The East Terrace Site - Terminal Woodland

The East Terrace Site
Terminal Woodland - Expedient Stone Tools

drawing

Most people would recognize chipped stone tools like spear or arrow points, scrapers, and knives. At first glance, however, unpatterned stone tools are often mistaken for smooth cobbles that have been split or chipped by natural forces. Upon closer examination, the trained eye notices chipping along the tool’s perimeter that forms a jagged edge. Unpatterned stone tools were used frequently during the Terminal Woodland period at East Terrace, as well as during other time periods. These tools were probably used to chop, rip, tear, or shred various plant or animal tissues just like similar tools were used nearly 2.5 million years ago in the Old World. They were made quickly and probably used immediately, the way we use our teeth to open packaging or cut string when scissors are not handy. Such tools frequently show smoothing, blunting, or crushing on their working edges. Archaeologists use microscopes to examine the edges of tools to identify wear that could have resulted only from human use. Edge damage caused by human use is usually more regular and less pronounced than natural wear. it is also confined to the same work areas that it would appear on in similar kinds of modern tools, such as drills, knives, and hammers.

Because these tools are easily and quickly made from low quality, commonly occurring stone such as quartz and basalt, they were generally used for a short period of time and then discarded where they were used. Numerous and cheap, they were not worth carrying from camp site to camp site.

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