The Parkhill Phase Middle Paleoindian Hipwater Site, Great Lakes, USA

The Hipwater Locale is a small Parkhill Phase Middle Paleoindian (ca. 12,200-11,600 cal yr BP) assemblage from south central lower Michigan, recovered by the property owners and the lead author. Interdisciplinary analysis reveals that the locale is likely a short term but intensive discard location with an assemblage composed of unfinished and broken fluted and unfluted bifaces with almost no associated debitage. There is evidence for a hearth in the form of soil discoloration, fire-cracked rock, color and structural alteration of tool stone, and thermal fractures. Tool-stone sources are local Bayport chert as assessed through hand-specimen characteristics and portable X-ray fluorescence analyses. Microwear and protein residue analyses corroborate the use of one tool fragment for use on rabbit/hare or deer/elk. Implications of the several analyses are discussed and synthesized.