Prehistoric lithic reduction at Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, Missouri: A spatial approach

Wilson's Creek National Battlefield, located in southwestern Missouri near Springfield, marks the site of an important Civil War battle, hence the name. Because of this designation and the important events that took place here, the history of this area is well documented. The prehistory of this area, which is the focus of this paper, has been investigated on numerous occasions. These investigations have resulted in the recovery of numerous pieces of lithic tools and debitage. Using a combination of Stanley Ahler's, mass analysis techniques, Clifford Brown's fractal approach, and the spatial location of eight sites and their associated artifacts, inferences will be made on what activities may have been taking place and how the site's location affected their assemblage. The results of this analysis indicate the Wilson's Creek area was most likely an area that was mainly used for the initial reduction and production of stone tools.