A sample of typical Tallahatta Sandstone artifacts. Click on the picture for a larger view.
Streambed with Tallahatta Sandstone exposed.
| Tallahatta Sandstone: Archaeology | ||||||||||
| Tallahatta Sandstone was one of the most common lithic materials used by prehistoric peoples in south Alabama. Tallahatta artifacts are widely distributed across this region. The material was utilized by indigenous peoples from Paleoindian times (15,000+ years BP) to European contact. Tallahatta Sandstone quarry sites include eroding ridge-tops and side slopes with few to many pebble to boulder-sized pieces, streambeds that cut through Tallahatta Sandstone-bearing deposits, and secondary sources of Tallahatta Sandstone in gravel bars. | |
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A sample of typical Tallahatta Sandstone artifacts. Click on the picture for a larger view.
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| While it is tempting to use the frequency of previously recorded prehistoric quarry sites to extrapolate to the general availability of a material in a particular county, such data are misleading for several reasons. First, each county has witnessed varying degrees of archaeological investigation. To some degree, the frequency of quarry sites in a county is influenced by the amount of archaeological work conducted there. Second, archaeologists have varying opinions concerning what should constitute a quarry. For some, the geologic source of the raw material must be identified as a component of the site, while for others a significant amount of manufacturing debris is enough to designate a quarry. The latter position is understandable since it is assumed that great quantities of lithic materials would not have been carried far from their geologic source. However, the Poverty Point site in Louisiana, with several metric tons of stone tools and manufacturing debris of non-local stone (no knappable stone is located within 40 km of the site), illustrates that this assumption is not always correct. Finally, some archaeologists may lump a number of locations in the same general area under a single site number, while others may give each such location an individual site number. Even so, it is certain that significant amounts of Tallahatta Sandstone were obtained from locales in Conecuh, Choctaw and Clarke counties. Further research is needed to identify the actual number of quarry sites in south Alabama. | ||||||||||
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| While erosion destroys stratigraphic context, it does not always move artifacts horizontally. At this site, circular concentrations of Tallahatta sandstone were exposed on the surface. The best explanation for these concentrations is that they each represent the knapping of a stone tool. Careful recording of these surface finds can reveal much about how prehistoric peoples made stone tools. | ||||||||||
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Streambed with Tallahatta Sandstone exposed.
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