USING FOURIER TRANSFORM INFRARED RELFECTANCE SPECTROSCOPY TO DETERMINE MATERIAL SOURCE FOR PROTOHISTORIC STONE TOOLS

Exchange between Protohistoric Period Native American and European traders in the Central Mississippi Valley reorganized the lithic industry to focus on hide processing. The most distinctive markers of this industry, thumbnail scrapers, increased as participation in the regional trade intensified and gradually led European-made goods replacing traditional tools. Although several avenues concerning the implications of thumbnail scrapers have been investigated, their raw material source remains inconclusive across the region. Verifying material source will shed light on possible shifts in lithic procurement strategies, mobility patterns, and interregional relationships following participation in the skin trade economy. Additionally, variations in lithic selectivity may be a factor in certain groups’ success or failure in the trade. Using Fourier Transform Infrared Reflectance (FTIR) spectroscopy, the chert type and source will be non-invasively determined for a collection of thumbnail scrapers from various protohistoric sites in the Central Mississippi Valley based on variation naturally occurring in chert formations.