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The Dillow’S Ridge Site And The Production Of Mill Creek Chert Tools, Brian M. Butler, Charles R. Cobb

Faculty Publications

The Dillow's Ridge site (11 U635) is a small Mississippian village situated on an unplowed hilltop near the largest known Mill Creek chert quarry in Union County, Illinois. The site was both a permanent residential settlement and a major workshop where Mill Creek chert tools were produced for nonlocal use. Radiocarbon dates document the occupation from the late 1200s A.D. to A.D. 1450 or 1500. The production debris and rejects indicate that the major “export" products were hoes and Ramey knives. Although the quantity of lithic debris on the site is very impressive, estimates of annual production of large biface …