Cost-benefit relationships at South Everson Creek quarries

The manner by which lithic raw materials have been procured and used has been a topic of inquiry and debate in the archaeological literature since W.H. Holmes' article in 1890.Using a model developed by Elston (1992) Wiich examines the risks and benefits associated with acquiring toolstone and quarry procurement strategies devised by Francis (1983), this thesis will examine the procurement of lithic resources at South Everson Creek.It is hypothesized that groups exploiting the lithic resources at South Everson Creek were attempting to maximize their net value which is the total benefit they receive fi-om tool procurement minus the cost of procurement.To examine the manner in which raw materials were procured and the subsequent lithic reduction of this toolstone for export, a data set compiled fi-om excavations at South Everson Creek was investigated to determine if the data corresponds to Elston's (1992) model and to examine if there is change over time in quarry strategies.The data firom South Everson Creek seems to correspond to the cost-benefit model suggested by Elston (1992).It would appear that the people exploiting this resource responded or were motivated and/or influenced by costs, benefits, and risk through the manipulation of production technology.Production costs can be managed by changing behaviors such as mobility patterns, procurement techniques, organization of labor and activities, extending tool use life, creating technological systems that are multifunctional, maintainable and/or reliable, through the use of scheduling, and monitoring demand and output.