News

Far Western and Institute for Canine Forensics Identify Emigrant Grave

Kaely Colligan · July 24, 2017 ·

As part of the NV Energy Assets surveys and site evaluations on the Tahoe National Forest in 2011, Far Western recorded a possible historic grave site on the Overland Emigrant Trail near Truckee. At the request of Forest Service Heritage Program Manager Carrie Smith, we contacted the non-profit Institute for Canine Forensics (ICF) to investigate. The ICF has worked on many archaeological sites, including the Donner Camp, a WWII aircraft crash in Goose Lake, Oregon, and graves under the chapel floor of the Santa Barbara Presidio. Currently they are in the South Pacific on an expedition sponsored by the National Geographic Society to look for remains of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, missing since 1937.

On June 6, 2017, three ICF dogs and their handlers met with Sharon Waechter and Vickie Clay to “sniff out” the possible emigrant grave. The ICF dogs are trained in Historic Human Remains Detection (HHRD), and can differentiate between human and non-human (animal) remains. The dogs and their handlers use a search strategy designed to fit the specific terrain and conditions. For our project, the handlers allowed the dogs to “wander” freely, making zig-zag transects across the small meadow where we had recorded the possible grave. All three of the Border Collies stopped briefly to investigate the stone pile before continuing on. In each case, they returned several times to the stone pile, and eventually all three dogs “alerted” on the pile by sitting or lying next to it. The grave was confirmed!

Our thanks to dogs Jasper, Piper, and Kayle (and young Jett, still in training) and their handlers Adela Morris (ICF President), Lynne Engelbert, and John Grebenkemper. For more information on ICF and their amazing dogs, check out this web site: www.HHRDD.org

Dog Alerts On Emigrant Grave Video Credit: Sharon Waechter

Sharing the Past – Far Western Contributes to the 51st SCA Annual Meeting

Kaely Colligan · April 3, 2017 ·

2017 SCA Program — Click image to view entire program

March 9th – 12th 2017: Braving an impending storm – fortunately, a forecast that wasn’t – over 800 archaeologists attended the 51st Annual Society of California Archaeology Meetings in Fish Camp, California, just outside Yosemite National Park on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada.

Organized by Far Western’s Dr. Adie Whitaker (Program Chair), the overarching theme of “Sharing the Past” was vibrant throughout the venue and symposia. Friday morning’s Plenary Session included a stellar line up of speakers sharing highlights of recent research in the foothills and mountains of the central and north-central Sierra. The Plenary Session officially opened the 2017 meetings as Dr. Eric Wohlgemuth of Far Western discussed the challenges of archaeological field methods in California’s conifer forests. Eric spoke alongside Diane Gifford-Gonzalez, Carly S. Whelan, Kathleen L. Hull, Reba Fuller, Brian Codding, Ron W. Goode, and Mary L. Maniery.

The meeting then dispersed into a buzz of presentations, posters, forums, and roundtable discussions. Far Western contributors and participants provided strong presence throughout the weekend.

As the meetings closed on Sunday, Far Western past-President Bill Hildebrandt took on a new presidential role, joining the SCA Board as Incoming President. Bill begins his service this year as a member of the seven-person board and will serve as President of the SCA from 2018-2019.

In addition to behind the scenes work organizing the program by Adie Whitaker, Production Supervisor Nicole Birney produced the program using a database designed by Partner Jay King.

A special thank you to Nicole Birney and Jay King for assisting with program organization and to Tammara Norton for contributing to our 2017 SCA presentations.

Organized Paper Symposium

Organizer: Kaely R. Colligan

Minding the Gap: New Perspectives on the Study of Gender and Archaeology
Organizer: Kaely R. Colligan
The Society of California Archaeology has chosen the theme “Sharing the Past” for the 2017 meeting, to bring the membership together and to identify what unifies the past and present. This symposium will focus on different aspects of studying gender in archaeology and how this translates to modern-day gender issues. Topics include the history of women in the field of California archaeology, feminist perspectives on archaeological thought/theory, and how prehistoric/historic gender roles are revealed in archaeological assemblages. The goal is to bring forward new perspectives on old theories, and shed light on modern issues in our field.

Organized Poster Symposium

Organizer: Allika Ruby

Salvaging the Past at CA-SBA-1703: A Case Study in Archaeological Inquiry
Organizer: Allika Ruby
In 2015, Far Western conducted salvage excavations along US 101 in Goleta after Caltrans construction workers exposed a buried portion of CA-SBA-1703. The site was an Early Period midden found within an extremely disturbed context. Departing from the traditional CRM reporting format, Far Western produced a concise volume with abundant graphics intended to be used primarily by college educators seeking to introduce their students to archaeological practices using a contemporary, realistic, and unexpected scenario. The volume highlights challenges often encountered by archaeologists working on project-driven excavations. This poster session presents selected issues and findings documented in that report.

