland 1 0.5 0.1Late Woodland and Early Mississippian 5 2.5 0.7Middle and Late Mississippian 1 0.5 0.2Grand Total 204 100 47.4

Temporal categories and durations are from O’Brien and Wood (1998). Clovis dominates the collection, with Late Archaic coming in a weak second.

Page 7: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

ington chert is used for 83% of them. The exotic material felsite accounts for seven percent of the material, with Jefferson City and Salem cherts contributing five and three percent respectively. The remaining lithic materials were Fern Glen chert at one percent and the exotic Penters chert at one percent. Eight of the 12 Dalton artifacts were made from Burlington chert and 4 were made of Salem chert. None of the Paleoindian artifacts were heat treated. The Clovis people are noted for using exotic (i.e., not locally obtained) materials in the manufacture of some of their tools. In fact, materials have been noted whose sources were 1,000 km distant (Collins 1999). This also is true for the Martens site, where two types of exotic material were found. Nine pieces of a greenish-gray stone from the same source are in the collection. Most of them exhibit transport abrasion, meaning they had been abraded against similar materials while being transported from their source. The total weight of this group is 380 grams. This material was examined pet-rographically and initially described as a chert. X-ray diffraction later was done on a sample, and the results compared to an X-ray diffraction/petrographic analysis of a specimen of Middlebrook Group felsite from Iron County, Mo. Comparison showed that they both are from the same felsite group in the St. Francis Mountains (John M. Fox of Lambda Research Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, pers. comm. to Koldehoff, 1997). Thus, the Clovis peoples transported this material some 120 km north to the Martens site. The second exotic material is a lustrous, gray, blue- and brown-streaked chert that was used to make a limace, a slug-shaped reaming tool. This material is identified as Penters chert from north-central Arkansas. The source site is at Penters Bluff Station, in Izard County, Ark., some 300 km south of the Martens site. It is interesting to consider the possibility that Clovis people could have traveled from the Arkansas Penters chert site, in an almost straight line, to the Martens site and stopped in Iron County, Mo., to pick up felsite material on the way (Figure 1).

Page 8: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Table 2. Database of Paleoindian Artifacts from the Martens Site

Material

Artifact Type Number B S JC FG Felsite Penters

Clovis Preform-stage 2 1 1 Preform-stage 4 8 7 1 Preform-stage 5 2 2 Fluted point 16 14 2 End scraper 12 11 1 Side scraper 12 11 1 Limace 2 1 1Blade core 2 2 Blade 26 24 1 1 Crested blade 1 1 Blade-like flake 3 1 2 Worked flake 8 3 5 Total 93 78 1 3 1 9 1Probable Clovis Preform-Stage 3 3 1 1 1 Preform-Stage 4 5 2 1 2 End scraper preform 2 2 End scraper? 1 1 Blade-like flake 12 11 1 Worked flake 9 9 Total 32 26 3 3 Total Clovis 125 104 4 6 1 9 1Dalton Point preform 2 1 1 Point 6 6 Adze preform 3 1 2 Adze 1 1 Total 12 8 4 Artifact type, number of each in the collection, and the material used are listed for the Clovis, Probable Clovis and Dalton. Material used is denoted as Burlington (B), Fern Glen (FG), Jefferson City (JC), Penters (P), and Salem (S) cherts, and the exotic felsite (F).

Page 9: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Clovis Period (9250-8950 B.C.)

The Clovis people at Martens had a fully developed tool kit. Only lithic tools and manufacturing debris are available in the collection, but they provide an enlightening view into the workings at a Clovis habitation campsite. In this section we discuss the manufacture of the Clovis-fluted point as well as the byproducts of this process; use of the finished products and their failure modes also will be addressed. Clovis-blade technology, end scrapers, side scrapers, and limaces also are discussed together with the uses made of them.

