Papers by Ruthann Knudson
American women experienced a lot of changes from the 1940s through the 1960s, and this is reflect... more American women experienced a lot of changes from the 1940s through the 1960s, and this is reflected in their participation in the River Basin Surveys (RBS) and the Interagency Archeological Salvage Program (IASP). Women were consulting experts, field crew members, and occasionally even crew chiefs, laboratory managers and technicians, editors, office staff, and unsalaried working wives in the field and laboratory, as well as at their typewriters. Using a conservative ratio of 1:5 for field to laboratory work hours on a mid-1900s archaeological project, I estimate that women completed at least 75 percent of the RBS, rASP, and related archaeological work across the United States, most of which was in the laboratory: washing, labeling, describing, and reporting on the artifacts, site layout, and archaeological patterns. Despite this, there is still a public (and even scholarly?) perception that only those bronzed, lean, and usually shirtless male field surveyors and excavators were RBS archaeologists.
The s o u~t e m Nebraska Paleoindian Red Smoke site (i5FToJ is in the uppa reaches of a gallay-fo... more The s o u~t e m Nebraska Paleoindian Red Smoke site (i5FToJ is in the uppa reaches of a gallay-forested river that flows east to the Mississippi, in a sheltered, well-watered niche abundant in deer, small game, vegetable fwds, and local highquality knappable tabular stone (Smoky Hill jasper). It is a westward penetration into the High Plains, where bison were plentiful but water and good tool stone were less abundant. An estimated 98 percent of the flaked stone to& found in the Red Smoke assemblage are of local jasper. The most common artifacts are debitage, bifaces rdecting several stages of reduction, and bifacial cutting and chopping tools. The site's Zone 88 assemblage is dated to between 9000 and 8700 RCYBP. The site appears to reflect flaked stone reduction activities while people were camped at thesite,whiehwasadycenttoexposedj~bedrockMostofthe well-reduced Red Smoke bifaces are £ragments that exhibit unregim t e d I--wide facial flake scars. A dozen or more alternate beveled Zone 88 points [that may have served as both projectiles and knives) have strong stylistic similarities to the Dalton mat& found in the Mississippi R i m drainage farther east and south, and two of these Red Smoke tools are identical in material, technology, and reshaped form to the two artifacts found at the M m e site in eastern Nebraska. Tko "Eden" point midsections, one of Alibates agatized dolomite and the other of Hamrille Uplift quaraite, are e t e d There is as0 one relatively complete point, which may or may not be of local jasper, with regimented p a d k l oblique Baking. Most of the points are stylistically and t c c h a l~y similar to mols hum the Lime Creek and Allen sites just east of Red Smoke, to the Clary Ran& and Scottsbluff The Red Smoke Assemblage / 8s sites in the North Platte valley to the northwest, and even to the Ray Long (Angostml site assemblage on the Cheyenne R i m in westan South Dakota. A few Red Smoke tools dispk s h i h i t i e s to artifacts fmm the Hell Gap site, an ecotonal quarry workshop and habitation site on the Wyoming boundary of the High Plains, and with bison kill sites, such as Claypool and Frasca, west of Red Smoke. Comparable point styles are also found at the Packard site in O W m a and the Acton site in Teas. Following Invin, the Medicine Creek and North Platte valley Paleoindian sites discussed here are labeled the Medicine Creek complex. Detailed analysis of the Red Smoke assemblage and site is incomplete, but some thoughts of patterns are offered
Five lanceolalejloked stone tools, two with fitted or matching debilage flakes, and three flake t... more Five lanceolalejloked stone tools, two with fitted or matching debilage flakes, and three flake tools were recovered jiom feature FA5-I 7, a Bison anliqulrs killhulchering activity area, in subslrohun 2s at the Lubbock Lake Landmark (41LUI), T m . These arlifocts are identified as lhe Lubbock assemblage, with contracting-stemmed Lubbockpoinls named as a mnemonic rather than a lype. A radiocarbon determination of 995&120 BP is associated. The Lubbock ariifocts reflect a b f i a l reduction lechnologv applied to a variety of lilhic materials (e.g., Jemez Mowlain obsidian. Pedemal chert, Alibates agatized dolomite, Edwards Formation chert, chalcedony), with final pmollel-collateral facialflaking of the stylized tool. Most appear to have been resharpened but not recycled The typical lanceolate form has a converging proximal end and a narrow, straight-edged base, as fmade to be socketed into a fireshap ofprescribed width. Several f n o l all of the lanceolate points were used as hives, and two exhibit hemy battering as fused as aake bits. Various combinations of the Lubbock assemblage's aflributes are fiund in the Agate Bosin, Bonfire, Carter/Ketr McGee, Clovis, Hell Gap, Jmes-Miller, P a h r d , Plainview, or Ryan site assemblages. The presently mailable chronological jiamework suggests that parollel-collateral flaking is not itselja temporally diagnostic attribute on the North Americm Great Plains during the Pleistocene-Holocene Iransition. Hap detail combined with facial flaking moy be temporally mdgeographically more sensitive.
