Great Basin

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry is a common technique in determining the elemental composition of lithic materials. With the exception of glassy volcanic rocks like obsidian, most rock types are prepared for analysis by conversion of specimens to powder or glass in order to reduce the effects of irregular surface topography and internal inhomogeneity. Concern for artefact conservation necessitates a less destructive

As demonstrated by Shennan et al. (2013), Downey et al. (2014), Crema et al. (2016) and others, bootstrapped Monte-Carlo summed probability distributions (MCSPD) of radiocarbon dates can serve as a proxy for prehistoric populations.  Hypothesis testing can be implemented using permutation tests of the MCSPDs.  This talk looks at applying this methodology to part of the radiocarbon date assemblage from the Ruby pipeline excavations.  Ruby is a 680 mile natural gas pipeline stretching from Malin, Oregon to Kemmer, Wyoming.  The 124 radiocarbon dates analyzed here come from 110 sites located in Oregon and northern Nevada.  These sites are spread across the following five geomorphic regions (from west to east): Northern Modoc Plateau, the High Rock Country, Upper Lahontan Basin, Upper Humboldt Plains, and Thousand Springs Valley.  Permutation tests indicate that the differences between the MCSPDs for each geomorphic region are not statistically significant.  The overall trend in the MCSPDs is an increasing population through the Holocene with a drop during the Medieval Warm Period and in the Contact Period (circa 150 BP).  The High Rock Country has the earliest occupation and the highest population densities during the Terminal Pleistocene?Early Holocene.  Hiatuses in each regional MCSPD will be discussed in terms of known climatic events and phases.

The Dietz Site (35LK1529) is well known by most archaeologists, especially those attentive to late Pleistocene and early Holocene human presence in the American West.  This site’s concentration and distributed relationship of Clovis and Stemmed points in Oregon’s Alkali Basin continues to be of significant relevance.  Many may not be acquainted with the Alkali Lake chemical disposal site where, in 1969-1971, over 25,000 barrels of toxic residues from the production of pesticides, herbicides, including Agent Orange, were deposited, then buried. This visual and narrative essay, following emergent practices in geohumanities, explores these and other distinctive traverses and fluctuating uncertainties as aspects of the interrelated spatial and temporal features of the Alkali Basin landscape. In addition to the two sites mentioned, this essay examines a gunnery range, transmission lines, a threatened endemic fish, grazing allotments, a state airport, Highway 395, and the wave-cut terraces of Pluvial Lake Alkali.

Substantial contributions to the archaeological study of gender in the Pacific Northwest have been made over the past 30 years. Despite these advances, considerations of gender—particularly those which embrace feminist epistemologies—continue to be markedly lacking. This article surveys gender/feminist approaches to archaeology in the Pacific Northwest by examining archaeological studies of and references to gender in published and grey literature. It also explores regional trends in research presented at annual Northwest Anthropological Conference meetings from 1990 to 2016. Results suggest that a diversity of approaches to exploring gender have been taken but there is considerable work to be done, particularly on the Southern Plateau which has the least engagement with gender, and in the realm of theory where practitioners have been reticent to embrace feminism and its potential for emancipatory change. Archaeologists in the Northwest are well positioned to more effectively embrace gender and feminist perspectives in their practice, mitigate sexism/androcentrism, and contribute
to contemporary discussions about queer/non-binary, female, and male dynamics.

This effort is an attempt to use various data sets to evaluate alternative models of prehistoric population movement and ethnic identification in the region of eastern California.

Archeological data support the hypothesis that the Tubatulabal cultural tradition is of long standing in the South Fork Valley of the Kern River area (Isabella Basin) and the interior Kern Plateau. A variety of archaeological evidence supports a continuous, unbroken occupation from the historic era back 2500 years or more. cultural expression lasted several millennia. 

Archaeological evidence also suggests that initial pre-Numic colonizers settled in the well-watered lowland areas of the adjacent desert areas to the east leaving large expanses of land relatively open.

The weight of evidence suggests that a Numic population incursion was in part responsible for the archaeological record in portions of eastern California and the far southern Sierra Nevada Crest.  Some researchers see continuity between the historic Numic occupants and some of the more ancient archaeological manifestations in the region. This is especially the case with respect to the realistic petroglyphs recorded on the lava cliffs and canyons of the Coso Range. Yet, the body of evidence, when reviewed in detail and considered contextually, strongly indicates otherwise.