Fluted Points, Preforms, and Manufacturing Byproducts

The manufacture of Clovis points has been the subject of study for some 50 years (Witthoft 1952). Based on his flintknapping experience, Errett Cal-lahan developed a model to describe this biface reduction process in 1979 and refined it in 1991 (Callahan 1991). Juliet Morrow used a variant of his six-stage model to describe the manufacture of Clovis points from the Ready site in Jersey County, Ill. (Morrow 1996). The Ready site data clearly showed that fluting was accomplished earlier in the process (Stage 4) rather than in Stage 5 in Callahan’s model. Morrow demonstrated that the Clovis knapper elected to flute at an earlier stage when the biface was thicker, to reduce the risk of failure during this critical operation. The Martens site material shows that the modified manufacturing model also is applicable there—not surprising, since the Ready site is only about 48 km from Martens. The biface-reduction process is shown here using to-scale illustrations of artifacts from the Martens surface collection (Figures 2–3). The following discussion of this process includes descriptions and illustrations of artifacts from the individual stages, including manufacturing byproducts and failures. Stage 1 of the process entails obtaining the chert blank. Stage 2. Edging Without Shaping. Classic Clovis disc cores have a diam-eter of about 160 mm with a roughly bifacial flaked edge around most of the periphery. Trimming flakes typically are driven more than halfway across the faces as shown on a preform (Figure 4) of Burlington chert that weighs 597 gm. Byproducts of this stage were used to make end and side scrapers.

Page 10: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 2. Stage 2 and 3 Clovis fluted-point manufacturing model for the Martens site showing byproducts and failures. Illustrations are to the same scale.

Page 11: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Stage 3. Primary Thinning and Shaping. At this stage the preform as-sumes an ellipsoidal shape, with the length typically 1.5–2.0 times the width. Examples from this stage are difficult to confidently assign to the Clovis period, since they could also be preforms from later periods. Hence artifacts nos. 17, 18, and 25 have been assigned to the Indeterminate category, but some or all of them could be Clovis (Figure 5).

Figure 3. Stage 4–6 Clovis fluted-point manufacturing model for the Martens site showing byproducts and failures. Illustrations are to the same scale.

Page 12: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 4. Large Stage 2 preform, made from Burlington chert, with thinning flakes extending more than halfway across the faces (specimen 44).

Page 13: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Figure 5. Stage 3 preforms of Salem chert.

Page 14: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

The preforms in Figure 6 are categorized as Probable Clovis based on their flaking characteristics. No. 209 exhibits edge-to-edge flaking and end-thinning

Figure 6. Stage 3 preforms, including one exhibiting an overshot incurred during end thinning. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Salem (S).

Page 15: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

flakes, characteristics often seen on Clovis artifacts at this stage of manufacture. No. 344 exhibits an overshot failure early in the end-thinning process, a failure often seen on Clovis implements. Stage 4. Secondary Shaping and Fluting. The elements of this stage are clearly shown (Figures 7–8). Artifact nos. 222, 332, and 348 demonstrate a common failure in biface manufacture: end shock during final end thinning. This failure is also seen during the fluting process as exhibited on artifact nos. 346 and 349 (Figure 7), and nos. 350 and 352 (Figure 8). Failure occurred during the removal of the second flute on no. 352, and during the first flute for the others. Overshot failures, occurring during edge thinning of a stage 4 preform, are shown in artifact nos. 337 and 338. The overshot failure is a fracture in which a flake carries completely across the face of the parent piece and removes a portion of the edge opposite the striking platform. End-overshot failures, also called reverse-hinge fractures, are exhibited on artifact nos. 345 and 351. These failures often occur during attempts to flute a point, when a flake detachment fails to carry to a thin termination, but instead dives into the biface causing the parent piece to break (Nichols 1970). Shortly after Martens found the first Clovis point on the site, George Nichols said he would find examples of this failure mode: he was right. Stage 5. Final Thinning and Shaping. Two preforms in this stage, nos. 363 and 366, are illustrated (Figure 9). Morrow (1996:213) stated “at this stage the entire periphery was reflaked by soft hammer percussion producing a thinner, finely tapered point.” When this had been accomplished, as shown in artifact no. 366, a point is ready for Stage 6. Stage 6. Edge Retouch and Haft Grinding. The edges of the point are pres-sure retouched at this stage to remove any imperfections left during Stage 5, and the haft area is then ground to protect the bindings. It is generally assumed that the finished point was bound to the foreshaft using an adhesive such as pitch, to ensure a firm attachment. All 23 Clovis points from the Martens site are illustrated (Figures 9–13). The points include 16 points from the Martens collection, 2 from the Morrow’s excavations, as well as 4 points from the collections of Aaron Callies, and 1 from that of Mark Morley. Callies and Morley are amateur archaeologists