A Time Capsule in the Center of Chaos
Patricia Mikkelsen
Interesting characteristics from flaked stone assemblages recovered during the Ruby Pipeline project portray varied production patterns across the northern swatch of Nevada. Single-component assemblages reveal a transition from obsidian dominate landscapes in the west to cryptocrystalline silicate areas in the east over time. Data from these areas support several trans-Holocene changes in tool stone selection, production intensity, and reduction strategies which can be linked to broader changes in demography, land-use patterns, and work organization – most notably, the changes that occur late in time when the intensity of flaked stone production crashes and people’s interest in biface reduction declines as well.

Changing Fishing Practices on the Shores of Goleta Slough
William Hildebrandt
Investment in boating and netting technology intensified on the shores of Goleta Slough and other central coast estuaries in the Middle Holocene. Most of this activity focused on estuary habitats, but the technology was applied to relatively deep water settings beyond the kelp beds from time-to-time as well. Exploitation of these deeper water habitats did not occur among people living in outer coast settings away from estuaries, probably because the economic returns from deeper water habitats alone did not justify the construction of watercraft required to reach them in a safe and productive manner.

Listening to the Ancestors: A Chumash ‘ich’unash at SBA-1703
Terry Joslin
A large, Late Period, deer tibia bone whistle was the first item seen by the archaeological monitor after being called to SBA-1703. Chumash informants nearly uniformly associate this type of flute with `antap ceremonies. Regional studies have identified an increase in flute size, along with deeper tones, over time, to be more effective during ceremonies where large numbers of people were present. Many of these flutes have shell beads applied to them with asphaltum, and several additionally have leather wrappings.

Where the Land Meets the Sea: Site Stratigraphy and Landscape Context of CA-SBA-1703
Philip Kaijankoski
Researchers have long recognized that some coastal estuaries have contracted during the Holocene due to sedimentation. However, the timing and maximum extent of a former estuary is difficult to determine without extensive subsurface exploration, which has not yet been conducted in the Goleta Valley. Early archaeological and geological studies hypothesized that at one time Goleta Slough covered a vast area, extending inland to CA-SBA-1703. This is despite historic mapping depicting the site several kilometers away from the estuarine margin. Through a detailed review of existing data sets this hypothesis is critically analyzed.

Mind the Gap: Field Methods at SBA-1703
Allika Ruby and Nathan Stevens
Working at SBA-1703 was not for the faint of heart. Crew members contended with a constricted work space along the margins of a yawning construction pit, hemmed in by an active railroad corridor on one side and a major freeway on the other side. Archaeologists improvised ways to safely access the preserved portions of the site without compromising scientific methods.

A Tale of Two Features: Faunal Bone Recovered from SBA-1703
Allika Ruby and Andrew Ugan
Two buried, fire-affected rock features were found only a few meters apart at SBA-1703. Each contained faunal bone and shell, as well as charred nuts and seeds. However, radiocarbon dating established they were separated in time by a span of about one thousand years. Both features demonstrate that estuarine shellfish and small schooling fishes were important dietary constituents. However, the earlier feature (ca. 3829 -3637 cal BP) shows an emphasis on islay nuts while the later feature (ca. 2750-2180 cal BP) indicates that the diet had shifted to a stronger emphasis on terrestrial game, primarily deer-sized animals.

Parallel Sequences of Marine and Plant Resource Intensification in Santa Barbara and the San Francisco Bay
Eric Wohlgemuth
Charred plant food debris and indices from the Santa Barbara mainland coast decline markedly with intensification of marine resources at about 6,000 years ago. The decline in plant vs. marine foods is strikingly similar to patterns seen about 3,000 years later on the eastern and northern San Francisco Bay shore. In both regions, plant food debris and indices increase millennia after marine food intensification, at ca. 3000 BP on the Santa Barbara coast and after ca. 1000 BP along San Francisco Bay. These patterns are relevant to the priority of aquatic faunal resources posited by Keeley (1991).

