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Axe-heads made of a distinctive raw material are found at Mississippian sites across southern Illinois and the Ohio-Mississippi confluence region, yet little research has been done to determine their geological provenance. In this thesis, I use geochemical methods to analyze ground stone tools and debitage from across the Confluence Region in order to prove their origins in the St. Francois Mountains of Missouri. I also compare patterns of axe-head production, consumption, and deposition to Charles Cobb's (2000) model of Mill Creek chert hoes, so as to gain a greater understanding of the political economy of these objects.

We investigated the potential for using long-archived wood samples extracted from archaeological contexts at four Mississippian Period (AD 900–1600) settlements in eastern Tennessee for tree-ring dating purposes. Sixteen wood samples recovered from prehistoric sites were analyzed to: (1) crossmatch samples from each site with the intent of determining the relative chronological order of sites, (2) establish a floating prehistoric tree-ring chronology for eastern Tennessee, (3) determine the applicability of dendrochronology in prehistoric archaeology in eastern Tennessee, and (4) establish a strategy for future research in the region. We succeeded in crossmatching only three of the 16 tree-ring sequences against each other, representing two sites relatively close to each other: Upper Hampton and Watts Bar Reservoir. The average interseries correlation of these three samples was 0.74 with an average mean sensitivity of 0.26, and they were used to create a 131-year-long floating chronology. The remaining samples contained too few rings (15 to 43) for conclusive crossmatching. Our results demonstrate that dendrochronological techniques may be applied to the practice of prehistoric archaeology in the Southeastern U.S., but highlight the challenges that face dendroarchaeologists: (1) poor wood preservation at prehistoric sites, (2) too few rings in many samples, (3) the lack of a reference chronology long enough for absolute dating, and (4) the lack of a standard on-site sampling protocol to ensure the fragile wood samples remain intact.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2000. / Vita. Accompanied by CD-ROM of data and programs used in analyses. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [437]-474).

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Anthropology Department, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Tennessee, Knoxville, 2007. / Title from title page screen (viewed on June 2, 2008). Thesis advisor: Thomas Bell. Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2008. / Title from file title page. Despina Margomenou, committee chair; Jeffrey Glover, Frank Williams, committee members. Description based on contents viewed June 19, 2009. Includes bibliographical references (p. 95-105).

Thesis (M.A.)--Texas State University--San Marcos, 2009. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 209-229). Also available on microfilm.

Thesis (M.A.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Anthropology Department, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 1988. / Vita. Bibliography: leaves [230]-248.