During a life well-lived by any North American archaeologist who has engaged
in the study of lithic artifacts, several cherished goals might be attained.
Foremost is definition of a projectile point type new to science; while,
another is investigation of a major lithic source that has been forgotten
since prehistory. Focusing upon this second goal, we recount events during
a 28-year period that led to the discovery of the Hole-inthe-Wall lithic
source in northern Nevada – a quarryworkshop complex located in thinly-populated
Churchill County. The distinctive raw material (chalcedony and/or agate)
from this source was unknown to science until recently. We will argue on
the basis of various discoveries, it is widely disseminated across the United
States.
Our story begins with the East Wenatchee Clovis site (aka, Richey Clovis
Cache) in Douglass County, central Washington State.
I. The Richey Clovis Cache.
Archaeological fieldwork in 1990 at the East Wenatchee Clovis site, which
is celebrated for a cache of over-sized Clovis points, beveled rods made
of proboscidean (rib) bone, and flaked implements of several types, was marred
by demonstrations and continuous controversy – as reported by regional
and national news media (Fig. 1). Despite this interference, it was possible
to complete limited scientific investigations, culminating in popular publications,
a monograph (Gramly 1993 and 2004), epoxy casts of important artifacts available
for purchase, a poster featuring pen-and-ink drawings by artist and expedition
member, Valerie Waldorf, and a set of color slides for classroom use.
By all accounts, three months of excavating at Wenatchee were successful;
however, certain questions remained unanswered. One of them was the origin
of raw materials used to manufacture the specimens within Feature 1 (the
Richey Clovis Cache, per se) and Feature 2.
A little more than a decade after the conclusion of the Wenatchee dig two
facts about lithic origins had been established, namely: 1) the majority
of flaked stone artifacts made of colorful agate was derived from volcanic
formations 30-35 miles east of Wenatchee near Ephrata, Washington; and 2)
the flaked tools of translucent, pale-gray silica, comprising only 10-15%
of the total assemblage, were Tesowhee (Tosawihi) chert – a stone outcropping
over 600 miles to the south (!) near Battle Mountain, northern Nevada (Gramly,
Waldorf, and Waldorf 2004). This particular Great Basin lithic source has
long been known to the Shoshone inhabitants of the Humboldt River region,
and it has been a focus of archaeologists’ attention (Elston 2006).
The sole stone artifact from the Richey Clovis Cache whose precise origin
continued to elude us was a sidescraper of distinctive, translucent, homogeneous
silica, grayish-yellow in color (5Y8/4, GSA Rock-Color Chart, 1975). Initially,
this raw material was dubbed a “lemon-yellow chalcedony,” as
its sharkskin-textured rind (see Fig. 2) is characteristic of fine-grained
silica in that class. Another identifying feature of chalcedony is its fibrous
texture giving a radial extinction pattern when thin-sections are viewed
through a polarizing microscope.
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This excerpt from "Hole-in-the-Wall: Archaeological
Discovery of a Major Lithic Source in North-Central Nevada" published
in the 2021 Central States Archaeological Societies 2021
January Journal
Read this and mores in the Central States
Archaeological 2021
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2022
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Figure 1. Day of demonstration at the East Wenatchee
Clovis
site, October 22, 1990 (unattributed wire-service photograph).
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Interest in the search for this minority raw material variety died away,
just as the Wenatchee site had become “old news” to North American
prehistorians a few years after the 1990 dig. One of us (RMG) attempted to
involve students in the problem; however, no one was willing to accept the
challenge of searching for an archaeological will-o’-the-wisp.
However, in 1993 the desirability of continuing the search for the source
of lemon-yellow chalcedony was manifested when an intriguing artifact came
to light in southwest Indiana.
II. An Amazing Find at GE Mound (Mount Vernon Site).
The full story of the GE Mound and the events surrounding its partial destruction
during the 1980s has yet....
Read other great columns in the Central States Archaeological Societies 2021
January Journal which can be purchased on-line after March 2020