Page 16: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 7. Stage 4 preforms, demonstrating failures resulting from end thinning and fluting. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Salem (S).

Page 17: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Figure 8. Stage 4 preforms, demonstrating failures resulting from edge thinning and from the fluting process. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Salem (S).

Page 18: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

from Chesterfield, Mo. Callies collected from the site in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Morley found his point while the site was being destroyed in fall 2002. However, only the material from the Martens collection is included in the database addressed in Tables 1–3 and in related discussions. There are nine unbroken Clovis points from the site. Two of them, nos. 357 and 356 (Figure 10) are very small, with respective lengths of only 42 and 50.5

Figure 9. Stage 5 preforms and Stage 6 completed Clovis points. Artifact no. 366 only requires grinding of the haft area to be considered a completed point. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Jefferson City (JC).

Page 19: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

mm, widths of 15.1 and 20 mm, and thicknesses of 5.7 and 5.3 mm. These points were probably made on flakes, but no. 356 could have been made on a blade. The 7 remaining points are considerably larger, with average width and thickness being 46.4% and 43% greater, respectively. Lengths of the larger points range from 43.8 mm (no. 361) to 89.1 mm (no. 370). Point no. MM-1 (Figure 13) has the highest length-to-width ratio (L/W = 3.38) of any point from the site; the next highest L/W is 2.81 for no. 370. Gregory Perino (pers. comm., 2003) said that this point is unusual in its length, narrowness, and having a nearly straight base. He also notes that resharpenings have only modestly reduced its length.

Figure 10. Stage 6 completed Clovis points of Burlington chert. The extremes in completed point size are illustrated by nos. 357 and 370.

Page 20: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Examination of unbroken points shows that nos. 361 and X-1 (Figure 11), have been heavily reworked. This is also demonstrated by comparing L/W ratios. Resharpening reduces the length without changing the maximum width, thus reducing L/W. The L/W values for these two points are 1.9 and 2.0, respectively. The L/W values for other points which have much less re-

Figure 11. Stage 6 completed Clovis points. Note the heavy resharpening on nos. 361 and X-1 in comparison with the lower level exhibited on no. 362. Point no. X-1 is from the Morrow’s excavation. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Salem (S).

Page 21: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

sharpening range from 2.53 to 3.38. Heavily reworked points have lost from 25% to as much as 44% of their original length. Three additional observations may be made. Point no. 361 has an impact fracture on the tip, and no. 370 was originally larger. The base had broken off, possibly during use, and it was in the process of being repaired with a new base when it was lost or discarded. Finally, Ahler et al. (2000:102) found an organic-appearing residue, possibly from the Clovis period, on point no. X-1. Six of the 10 broken points from the Martens collection (nos. 358, 359, 360, 365, 367 and 368; see Figures 11 and 12) exhibit bending fractures, characteristic of breakage during use. Four other broken points (nos. AC-2, AC-3, AC-4 and X-2 (see Figure 13) exhibit the same breakage characteristics. A reasonable assumption would be that they were removed from the shaft and discarded at the camp when a new point was installed. Point nos. 353 and 355 were broken by the plow, and nos. 364 and 369 exhibit fire damage.

Figure 12. Stage 6 completed Clovis points of Burlington chert.

