Document Type

Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Spring 2025

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Cultural and Environmental Resource Management

Committee Chair

Patrick McCutcheon

Second Committee Member

Steven Hackenberger

Third Committee Member

Brandy Rinck

Abstract

A technological and functional paradigmatic classification was applied to a sample of 210 lithic artifacts from the late-Holocene (550-300 cal BP) archaeological site 45KI00263 in King County, Washington. This research aimed to quantify functional variability within the lithic assemblage and investigate how such results compare to past interpretations of the site. Despite being near the location of an ethnographic village and being referred to as a village, or multifunctional space, in literature (Kopperl et al. 2016), past analyses of the 45KI00263 assemblage could not confirm that the site held the characteristics typically associated with village sites (such as a diverse lithic assemblage and residential structures) (Schumacher and Burns 2005). The present analysis investigated use wear attributes within the lithic assemblage by generating a data set of mutually exclusive functional classes. A variety of diversity measures were applied to the data set. Diversity measures were then compared to other sites to ascertain relative levels of functional diversity, which allowed for inferences to be made regarding the range of variability in activities that occurred within the site. Results indicate that the functional class assemblage of 45KI00263 is rich and diverse. Values of diversity for 45KI00263 exceed those of other sites that have been referred to in literature as residential base camps. Because of low sample sizes and the sites that were compared to differ from 45KI00263 in environmental and temporal context, these comparisons are tentative. However, diversity measured within the 45KI00263 assemblage reflects a high degree of variation in the motions and material interactions that created wear on stone tools. Therefore, it can be reasonably concluded the stone tool assemblage is consistent with a multifunctional space like a village or long-term camp despite the lack of residential features.

Additional Files
45KI263_KovachAnalysis_2025_AppendixB.xlsb (536 kB)
Appendix B
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Available for download on Friday, June 25, 2027

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