Ancient trade and travel in northwest Pennsylvania: Exotic and local lithic distribution

This study examines archaeological sites along the Clarion River, southern Allegheny National Forest, northwest Pennsylvania, in order to explain the archaeological distribution of local and exotic lithics in the wider area of western Pennsylvania. Its goal is to examine prehistoric trade and travel throughout the region in the context of local geography. This study compares the geographic distributions of locally available lithic materials to those of exotic lithics to determine which areas may have been served by trade and travel routes. The study analyzes the specific raw material stone types and stone tool types from the study locations and compares these with the source and reduction of the lithic material. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) methods are used to calculate and visually display information, site distribution, and source-to-site relationships. This analysis seeks to understand how far an object may have traveled, from where prehistoric people were getting their materials, with whom they were possibly trading, and to present archaeological explanations of why people trade and travel. The results indicate that while some exotic objects traveled farther from their source than previously thought, a majority of local chert was found in the sites along the Clarion River and throughout the region and more sites with exotic lithics were located south of the river than north. Site distribution shows that regions south of the Clarion River have more evidence of trade or travel than the forest area north of the river.