Page 22: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Clovis Blade and Blade Core Technology

Clovis blade technology is now as famous as that of the ubiquitous fluted-point technology. The blade-manufacturing process and subsequent uses

Figure 13. Stage 6 completed Clovis points. These points are from other collections and are denoted Aaron Callies (AC), Mark Morley (MM), and Morrow's excavation (X). Chert types are Burlington (B) and Jefferson City (JC).

Page 23: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

for the blades are visually summarized using to-scale illustrations from the collection (Figure 14). An excellent description of this process is presented by Michael Collins, “The Clovis blade is a specialized flake removed from a prepared core; the flake is at least twice as long as it is wide and exhibits paral-lel to sub-parallel blade scars on its exterior surface” (Collins 1999:191). He

Figure 14. Clovis blade manufacturing model for the Martens site, show-ing the many uses for these versatile products. Illustrations are to the same scale.

Page 24: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

also noted that blade length-to-width ratios commonly exceed 4 to 1 and that blades are often retouched and used to make end scrapers and other tools. Two blade cores and 32 blades are in the collection, with representative examples illustrated (Figures 15–17). Unbroken blade lengths range from 39.6–129 mm and fall into 2 size groups. Group 1 has the following ranges: length, 39.6–91.5 mm; width, 14–28.8 mm; and thickness, 4.6–12 mm. The maximum blade length-to-width ratio in this group is 4.5 (no. 177, Figure 16). There are 26 blades in Group 1, including two broken graver tools (see Figure 16, no. 185) and 5 that have been used to make end scrapers. Six of the remaining blades have been retouched, and 12 are unmodified. There is also a crested blade (one of the first blades struck from a new or rejuvenated core). Blade cores (nos. 42 and 43) were used to make Group 1 blades. There are 6 Group 2 blades with the following unbroken dimensions: length, 95.8–129 mm; width, 34.8–44.9 mm; and thickness, 16–19 mm. Four blades were retouched (examples are shown in Figure 17). The largest length-to-width ratio in this group was 3.7 for no. 175.

Clovis End Scrapers

End scrapers are chert tools, often hafted at the distal end, with the proximal end sharpened. They were used for scraping hides or rasping hard materials such as bone, antler, ivory, or wood. The 12 end scrapers in the collection are illustrated (Figures 18–19), along with end scraper preform no. 200. Five of the end scrapers were made on blades (Nos. 179, 192, 197, 199, and 376) and are assumed to be Clovis because of their technological and morphological attributes. Four end scrapers were made from reduction flakes, which provide sturdy triangular to trapezoidal cross sections. The remaining three end scrap-ers and a preform were made on irregularly shaped flakes with tapered outlines. The 11 unbroken scrapers have the following ranges: length, 33.3–69.6 mm; width, 23.8–47.2 mm; and thickness, 6.6–11.9 mm. End scrapers 179, 191, 192, 193, 194, 197, 199, and 376 fall within the Clovis tool matrix (Martens 2001b). The remaining end scrapers fall in a second group that could be Dalton, or possibly Clovis. The end-scraper col-

Page 25: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Figure 15. Group 1 blade cores, oriented with the striking platforms at the top, clearly show the scars left from blade removal. All artifacts are of Burlington chert.

Page 26: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 16. Group 1 blades, oriented with the striking platforms at the top. All artifacts are of Burlington chert.

Page 27: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Figure 17. Examples of the larger Group 2 blades. Material types are Burlington chert (B) and felsite (F).

lection is being analyzed using high power magnification by Marvin Kay to determine their usage characteristics and to verify temporal placement. Based on preliminary results, they are categorized as Clovis.

Clovis Side Scrapers

Side scrapers in the collection were made on large biface reduction flakes that have careful retouching along one or two edges. The retouch angles are 10–20° less steep than those on the end scrapers; the relatively shallower edge angles on side scrapers had been pointed out earlier (Irwin and Wormington 1970). The term side scraper is considered a misnomer by some, in that these flake tools can perform well as cutting tools. Representative examples of side

Page 28: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 18. Martens site end scrapers segregated by the blank form used in their fabrication. Top row, blades; bottom row, reduction flakes. Cherts used are Burlington (B) and Jefferson City (JC).

