Effects of evolutionary processes on lithic raw material procurement and use during the Puebloan period at Bosson Wash, Zuni, New Mexico

The goal of this research was to determine the importance of the procurement and use of lithic raw materials to the fitness of Puebloan period populations in Bosson Wash, near Zuni, New Mexico. A melding of evolutionary biological and archeological theory and method was constructed for this research to identify past procurement and use behaviors, temporal changes in those behaviors, and the degree of fitness they imparted within the prehistoric Bosson Wash populations.; This was achieved by applying assemblage-level analyses derived from organization of lithic technology theory to reconstruct from accumulated lithic attribute data (1) how the Bosson Wash populations were procuring and using each of the lithic raw materials available to them and (2) whether the way in which the Bosson Wash populations were procuring and using lithic raw material resources changed across generations. Change in how the Bosson Wash populations were procuring and using materials through the use of ANOVA and chi-square tests of homogeneity on differing attribute means and frequencies compiled from the Bosson Wash artifacts and compared by time period. A fitness regression model of selection was used to identify degree of influence of natural selection on the kinds, amounts, and different uses of material at Bosson Wash related to fitness by identifying whether changes in those traits are similar in degree and direction to changes occurring in similar traits across generations within a population as a whole.; Analyses revealed that the Bosson Wash populations were procuring and using a wide variety of materials for chipped stone tools. Local materials were used more extensively than more distant materials, though both local and exotic materials were used through all time periods. No materials appear to have had any specialized uses. There is evidence that significant changes in the procurement and/or use of four materials, chert, silicified wood, quartzite, and Zuni Spotted Chert, may have occurred within the Bosson Wash populations over time. However, the application of the fitness regression model to the Bosson Wash data faded to reveal strong evidence that these changes in procurement and use of the raw materials by the Bosson Wash populations were influenced by selection. There is no evidence to suggest a strong relationship between fitness, selection, and the observed changes in behavior at Bosson Wash.