The San Jon Paleoindian flaked lithic assemblage has more value as an example of problems in Pale... more The San Jon Paleoindian flaked lithic assemblage has more value as an example of problems in Paleoindian sptematiw than as a key to understanding &Iy Holocene culture history on the Southern ; Plains. There is no such thing as a Sun Jon point lype of any classificatory significance. There is a Paleoindian lanceolate projectile point styIe represented at the Smt Jon site by one n e w compIete tool, perhaps shaped or used as a knife as well as a projectile, and one shattere&reworkedpoint remnant, both from questionable proveniences. They don't teN us much.
Cultural resource management (CRM) is much more than archaeology, more than 'public archaeology" ... more Cultural resource management (CRM) is much more than archaeology, more than 'public archaeology" or "contract archaeology" (Cleere 1984a(Cleere , 1984b; Cmber this volume; Lipe 1984; Trigger this volume; 6.
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c o n t r a c t , and a s e p a r a t e purchase o r d e r [PX-1595-6-AOOB]. have served a s c o ... more c o n t r a c t , and a s e p a r a t e purchase o r d e r [PX-1595-6-AOOB]. have served a s c o n t r a c t i n g o f f i c e r s f o r t h e p r o j e c t d u r i n g t h i s p e r i o d , and t h e i r p a t i e n c e and c o n s i d e r a t i o n h a s been a p p r e c i a t e d . Knudson was made p r i n c i p a l i n v e s t i g a t o r of t h e p r o j e c t i n 1975, and f o r c o n t r a c t purposes Roderick Sprague of t h e U n i v e r s i t y ' s Laboratory of Anthropology took on t h a t r o l e i n 1981 a f t e r Knudson's r e s i g n a t i o n from t h e U n i v e r s i t y . Throughout t h e p a s t n i n e y e a r s , t h e major support f o r t h e p r o j e c t h a s come from t h e U n i v e r s i t y . The i n s t i t u t i o n h a s provided s i g n i f i c a n t d i r e c t f i n a n c i a l c o n t r i b u t i o n s through t h e Laboratory of Anthropology and t h e of t h e U n i v e r s i t y o f Tennessee provided a d d i t i o n a l comments on t h e Anton Rygh s k e l e t a l m a t e r i a l , and l e d us t o L i n t s d o c t o r a l d i s s e r t a t i o n . C a r l F a l k , U n i v e r s i t y of Nebraska, supplemented t h e f a u n a l d a t a . Roderick Sprague, U n i v e r s i t y of Idaho, i d e n t i f i e d t h e h i s t o r i c a r t i f a c t s . A l l of t h i s a s s i s t a n c e i s appreciated. Students a t t h e U n i v e r s i t y of Idaho have provided major c o n t r i b u t i o n s i n t h e e f f o r t t o d e s c r i b e and, t o a l i m i t e d degree, analyze t h e Anton Rygh c o l l e c t i o n ; some of t h e i r time h a s been s a l a r i e d , some of it h a s been f o r c o l l e g e c r e d i t i n l i e u of cash. During t h e p a s t n i n e y e a r s a t l e a s t t h r e e "generations" of graduate s t u d e n t s have been involved w i t h t h e p r o j e c t , t h e major c o n t r i b u t i o n s coming from Jeanne Moe. Thomas J. Hudson completed t h e
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Papers by Ruthann Knudson