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The Oliver and Orchard sites are very different in terms of time and space but have both produced thumbnail scarpers which are quite similar in terms of raw material and technology of production. Oliver is located near the Mississippi River in the Yazoo Basin of northwestern Mississippi and produced European trade goods dating to the early 17th century. Orchard is a Chickasaw site located in the Black Prairie of northeastern Mississippi and dates to the decade beginning in 1730. This paper explores the technological and metric similarity to suggest that tool function dictated production technology and form to a large extent. A reflectance spectroscopy analysis of the raw material used in make the tools from both sites demonstrates that similar chert was used in make these tools and the majority of that chert came from the Burlington formation which outcrops in Missouri and Illinois. Oneoto phase sites in that region produce nearly identical thumbnail scrapers made from that same chert and the possibility that Oliver represents and intrusion of Oneoto peoples into the Yazoo Basin is considered. The Chickasaw use of Burlington chert raises equally interesting possibilities including direct procurement in a region which had been cleared out during the slave raids that preceded the occupation at the Orchard site.