Phase II Lithics Analysis

The lithics analysis conducted by A. Mackay, S. Morales, and N. Tripcevich is largely based on a modified version of the lithics analysis strategies that Mackay employs in projects at Australian National University under the direction of Dr. Peter Hiscock. This methodology was tailored to meet the needs of the Upper Colca project and to be comparable with lithics analysis in Andes that often have a more typological orientation.

During Phase II lithics analysis, the following measures were taken when possible. A custom MS Access form was designed for the Phase II lithics analysis that functioned with digital calipers to expedite gathering metric attributes digitally.

Name	Description	Illustrated
Material	Obsidian, Chert, Chalcedony, Fine-grained Volcanics (Rhyolite, Andesite, Basalt), Quartzite, Fine-grained siliceous, Igneous
Class and Type	Flake, core, heat shatter, hammerstone, groundstone, non-diagnostic fragment (NDF). Projectile Point, biface, retouched flake, perforator.
Color / Shade	Shades of obsidian: Black, white, clear, clear-banded, grey, grey-banded, brown, brown_banded. Other material types also included: red, black-orange, black-tan, olive, orange, pink, red-blue, red-brown, cream, white-tan, white-pink.
Weight (g)
Complete	True/False
Transverse snaps	Proximal, medial, distal - referring to existing segment.
Longitudinal snaps	Left or right - referring to existing segment
Percussive Metrics	Distance from Point of initiation to termination	Yes
Percussive Width	[Proximal, Medial, Distal] Distance across flake at 90 to force of application	Yes
Percussive Thickness	Distance from ventral to dorsal at midpoint of percussive length and percussive width (medial)	Yes
Platform width	Lateral distance across platform	Yes
Platform thickness	Distance across platform from dorsal to ventral	Yes
Platform preparation	Presence of overhang removal, faceting, or both (Whittaker 1994: 101)
Platform angle	Angle formed by intersection of platform and dorsal face.
Cortex percentage	% of cortex coverage in increments of 10. Flakes: dorsal and platform only, cores: whole piece.
Cortex location	On flakes: Dorsal, platform or both.
Cortex type	Rounded, tubular, irregular,
Heat affected	Y/N
Heat Type	Greasy luster, crazing, pot-lidding, shatter
Termination type	Feather, hinge, step, plunging (outre-passé)
Number of dorsal flake scars	Number of clear (with initation, termination or both) flake scars on dorsal surface of flake
Number of rotations	N-1 where N is the total number of different directions from which previous flakes have been struck, sensu Clarkson et al. (2006). Increments of 45°.
Retouched	Y/N
Retouch Type	Dorsal Ventral, both
# of retouched segments	Flake divided into 8 segments	Yes
Retouch data (8 segments)	P, PL, PR, ML, MR, DL, DR, D: Degree and Angle of Retouch for each. Marginal = .5, Invasive = 1 following Clarkson (2002).	Yes

Table 5-8. Measures on flaked stone artifacts during Phase II lithics analysis with measures depicted in Figure 5-9 indicated in "Illustrated" column.

Figure5-9. Showing some of the percussive metrics, platform metrics, and measures of retouch invasiveness for ventral side (Clarkson 2002) used in the Phase II analysis. Dorsal features and platform angle not shown.

Metric measures (shown in Table 5-6 and Figure 5-9) were taken with digital calipers accurate to 0.01 mm. The percussive length measure, rather than total a flake length measure, was used. Approximately 3,050 flakes were analyzed with these criteria.

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