Lithic Resource Survey of the Upper Little River Drainage: Raw Material Availability and Use at the Townsend Sites

From 1999 to 2002, the Transportation Center at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, conducted a number of archaeological investigations associated with the widening of State Route 73 (U.S. 321) through Townsend, Tennessee. The excavations at the Townsend sites resulted in the recovery of a large assemblage of chipped and ground stone tools. A lithic resource survey of the upper Little River drainage was undertaken to identify the likely source areas of raw materials used for the manufacture of the chipped and ground stone tools recovered during the Townsend excavations. These data were then used to identify local versus non-local materials use by prehistoric peoples in Tuckaleechee Cove. The results of this research are presented in this thesis.