Page 29: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

scrapers from the collection are presented (Figures 20–21). Artifact no. 176 is another type of cutting tool that lacks the single continuous cutting edge of side scrapers. Three similar side scrapers were found during excavation at Martens and subsequently analyzed by Ahler et al. (2000). He identified them as precision cutting tools because of the even, fine retouch over their convex margins. Fur-ther, their very low-intensity use wear was not consistent with use as a scraper. Based on his analysis, these tools probably were used for butchering and meat

Figure 19. Martens site end scrapers segregated by the blank form used in their fabrica-tion. Top row, irregularly shaped flakes. No. 200 is an end-scraper preform. All are of Burlington chert.

Page 30: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 20. Side scrapers, used as precision cutting tools, oriented with the striking platform at the top. The chert type is Burlington.

Page 31: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Figure 21. Side scrapers and a retouched biface flake (no. 176), used as precision cutting tools, oriented with the striking platform at the top. The material types are Burlington chert (B) and felsite (F).

Page 32: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

cutting. There is a good chance that all of the “side scrapers” in the surface collection are also precision cutting tools.

Clovis Limaces

French prehistorians use the word “limace” to describe a narrow, slug-shaped, unifacial-flaked stone tool having steep edge angles and a high dorsal surface that often is rounded (Gramly 1990:32). Gramly wrote that limaces at the Bull Brook site in Massachusetts could have been hafted and used as a chisel or awl on hard substances. It is a rare form present in most large-sized Folsom, Clovis, and other fluted-point assemblages. The two limaces from the collection are shown (Figure 22). No. 7, a classic limace, is made of Penters chert. The second limace (no. 189) is of a different shape, with careful flaking on both edges, possibly for use as a shaver.

Dalton Period (8950–7900 B.C.)

Dalton points have been found in every county in Missouri (O’Brien and Wood 1998:73). These points are well represented on sites near the Martens site, but there have been no excavations of a Dalton site in the St. Louis area. The 12 Dalton artifacts in the collection represent 5.9% of the categorized material. These artifacts probably indicate a Dalton habitation, since 2 point preforms, 6 points, 3 adze preforms, and an adze were found. Further, 33% of these were made from Salem chert (Table 2), which is available on site. Representative Dalton artifacts include one large point (Figure 23a) with a broken length of 123 mm and a projected unbroken length of 143 mm. In contrast, unused Dalton points found near the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers average only 100 mm long (Walthall and Koldehoff 1998).

Post-Paleoindian Period (7500 B.C.–A.D. 1800)

This lengthy occupation at the site starts with the Early Archaic and ends with the Mississippian period. Artifacts from these periods are summarized together with those in the Indeterminate category (Table 3). Artifact types and

Page 33: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

Figure 22. Limaces, slug-shaped unifacially flaked tools, possibly used as chisels, awls, or shavers. Cherts used are Burlington (B) and Penters (P).

Figure 23. Dalton artifacts from Martens. The artifact types and materials are: a and d, points (B); b and c, point preforms (B and S); e, point reworked to a drill (B); f, adze, (S); and g, adze preform (S). Chert types are Burlington (B) and Salem (S).

