ABSTRACT

The recovery of hundreds of unmodified polished pebbles from excavations at Spirit Eye Cave in West Texas provides an opportunity to analyze an underreported class of lithic artifact. When unmodified pebbles are recovered from large shelter sites in the Texas region, they are sometimes associated with a portable form of pebble art. Because of the small size and recovery of avian faunal elements from the cave, this analysis pursued the possibility of the pebbles representing gastroliths associated with the procurement of avian species. Diagnostic attributes of gastroliths from experimental studies in paleontology provide the criteria for assessment. The results indicate that local formation processes, rather than the procurement of avian species by prehistoric inhabitants, better explain the data set. The study also found more polished chert pebbles than any other lithic material and this is argued to represent human agency; a discussion of the implications for these results provides a range of interpretive possibilities.

摘要

从西德克萨斯州Spirit Eye Cave的发掘中回收了数百个未修饰的抛光卵石，这为分析报告不足的石器物提供了机会。当从得克萨斯州的大型庇护所中回收未改性的鹅卵石时，它们有时与便携式形式的鹅卵石艺术品有关。由于洞穴中鸟类动物的种类很小且数量众多，因此该分析试图探讨卵石代表与采购鸟类相关的胃石的可能性。来自古生物学实验研究的胃石的诊断属性提供了评估标准。结果表明，本地形成过程而不是史前居民购买鸟类物种，可以更好地解释数据集。该研究还发现，经过抛光的t石卵石比其他任何石质材料都多，据认为这代表了人类的作用。对这些结果的含义的讨论提供了一系列的解释可能性。