Practice Makes Projectiles: Genesse Biface Technology in Southern Ontario

• Main Author: Malleau, Kaitlyn C.M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Scholarship@Western 2015
• Subjects: Great Lakes archaeology; broad point; Genesee; projectile points; communities of practice; diagnostic impact fractures; Archaeological Anthropology; Davidson; Sadler; First Nations
• Online Access: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/3309; https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/context/etd/article/4811/viewcontent/K._Malleau_Practice_Makes_Projectiles___Post_Submission_Corrections__2__FINAL_COPY.pdf; https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/context/etd/article/4811/filename/0/type/additional/viewcontent/Appendix_E___SPSS_Outputs.docx

In this study I investigate the lithic technology practice communities of what is now southwestern Ontario between 3800 and 3400 B.P., the latter part of the period dubbed “the Broad Point Archaic.” I seek to propose historical processes by which Genesee bifaces might have entered Ontario, and how they were used by past First Nations peoples. I observe both the form (using qualitative and metric traits) and use-wear (using macroscopic diagnostic impact fractures) of Genesee bifaces from seven sites located in southwestern Ontario: Davidson, Sadler, Desjardins, Parkhill, Brodie, R&K, and Hamilton Golf Course. The evidence suggests Genesee bifaces were used as projectiles throughout the region. Additionally, it appears that the communities in the Ausable and Komoka drainages altered their technological system (Adder Orchard) in order to adopt aspects of Genesee technology. The spread, and use, of broad-bladed bifaces in the region is now more well-understood.