Perspectives on Pits of the Western Stemmed Tradition : An Analysis on the Contents of Feature 59 at the Cooper’s Ferry Site

• Main Author: Carroll, Amanda J.
• Other Authors: Davis, Loren G., Terry, Rebecca C., Minc, Leah D., Rowe, Shawn, Language, Culture, and Society
• Format: Master Thesis
• Language: English; unknown
• Published: Oregon State University
• Subjects: Tools; Prehistoric; Prehistoric peoples; Mammal remains (Archaeology); Gulo gulo
• Online Access: https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/s1784r99k

Excavation of a pit feature designated as Feature 59 (F59) from the Cooper’s Ferry site (10IH73) in western Idaho offers a unique opportunity to explore more about the Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) and how people used pits in the Far West. In this thesis, an analysis is conducted on the contents from within F59. These contents include the skeleton of a wolverine (Gulo gulo) specimen found at the bottom of F59 in association with one WST projectile point. Furthermore, a biface, unifaces, blades, cores, modified flakes, and debitage as well as other fragmented faunal remains were excavated from F59 as well. A radiocarbon assay taken from a rib of the wolverine suggests an age of 9,620 ±30 radiocarbon years before present. Conducting analyses on F59 and its contents will further knowledge regarding how people used pits in prehistory at the Cooper’s Ferry site while also furthering research on domestic lifeways of the WST.