In pursuit of the quarry: Exploring lithic exchange on the Interior Plateau of British Columbia

This thesis represents an exploratory provenance study to map the spatial distribution of lithics from the Arrowstone Hills lithic source, located near Cache Creek BC, across the Southern Interior Plateau. Using X-Ray Fluorescence analysis, an elemental signature for this source was generated, against which lithic artifacts from archaeological sites located across the Plateau were compared. The Arrowstone Hills source was also compared to five other lithic sources on the Plateau and Northwest Coast. It was determined that the Arrowstone Hills source is part of a geological complex that includes at least three other nearby lithic sources possessing a similar elemental signature, named here the Kamloops Fine-Grained Volcanic complex. Furthermore, it was determined that lithics from this complex are ubiquitous across the Plateau, and were likely moved through exchange networks. Cultural factors such as kin relationships, resource rights, and territorial sovereignty likely influenced how these networks operated at different times throughout the past.