Fourche Maline Lithic Landscapes, Social Memory, and Community Building in Southeastern Oklahoma during the Late Archaic and Woodland Periods

Abstract

Late Archaic and Woodland period communities in southeastern Oklahoma constructed communal identities through repeated engagements with lithic landscapes, social memory, and place-making practices. Focusing on archaeological populations historically classified within the Wister and Fourche Maline traditions, this study investigates how relationships with local stone resources, chipped stone tool production, midden formation, and occupations connect memory and place. Through the integration of landscape archaeology, practice theory, and social memory studies, this dissertation argues that repeated interactions with local environments and lithic materials reinforced localized communal traditions and differentiated communities within the broader Trans-Mississippi South. This research combines regional landscape analysis, lithic raw material sourcing, chipped stone technological analysis, settlement pattern analysis, and reviews of mortuary data from eight archaeological sites across the Ouachita Mountains and Ozark Plateau of southeastern Oklahoma.