Lithic analysis of a plowzone site in Fairfax County, Virginia: The Elliott site (44FX428)

The Elliott site (44FX428) is a prehistoric plowzone site located In Fairfax County, Virginia. It was excavated in 1981. A total of 4,247 prehistoric lithic artifacts were recovered. Research questions addressed included the amount of disturbance caused by plowing and other unknown agents; the prehistoric date of the artifacts; and the function of the site. Many types of measurements were taken of all of the artifacts and several broken artifacts were mended. Points were compared to published accounts to date the site. The site was considered very disturbed due to plowing and construction activities. The majority of points were from the Late Archaic period, circa 2,000 B.C. The site was found to have been used for a number of different purposed, including hunting, lithic reduction and woodworking. Settlement pattern models of the Late Archaic were then discussed to discover where the Elliott site fits. It was found that the Elliott site is unique in Fairfax County and does not fit the models at all.