Page 34: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Table 3. Database of Post-Paleoindian Artifacts from the Martens Site

Material

Artifact Type Number B Other Cherts Heat Treated

Early Archaic Hardin Barbed 1 1 0St. Charles 1 1 0Bass knife 1 1 0Searcy 3 3 3Total 6 6 3 Middle Archaic Karnak 3 3 2Matanzas 4 4 2Robinson 1 1 1Valmeyer 2 1 1-FG 1Contracting stemmed 1 1 0Total 11 10 1 6 Late Archaic Etley 10 9 1-S 0Falling Springs 8 8 8Helton 2 1 1-I 2Melville 1 1 1Sedalia-digger 1 1 0Sedalia-drill 1 1 0Springly 2 2 2Table Rock 2 2 1Unnamed 12 10 1-CHO,1-JC 7Total 39 35 4 21 Early Woodland Belknap 3 3 2Dickson 1 1-JC 0Total 4 3 1 2 Middle Woodland Snyders 1 1 1Total 1 1 1

Page 35: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

totals are provided for each period, together with the materials used and the frequency of heat treatment.

Early Archaic through Late Archaic Periods (7500–600 B.C.)

Artifacts from the Archaic period comprise 27% of the identified material in the collection, with the majority attributed to the Late Archaic. Artifacts from all Archaic periods are found on sites near Martens, but only a Late Archaic site has been excavated. Representative artifacts from the Early Archaic (7500–5000 B.C.) and the Middle Archaic (5000–3000 B.C.) are shown (Figure 24). All six Early Ar-chaic artifacts were made from Burlington chert, and three were heat treated. Ten Middle Archaic points were made from Burlington chert and six of these were heat treated. One point was made of Fern Glen chert that was not heat treated.

Table 3. Database of Post-Paleoindian Artifacts from Martens (cont’d.)

Material

Artifact Type Number B Other Cherts Heat Treated

Late Woodland Scallorn 3 3 2Steuben 1 1 0Koster 1 1 0Total 5 5 2 Mississippian Madison 1 1 0Total 1 1 0 Indeterminate 210 171 29-S;6-JC;3-I;1-Ch 46Total 210 171 39 46

Artifact type names and totals are presented with materials and heat treatment. Cherts used are Burlington (B), Chouteau (CHO), Chalcedonic (CH), Fern Glen (FG), Indeterminate (I), Jefferson City (JC), and (S) Salem.

Page 36: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 24. Early Archaic (a and b) and Middle Archaic (c–h) artifacts from Martens. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Fern Glen (FG). a, Hardin Barbed (B); b, Bass knife (B); c, Valmeyer (FG); d and e, Matanzas (B); f, Valmeyer (B); and g and h, Karnak (B).

A large Late Archaic (3000–600 B.C.) site, about 7.5 km west-southwest of the Martens site, was excavated in 1993. Over 2,100 artifacts were recov-ered, with the majority associated with the Titterington/Sedalia phase. Mean radiocarbon dates ranged from 2130 to 1989 B.C. (Harl 1995). Harl found evidence that a Burlington chert outcrop, exposed by Bonhomme Creek, had been used by site residents. This could also have been the source for much of the Burlington chert found on the Martens site. Thirty-five of the 39 Late-Archaic artifacts from the Martens site were made of Burlington chert and 21 of these were heat treated. The remaining four points were of Chouteau, Indeterminate, Jefferson City, and Salem cherts. None of these points was heat treated. Representative artifacts are illustrated

Page 37: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

(Figures 25–26). The percentage of heat treatment for the Archaic periods consistently fell in the range of 45–55%.

Early and Middle Woodland (600 B.C.–A.D. 450)

The Early Woodland period in eastern Missouri has been characterized as the continuation of Late Archaic lifestyles but with the widespread introduc-tion of pottery. The Middle Woodland period begins around 250 B.C. with an explosion in pottery design motifs. No Early Woodland sites have been excavated near the Martens site. There are four Early Woodland points in the collection (with examples shown in Figure 27). Three of the points are made from Burlington chert and two are heat treated. The fourth point is made from Jefferson City chert, and it is not heat treated. A Middle-Woodland period (250 B.C.–A.D. 450) site, located about 8 km north of the Martens site, was excavated by Leonard Blake in 1953. This site

Figure 25. Late Archaic artifacts from Martens. a, Titterington drill (S); b, Sedalia digger/adze (B); c, Sedalia drill (B); and d–g, Etley (B). Chert types are Burlington (B) and Salem (S).

