RECONSTRUCTING LATE ARCHAIC TECHNOLOGY: AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY OF FLAKED STONE IN THE UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN

Trout Point 1 on Grand Island, Michigan has been excavated and analyzed without an adequate explanation of the prehistoric activities at the site. A CONFUSING artifact assemblage of almost entirely lithic material and fire-cracked rock was recovered from this cliff-top site. The final excavation report of Trout Point 1 states that the flaked stone, found in association with fire-cracked rock in the block excavation of the site, showed little if any signs of exposure to fire. The conclusion drawn after the excavation was that the artifact deposit at the site represented a midden where fire-cracked rock was dumped as well as a possible flaking station for stone tools (Benchley et al. 1988). This paper deals with the hypothesis that quartzite cobbles were being heat treated at the Trout Point 1 site on Grand Island, Michigan as a primary stage in stone tool manufacture. The data produced by this study resulted from heating and flintknapping experiments carried out on quartzite material from the same source as the Trout Point 1 lithic assemblage. Experiment results, coupled with archaeological literature used for comparative analysis, demonstrate that Trout Point 1 was a heat-treatment and lithic manufacturing station during the Late Archaic period in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan