1) Large villages, such as Murphy and Hovey Lake, may have occupied positions of superordinate rank in a hierarchically organized settlement system which afforded them greater access to the most distant chert resource areas. This hypothesis rests on the assumption that the sites analyzed represent contemporaneous occupations.It is not possible to decide which of these possibilities might be the best alternative on the basis of the data at hand. Future research must attempt to establish tighter chronological control and seek to define other dimensions of intersite variability within the Caborn-Welborn phase.
2) It is perhaps more reasonable to assume that these sites represent successive occupations. This temporal factor may account for the differences between the assemblages instead of an invocation of any structural or functional differences between large and small villages.
3) It is interesting to note that the two sites where Burlington/Crescent cherts occur in appreciable quantities also have substantial Early-Middle Woodland occupations. It is possible that the Caborn-Welborn populations at Murphy and Hovey Lake were making use of Burlington/Crescent cherts brought into the area by earlier, Woodland populations.