PREFACE

PROPOSED LITHIC MATERIAL CODE SHEETRegge N. WisemanResearch AssociateOffice of Archaeological StudiesMuseum of New MexicoSanta FeJune 1, 2006The following material types and codes were developed over a period of decades through my work oncollections from archaeological sites in southeastern New Mexico for the OAS. The only importantdifference is that the order of materials, colors, and code numbers have been rearranged to remove theinevitable incremental growth pangs expressed in the original code sheets. It should be noted that thisarrangement is new as of the above date, and it does not apply to any of my projects or reports for the OAS.However, for tracking purposes, my original code numbers are included in parentheses following the colorscheme description.The purpose of such a detailed list is to make record of the variety of materials used for chipped stonemanufacture by the Prehistoric and Early Historic peoples of southeastern New Mexico. Many archaeologistswill consider the categories to be excessive. However, the material types and colors of lithics used by pastNative Americans is great. They derive from a myriad of mostly unknown sources and potentially embodymuch information useful to our eventual understanding of prehistoric lifeways of the past. As we eventuallylearn more about specific sources, we should be able to go back through analyzed assemblages, morecorrectly identify the sources represented, and update our interpretations on a site by site basis.The process has already started with the black and red chert that we now know probably came from a sourcetandem to Tecovas (or Quitique) chert of the Texas panhandle. Without this type of discrimination, andespecially resorting to simply calling materials only by their rock type as most archaeologists tend to do, welose a large amount of potentially useful information. After all, how many researchers are going to go torepositories to pull out assemblages to reanalyze them beyond the categories of non-specific chert,chalcedony, quartzite, and the like? Having recorded color data available on work sheets, in lithic data bases,or in whatever form beyond the actual collections themselves will encourage additional research.Other factors important to the interpretation of raw material usage can be delineated by recording morespecific information about material types, and specifically, coloration. For instance, an initial evaluation ofthe arrowpoint preform assemblage at Sitio Creston near Las Vegas, New Mexico (Wiseman 1975) suggestedthat the red variety of Tecolote (or Madera) chert was a favored material. However, as the result of analysis, itwas a concluded that the red Tecolote material was conducive to a higher rate of breakage during the finalstages of projectile point production. If I had merely classified the materials as Tecolote chert (but had notdistinguished red versus gray varieties), tan-white cherts, etc., or worse yet, as cherts versus quartzites versuschalcedonies, etc., an important perspective on the materials would have been missed.6-38