Detailed examination of the archaeological record, along the crest of the far southern Sierra and in eastern California, supports the position that an influx of Numic groups took place around A.D. 600. Synchronous with the introduction of the bow and arrow, the Numic pioneers appear to have established themselves in the southwestern Great Basin. Numic populations apparently pursued a more successful adaptive strategy, either replacing or absorbing pre-Numic groups. Numic peoples subsequently expanded out of this heartland and migrated throughout much of the Great Basin.

Archaeobotanical evidences for the presence of wild plants at Fremont archaeological sites
are numerous. However, little can be positively argued for why those plants are present, if they
were used by site inhabitants, and how they were used. Additionally, there are likely several wild
plants that were used but that do not appear in the archaeobotanical record as pollen or
macrobotanicals, the two most commonly identified plant remains. I argue that it is possible to
provide better interpretations for how and why the Fremont used plants by researching how their
historic counterparts, the Goshute, Shoshone, Ute, and Southern Paiute, used the same plants that
are identified at prehistoric sites. I further argue that a phytolith typology for Fremont archaeology
can provide more insight into prehistoric plant use. I demonstrate its utility through a phytolith
analysis of ground stone tools from Wolf Village, a Fremont site in Utah County.

The Great Basin was seen by early settlers as a terrifying barrier
to be crossed on the way to the golden promise that was California. Although the region was visited by fur trappers and mountain men in the 1820s and 1830s, it was not until the 1840s that the European pathfinders and empire builders tarried to explore the woodland-covered mountains and playa-bottomed valleys of the Great Basin. Mormon farmers and spirited miners settled this wild land, uprooting the native people who had lived there for millennia. As the region opened to European settlement, evidence of a long and complex environmental history was discovered and explored. But as recently as 50 years ago our knowledge of Late Quaternary lake histories and climates was minimal, and our knowledge of the dynamics of Pleistocene and Holocene vegetation was virtually nonexistent. Our understanding has advanced dramatically in the last half century, with advances in analyses of pollen, woodrat middens, and tree rings. A substantial pollen and plant macro fossil database has been assembled, spanning tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of years, such that our knowledge of Late Quaternary vegetation history in the Great Basin rivals that of any other region in the world. These data, coupled with the long-term lake histories deduced from the basins of the Lahontan, Bonneville, Chewaucan, and Owens-to-Death Valley lake systems, permit detailed examination of late Pleistocene vegetation dynamic in relation to aquatic system history. By examining proxy records from the various subregions of the Great Basin and the northern Mojave Desert, we have compiled a compelling picture of past climate and the vegetation and hydrologic responses during the last 50,000-150,000 years.

"One of the more spectacular expressions of prehistoric rock art in all of North America is the petroglyph concentration in the Coso Range of eastern California. These glyphs have played a prominent role in attempts to understand forager religious iconography. Four decades ago, Heizer and Baumhoff (1962) concluded that Great Basin petroglyphs were associated with hunting large game and were intended to supernaturally increase success in the hunt. Similarly, in their seminal work Grant et al. (1968) concluded that the mountain sheep drawings of the Coso region bolstered the “hunting magic” hypothesis. However, this hypothesis has become increasingly marginalized by a prevailing view that considers most rock art as an expression of individual shamanistic endeavor (cf. Lewis-Williams and Dowson, 1988; Whitley, 1994; Whitley and Loendorf, 1994). This article explores comparative ethnologic and archaeological evidence supporting the hunting magic hypothesis. I place this explanatory framework in a larger context based on a contemporary understanding of comparative religion and the complexity of forager symbolism. The article argues that the preponderance of Coso images are conventionalized iconography associated with a sheep cult ceremonial complex. This is inconsistent with models interpreting the Coso drawings as metaphoric images correlated with individual shamanic vision quests.
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The Pre-Newberry period in the Inyo-Mono Region has garnered debate in terms of population and land use pattern. Initial thought centered on the abandonment of areas due to climatic fluctuations that prompted population depression. Subsequently, however, the focus turned to the role of different settlement shifts during the middle Holocene and how these changes generated a more ephemeral archaeological record in response to short-term occupation and high mobility. In conjunction with this alternative is the potential for buried deposits to exist under recent Holocene alluvium, and that the visibility of this portion of the record is obscured by taphonomic processes.
In order to assess the viability of these alternative explanations, data on numerous dart points from multiple regional reports and projects, along with new data from the Harry Riddell and Rollin and Grace Enfield collections was compiled. Morphometric analysis was undertaken to address variability in middle Holocene dart forms and obsidian sourcing and hydration data were enumerated and added to new sourcing and hydration data from the Enfield sample. These data were then analyzed across landforms of differing ages within the region. The underrepresentation of points on particular landforms of differing age was addressed and artifact frequencies corrected in an attempt to identify biases.
Known point morphologies remained consistent in many cases adhering to previous conclusions. Identification of a Wide-Stemmed form was established with the possibility that it represents a generalized form related to Pinto points, potentially a preform. Timing of point forms also adhered closely to expected ranges, albeit conditioned by the limitations inherent in obsidian hydration dating (OHD). The perceived gap in pre-Newberry occupation breaks down with the addition of new data, particularly data obtained from the Inyo-White Mountains east of Owens Valley. Occupation of the region appears to gradually increase throughout the middle Holocene with a slight acceleration post 4000 B.P. and a more dramatic pulse during the Late Newberry interval (ca. 2000 B.P.).

