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Washington State University
Museum of Anthropology Granite Point (45WT41)

Frank C. Leonhardy’s Analysis

The following archaeological data presented was derived from Frank C. Leonhardy’s 1970 PhD dissertation entitled “Artifact Assemblages and Archaeological Units at Granite Point Locality 1 (45WT41), Southeastern Washington”. Leonhardy states that his primary purpose of study at Granite Point was to “document the existence of separate and discrete archaeological units in a site typical of the Lower Snake River Region of the Southern Plateau Archaeological Area [in Washington State]”. His hypothesis was that the long developmental cultural sequence at Granite Point “represents a [cultural] trajectory composed of several stationary states and that each state is represented by a distinct configuration of artifacts” (1). While others of the time focused solely on specific artifact types as diagnostic entities, Leonhardy’s approach was through the study of artifact assemblages. He believed that studying the assemblage as a single entity provided a more accurate representation of the cultural system and that the unique combinations of artifact types within an assemblage has more diagnostic abilities than a single artifact type. Through the analysis and classification, Leonhardy believed it would be possible to identify the presence of stationary states which he designated as individual “components”. These were reflections of the cultural state at a specific point in time along the occupation chronology of Granite Point.  Through distinguishing these components and analyzing their relationship to each other, Leonhardy constructed and proposed a cultural sequence for Granite Point.

 

Note:The information presented on these pages, with the exception of the ‘Ongoing Research & Research Contribution’ section, is limited to the data presented in Leonhardy’s 1970 dissertation. It  should be considered a reflection of Leonhardy’s study of Granite Point and not a cohesive nor complete understanding of the culture(s) that inhabited Granite Point throughout its occupational history.