KNIFE RIVER FLINT AND INTERREGIONAL EXCHANGE

Abstract

From its western North Dakota source Knife River flint (KRF) reached the Hopewell Mound group in the Middle Woodland period. Museum collections and reports from Middle Woodland sites were examined to determine the path by which the material arrived in southern Ohio. Most KRF in Hopewellian sites was concentrated in the Wisconsin region suggesting that the flint was brought across Minnesota to Wisconsin and moved southward from there. The presence of significant quantities of debitage and ordinary tools in Dakota and Minnesota habitation sites indicates that these cul tural groups perceived the flint as utilitarian material. Beginning at Trempealeau phase sites in southwestern Wisconsin, debitage disappears and the flint is found almost exclusively in burial contexts. This suggests that these groups valued it as a prestige material. It is concluded that KRF reached Hopewellian groups through Minnesota by means of small exchanges over time.

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