This presentation explores the meaning and function attached to the bighorn sheep by indigenous people throughout the West.  All symbols, as does the the venerable bighorn, have multiple meanings (compound metaphors).  The bighorn's meaning varied but was of central importance to shamans, commoners, and hunters and had prominent roles in Native visions, sacred oral narratives and cosmology.

ABSTRACT Volborthella tenuis is an enigmatic Lower Cambrian fossil, represented by small agglutinated cones with a central lumen. In the southwestern Great Basin, Volborthella occurs both as isolated specimens and in great abundance as mm-to dm-thick fossil concentrations; the latter are not just winnowed lag deposits, but likely represent locally high influxes of bioclastic debris.

Lichens form a conspicuous and diverse biota in the Caliente Field Office (CFO). Their varied colors can be seen on the cliffs along the highway through Rainbow Canyon and on boulders and junipers along mountain biking trails. Recently a trail in Cedar City, Utah was even named for its lichens (Miller 2015). Prior to surveys by the authors and colleagues in Great Basin National Park (Carter et al. 2019), no full-scale inventory of lichens had been conducted in the Great Basin Desert. Floristic lichen inventories have been conducted in the Mojave (Knight et al. 2002, Sweat et al. 2004, Jackson et al. 2005, Knudsen et al. 2013, Proulx and St. Clair 2013, Proulx et al. 2016) but this is the first study to survey the lichen flora of the Mojave and Great Basin along an ecotonal gradient. This report and anno- tated checklist are the product of three years of field work carried out in the CFO from 2016 to 2018. Specimens from these surveys are deposited at the Brigham Young University Herbarium of Non-Vas- cular Cryptogams (BRY-C).

This work establishes a robust baseline of lichen diversity for the CFO. A total of 361 taxa of lichens, 57 lichenicolous fungi and 3 allied fungi are reported from the field office. Twelve species are new reports for North America (Arthonia hertelii, Ascochyta candelariellicola, Caloplaca teicholyta, Cercidospora melanophthalmae, Endococcus karlstadtensis, Lawalreea lecanorae, Lichenochora epinashii, Lichenostigma gracilis, L. triseptatum, Megaspora rimisorediata, Polycoccum evae and Psorotichia numidella var. flageyna). An additional 56 species of lichens and 46 species of licheni- colous fungi, many probably new to science, are discussed and require further study. This report pro- vides an annotated checklist of the currently documented lichen flora of the Caliente Field Office and Basin and Range National Monument, including distribution, habitat, substrate preferences and conser- vation status for each species. Rare species and habitats are discussed, and detailed notes are provided for species ranked as critically imperiled (S1 rank). This report is accompanied by a field guide that includes photographs and field identification notes for over 180 common lichen species of the Great Basin Desert.

The highest diversity of lichens in the CFO is found on high-elevation mountain peaks, especially Highland Peak, which also hosts a diverse, closed canopy, mesic forest of White Fir and actively recruiting Bristlecone Pines. While high-elevation sites are per unit area the richest, Pinyon–Juniper woodlands host the most diverse assemblage of lichen species. The northeastern portion of the Mojave hosts an unusual species assemblage, potentially owing to its location in the ecotone of three floristic regions: Mojave, Great Basin and Colorado Plateau.
As evidence mounts demonstrating that the southern Great Basin biota is at high risk of climate change impacts (Bradley 2010, Still and Richardson 2015), of primary interest is whether lichens can be utilized as early-warning bioindicators of climate change (Root et al. 2014). Candidate bioindicator species are presented and preliminary species distribution and local conservation status is given for each species. Further research is required in order to build upon this robust baseline and create a suite of tools useful for land management, including field-testing monitoring methods, and implementing long-term monitoring plots for candidate bioindicator species.