Page 38: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Figure 26. Late Archaic artifacts from Martens, all of Burlington chert. a, Helton (drill on point); b and c, Table Rock; d, Melville; e and f, Springly; g–i, Helton; and j, Ex-panding stem.

yielded decorated pottery characteristic of the period and an average radio-carbon date of 120 B.C. (Martens 2001a). There is only one point from this period in the collection, a Snyders point made from heat-treated Burlington chert (Figure 27e).

Late Woodland and Mississippian (A.D. 450–1800)

The Late Woodland period has been called the uninteresting time between the Middle Woodland and Mississippian periods. The pottery is plain com-pared to Middle Woodland material but the bow and arrow made its appear-ance during this time. No Late Woodland sites have been excavated in the area, but a site that yielded Emergent Mississippian and Mississippian materials is about 1 km northwest of the Martens site. Excavations there in 1981 revealed

Page 39: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

a burned house containing quantities of burned maize and artifacts commonly found at Mississippian sites (Batsell 1985). Average radiocarbon dates of A.D. 600–700 were obtained there. The four arrowpoints and the dart point from the Late Woodland period in the collection are shown (Figure 27). The dart point is of Burlington chert and is not heat treated. The arrowpoints are of Burlington chert, and two are heat treated. Additional Late Woodland artifacts include 13 pottery sherds and a broken, perforated limestone discoidal 74 mm in diameter. The lone Missis-sippian arrowpoint is of Burlington chert and has not been heat treated.

Figure 27. Early Woodland (a–d), Middle Woodland (e), Late Woodland (f–j) and Mis-sissippian (k) artifacts from Martens. Chert types are Burlington (B) and Jefferson City (JC). a, Dickson (JC); b–d, Belknap (B); e, possible Snyders (B); f, Steuben (B); g, Koster (B); h–j, Scallorn (B); and k, Madison (B).

Page 40: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Summary and Conclusions

The surface collection from the largest Clovis habitation site in Missouri and possibly in the Midwest has been documented. The material from this rich site has been placed in the context of regional archaeology near the confluence of the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. This provides much-needed information for students and amateur archaeologists interested in the archaeology of the area. It also demonstrates how amateurs and professionals working together can save our archaeological heritage. This report includes descriptions of Clovis manufacturing technologies for fluted points and blade tools; examples of the ranges of tools and manu-facturing failures to be expected from a Clovis habitation site; illustrations of 74 Clovis artifacts and photographs of 43 artifacts from the Dalton through Mississippian periods; and a database of the 204 artifacts placed in temporal periods ranging from Clovis to Mississippian. Listings include the artifact types and numbers, materials used, and heat treatment. The Clovis people at the Martens site used materials from as far away as Arkansas (about 300 km) and the St. Francois Mountains of the northeastern Ozarks (120 km). A total of 23 Clovis points have been found at the site, though in the 1970s Chapman only listed 60 Clovis points as being found in all of St. Louis County. The surface collection contained 93 Clovis and 32 Probable Clovis artifacts; Clovis artifacts dominate the surface collection at 61.3%, with the second highest amount (19.1%) contributed by the Late Archaic period. Looking at the number of artifacts per 100 years, for each temporal period, shows much the same thing: Clovis, 41.7, Late Archaic, 1.6, with both Dalton and Early Woodland at 1.1 artifacts per 100 years. Two sizes of Clovis points were found. The largest points had average width and thickness values greater than those of the smallest, by 46.4% and 43% respectively. The smaller points were probably made on flakes, though one could have been made on a blade. Heavily-reworked points have lost from 25 to as much as 44% of their original length. Clovis blades also fell into two groups based on size. Group 1 blades were 4.6–12 mm thick, while Group 2 blades were 16–19 mm thick. Dalton artifacts include an unusually large point

Page 41: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

with an unbroken length of about 143 mm. This is about 40% longer than unused points from the area. The Martens site was little used during the Woodland and Mississippian periods. Burlington chert was the material of choice for all periods. Approxi-mately 83% of the Clovis artifacts were made of this chert, and it was used for at least 75% of the artifacts from the other periods. The percentage of heat-treated artifacts from the Early Archaic through Late Woodland periods ranged from 40 to 100%. The single Mississippian artifact was not heat treated.