Papers

Brian F. Byrd, Patricia Mikkelsen and Shannon DeArmond

Re-visualizing Regional Indigenous Persistence—A San Francisco Bay-Delta Area Perspective for Archaeologists
Brian F. Byrd, Patricia Mikkelsen and Shannon DeArmond
This paper provides a framework, largely through modeling and visualization, on traditional indigenous village persistence in the San Francisco Bay-Delta region. We explore spatial variation in the pace of colonial impact during a 50-year period using Milliken’s Community Distribution Model of Spanish Mission baptism data. In particular, we focus on the tempo of ancestral village and abandonment, highlight areas where decades of continuity in occupation after 1776 are expected, and areas where more nuanced Native persistence is anticipated. Finally, we touch on archaeological implications of these movements and persistence, and potential approaches to investigate these complex patterns.

Kaely R. Colligan

The Working Mother: Gaining Resources and Prestige as a Prehistoric Female
Kaely R. Colligan
Men’s ability to gain prestige in their communities, primarily through hunting and other forms of resource gathering, is well-substantiated in the archaeological record. But a woman’s ability to gain prestige or authority, particularly while providing caring for offspring, is an issue that has received far less attention. An analysis of the archaeological record from a socio-behavioral perspective suggests that modern women do not have a monopoly on prestige-gathering, and that prehistoric women also exhibited competitive behavior aimed at attracting mates through the collection and storage of resources, basketry/textile design, and settlement patterns.

Jay King

Rock Art and Archaeology of Upper Smoke Creek Canyon, Lassen County
Jay King
Smoke Creek Canyon contains an extensive complex of petroglyphs, including the “Bruff’s Rock” site, originally described in 1850 and thought to be the first California rock art ever described by a Euro-American. A recent survey reveals a rich and varied archaeological record in close association with the petroglyphs, including an extraordinary quantity of milling tools, as well as large residence-sized rock rings and other features. This close association between rock art and residential features offers the opportunity to comment on both the likely age and the social context of the rock art’s production.

Jack Meyer

Once Upon a Time with Two Cents and Three Minutes
Jack Meyer
Three-Minute Artifact Forum: Sharing the Past

Patricia Mikkelsen

What’s Left to Say about Ground Stone?
Pat Mikkelsen
Three-Minute Artifact Forum: Sharing the Past

Andrew Ugan, Katie Bonham, and Justin Wisely

Soaproot (Chlorogalum pomeridianum): Miracle Plant or Just Another Dirty Little Root?
Andrew Ugan, Katie Bonham, and Justin Wisely
Among ethnographically important California plants, soaproot (Chlorogalum pomeridianum) receives little attention, despite use as a food, medicine, mastic, dye, source of fibers, detergent, and fish poison. In an effort to explore this dichotomy we provide a quantitative assessment of soaproot’s value, detailing its nutritional composition, collection costs, and effectiveness as a toxin. We show that return rates are high and effectiveness as a fish poison low. Given these points we would expect soaproot to have been widely consumed, but almost never used as toxin. We conclude by discussing the implications of these points for our understanding of prehistoric soaproot use.

Justin Wisely

Starch Grain Analysis of Bedrock Mortars in the Sierra Nevada: Implications to Our Understanding of Bedrock Milling Features
Justin Wisely
Bedrock mortars are ubiquitous throughout California and their function has been a longstanding question for archaeologists. Many have assumed a function associated with acorn intensification, but McCarthy took the time to conduct an in-depth ethnographic study on their function. It was this work that helped inspire my own research into bedrock mortar function, and gave me a start in questioning the assumptions about other often-dismissed cultural remains such as fire-cracked rock. This paper will present the starch grain analysis of bedrock mortars research conducted for my master’s thesis that was partly inspired by McCarthy’s landmark work, and the future avenues.

Eric Wohlgemuth

Challenges to Archaeological Field Methods in the Conifer Forest: An Example from Calaveras Big Trees State Park
Eric Wohlgemuth– Plenary Session
The conifer forest zone of the Sierra Nevada can be a difficult place to do archaeology. Even for sites with well-defined component areas, the dearth of subsurface features with associated datable organics obscures accurate dating of artifact assemblages. Further, the lack of well preserved faunal remains, and the difficulty in associating plant macrofossils with artifact assemblages, limits subsistence reconstructions. Data recovery excavations at CAL-277/H at Big Trees State Park attempted to solve these problems through large block exposures, selective recovery excavation, stratigraphic excavation for fine-grained samples, large-scale flotation sampling, and starch grain recovery from bedrock milling features and grinding tools.

