The deer mandible (jaw) was used as a threshing tool. Native Americans used this tool to thresh grasses for roofs and other uses.

The location chosen for an excavation, meaning the act or process of removing soil and/or rock materials by digging either at the surface or underground.

A social scientist who studies prehistoric people and their culture.

American Indian pottery traditions are difficult to generalize about because they developed so differently in different tribes. The fact of the matter is, everybody needs someplace to store their corn. As far as I know just about every culture that does any farming at all developed pottery in ancient times, and American Indians are no exception.

A general term used to describe all chipped indian artifacts with a triangular form. True arrowheads, or bow propelled, were not actually used until the woodland period.

A tool used to collect a soil sample from an archaeological site. The sample is placed in water and filtered through a fine screen leaving behind material--a "light" fraction, items that float to the top; a "heavy" fraction, items that do not float but are too large to pass through the screen; and sediment.