Quartz flakes in lakes: Microdebitage evidence for submerged Great Lakes prehistoric (Late Paleoindian–Early Archaic) tool-making sites

Abstract Exploration for submerged prehistoric archaeological sites in the Great Lakes (North America) is a major challenge due to difficulties in locating scant cultural artifacts in lake-bottom sediments. Stone tool microfragments (microdebitage, <1 mm) can be abundant (>106 per tool) and more dispersed around tool-making sites, but have not been identified previously in an underwater context. To evaluate their use as a submerged site indicator, microdebitage …