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Although behavioralists who deal with plow zone sites have a need to discriminate between cultural and non-cultural effects on artifact distributions, relatively little is known about the influences of agricultural equipment. A series of experiments was conducted to answer questions concerning the parameters of recovery, lateral artifact displacement, spatial patterning, duration of tillage, and the effects of tillage patterning. Results indicate an average recovery rate of 5-6 percent; support for the "size effect"; relatively constant recovery of small and large pieces; dominant displacement in the direction of plowing; lack of relationship between displacement and artifact size; basically random distribution of objects; and possible spurious clustering, depending upon the analytical methods employed.

Recent theoretical developments in the organization of lithic technology provide powerful tools for learning about prehistoric settlement systems and the roles of sites within settlement systems. Strong relationships between mobility and the designs and production methods of stone tools provide a means for testing hypotheses about the functional and organizational roles of sites; this is especially important for learning about "plow zone lithic scatters" and other small, poorly preserved sites. Subsistence-settlement models for three periods of western New York prehistory imply different roles for small sites in the interior of the region. These hypotheses are tested by the analysis of dominant tool-production methods. Strong differences in stone tool assemblages indicate major differences in site roles, but greater analytical detail and discriminatory power are obtained from the analysis of tool-production methods from flakes.