Acknowledgments

We thank John Fox for his expert assistance with identifying the felsite and its probable source. Toby Morrow and Val Waldorf created most of the illustrations — they are works of art. Martens also thanks his wife, Mary F. Martens, for her strong support during the long-term effort of documenting this site.

References Cited

Ahler, S. A., J. E. Morrow, and T. A. Morrow 2000 Microwear Analysis of Selected Clovis Artifacts from the Martens

Site (23SL222), St. Louis County, Missouri. Current Research in the Pleistocene 17:101–03.

Battsell, N. C. 1985 An Emergent Mississippian Farmstead at Thornhill (23SL220).

Unpublished masters thesis, Washington University, Department of Anthropology.

Callahan, E. 1991 Out of Theory and into Reality: A Comment on Nami’s Comment.

Plains Anthropologist 36(137):367–68. Chapman, C. H. 1975 The Archaeology of Missouri 1. Columbia: University of Missouri

Press.

Page 42: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

T M A, V.

Collins, M. B. 1999 Clovis Blade Technology. Austin: University of Texas Press. Graham, R. W., C. V. Haynes, D. L. Johnson, and M. Kay 1981 Kimmswick: A Clovis-Mastodon Association in Eastern Missouri.

Science 213:115–17. Gramly, R. M. 1990 Guide to the Paleo-Indian Artifacts of North America. Buffalo: Per-

simmon Press. Harl, J. L. 1995 Data Recovery Investigations at the Hayden Site (23SL36) and the

Rabanus Site (23SL859): New Insights into the Titterington/Sedalia Phase in East-Central Missouri. University of Missouri–St. Louis, Archaeological Survey, Research Report No. 182.

Irwin, H. T., and H. M. Wormington 1970 Paleo-Indian Tool Types in the Great Plains. American Antiquity

35(1):24–34. Koldehoff, B., J. E. Morrow, T. A. Morrow, and R. Martens 1995 The Martens Site (23SL222): A Clovis Occupation in St. Louis

County, Missouri. Current Research in the Pleistocene 12:24–26. Martens, R. E. 1976 Indians. In Heritage of the Creve Coeur Area, edited by G. Dalton.

City of Creve Coeur, Mo. Pp. 26–39. 1986 Mound City Archaeological Society Display of Paleo-Indian Mate-

rial. Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly 3(2):23. 2001a Woodland Excavation. Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly

18(1):12–13. 2001b Identification of Clovis End Scrapers from the Martens Site

(23SL222). Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly 18(4):4–9. Morrow, J. E. 1996 The Organization of Early Paleo-Indian Lithic Technology in the

Confluence Region of the Mississippi, Illinois, and Missouri Rivers. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Washington University, Depart-ment of Anthropology.

Page 43: The Surface Collection from the Martens Site, 23SL222

S C M S,

1998. Excavations at the Martens Site, 23SL222. Missouri Archaeological Society Quarterly 15(1):4–7.

Nichols, G. W. 1970 The Hinge Fracture Problem in Fluted Point Manufacture. Missouri

Archaeological Society Memoir 8:1–10. O’Brien, M. J., and W. R. Wood 1998 The Prehistory of Missouri. Columbia: University of Missouri

Press. Walthall, J. A., and B. Koldehoff 1998 Hunter–Gatherer Interaction and Alliance Formation: Dalton and the

Cult of the Long Blade. Plains Anthropologist 43(165):257–73. Witthoft, J. 1952 A Paleo-Indian Site in Eastern Pennsylvania: An Early Hunting

Culture. Proceedings American Philosophical Society 96(4):464–95. Philadelphia.