Middle Woodland Hopewellian Cache Blades: Blanks or Finished Tools?
Mark A. McConaughy · Midcontinental Journal of Archaeology · 2005
Cache blades are usually interpreted as blanks that are curated for later production of finished tools or projectile points. A cache of 54 leaf-shaped blades was recovered from Middle Woodland Hopewellian Burial 14 at Sugar Run Mound in northwestern Pennsylvania. Macro and microscopic examination of the cache blades indicates they were used as tools prior to use as burial goods. The study shows that at least the Sugar Run Mound cache was not merely a batch of blanks awaiting further reduction into finished tools.