Functional inferences for groups of stone tools from a late Pleistocene archaeological site found in central Alaska: use-wear analysis of experimental stone tools and a sample of lithic from component I of the Walker Road site (HEA-130)

Abstract

This report is a discussion of use-wear analysis conducted on an experimental tool assemblage (n=36), and a sample of lithic artifacts (n-114) from component I of the Walker Road archaeological site (WR-CI). WR-CI is a late pleistocene human occupation site located in the Nenana Valley of Alaska, that is assigned to the Nenana complex (Goebel and Hamilton 1999). The experimental basis for this project, in combination with the results of other use-wear studies, is employed to infer the functions of the tools from the WR-CI sample.