Elomiqahak ponapsq cacahqesiw, a rolling stone is ever bare of moss: lithic sourcing at the Reversing Falls Site in Pembroke, Maine

Abstract

The connection of stone artifacts to geological formations presents archaeologists a unique opportunity to model human settlement patterns, landscape use, and regional socioeconomic relationships. Despite the extensive history of archaeological research in the Quoddy Region, bedrock sources of local lithic raw materials have remained elusive. This thesis presents a petrographic analysis of over 1,500 chipped stone artifacts recovered from Reversing Falls (ME 80.15), a Middle-Late Maritime Woodland period (ca. 2190–1520 BP) shell-bearing site in Cobscook Bay, Maine featuring a synthesis of thin section petroscopy, X-ray diffraction, low-power microscopy, and high-resolution digital photography. Through the integration of artifact petrography and a robust collection of comparative geological specimens, ancestral Passamaquoddy landscape knowledge and exchange systems established throughout the North Atlantic during the Maritime Woodland period are rendered visible.