Posters

Angela Arpaia and Eric Wohlgemuth

CA-SCL-677: Challenging the Status Quo of Plant Use Intensification Trend in Santa Clara Valley
Angela Arpaia and Eric Wohlgemuth
Archaeobotanical remains collected from sites in Santa Clara Valley follow trends seen in sites throughout interior Central California. Early period sites exhibit generalized and balanced use of nuts and berries with minor use of small seeds, followed by intensification of acorn in Middle Period sites, culminating in intensive use of both acorn and small seeds in Late Period sites. Middle Period site CA-SCL-677 is unique in having very abundant small seeds; possible reasons for the anomaly include habitat, site use, and population density.

To learn more, please visit the SCA Proceedings compiled by Proceedings Edtior, Allika Ruby

Experimental Archaeology at Far Western

Kaely Colligan · January 26, 2017 ·

Use arrows to explore the images or click on individual images to enlarge

Volunteers from Far Western, Sacramento State University, UC Davis, and the archaeological community gathered in the Far Western lab at our headquarters in Davis, California, to participate in a set of experiments using ground stone tools. The tools used in the experiment were replicas of milling gear found in archaeological sites.

Tamara Buonasera, Ph.D., visiting from the University of Arizona, led the experiments; her work is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation. Dr. Buonasera specializes in the economic and social aspects of food processing among hunter-gatherers and has an extensive background in the preservation and taphonomy of ancient lipids. She pursues her research through analysis of organic residues and stable isotopes building on her studies in experimental archaeology, ground stone technology, and use-wear analysis in California, Alaska, and the Southwest.

Buonasera opened the experiment by presenting background on her own research and how the results of these experiments will contribute to studies of prehistoric food processing world-wide. These and other grinding sessions are part of a larger project aimed at evaluating relationships between milling tool design, human mobility, and resource use.

Nearly 20 participants paired-up on the cement floor of the Far Western lab to get their hands dirty through first-hand experience using a variety of milling tool designs. The tools ranged from large basalt mortars to flat sandstone grinding slabs. Each volunteer processed Indian rice grass seeds or acorns, known to have been used by Native Californians, into flour over two 30-minute segments. Our experimental results will provide information needed to model the relationships between tool sizes and shapes, raw materials used for grinding, and wear and tear on the tools used. Product output and labor costs (time) can also be calculated. The outcomes will help archaeologists interpret wear patterns and guide the best techniques for sampling organic residues on milling gear found at archaeological sites.

Another grinding experiment with Dr. Buonasera is tentatively planned for early June, 2017. This experiment will feature the invaluable participation of Dr. Helen McCarthy of Davis, who has worked with native California elders for decades, emphasizing women’s processing of acorns and other plant foods.

Far Western, as well as the local archaeological community, would like to thank Tammy for coming out and hosting a successful evening.

Far Western at the 35th Great Basin Anthropological Conference

Kaely Colligan · November 21, 2016 ·

October 6th – 9th 2016: Far Western researchers, along with colleagues from across the nation, gathered to present recent research and share ideas at the 35th Great Basin Anthropological Conference in Reno, Nevada. Organized around a conference theme of “Featured Landscapes of the Great Basin”, archaeologists from Far Western presented or contributed to nineteen paper and poster presentations. These included a poster symposium organized by Bill Hildebrandt highlighting the Ruby Pipeline Project, a plenary presentation by D. Craig Young, and new research from the Lincoln County Archaeological Initiative, the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in the Mojave Desert, the Naval Air Station Fallon, and the Soldier Meadows Area of Critical Environmental Concern. A full menu of Far Western presentation abstracts and viewable posters is provided below.

The Great Basin Anthropological Conference is organized biennially by the Great Basin Anthropological Association – Far Western’s President, Kim Carpenter, serves as Treasurer on the association’s Board of Directors. Conferences such as the GBAC are great opportunities for archaeologists, historians, ethnographers, native communities, and regulatory agencies to present and discuss new research and future directions.

A special thank you to our Art Director, Tammara Norton, for assistance with our 2016 GBAC presentations.

Papers

Spoiler title

Preliminary Findings on the Paleoindian Archaeology of Cave and Lake Valleys
Daron Duke and D.Craig Young
Far Western is conducting surveys in Cave and Lake Valleys as part of a LCAI Round 7 project to develop a Paleoindian Archaeological Context. Using both random and nonrandom sampling methods, the fieldwork is designed to test the predictions of a GIS-based model for the decline of Great Basin pluvial lakes and, by extension, the wetland habitats surrounding them. We infer that the Paleoindian record associated with short-lived lakes, such as Lake Cave in Cave Valley, would be more restricted to an early Paleoindian record than that associated with enduring lakes, such as Lake Carpenter in Lake Valley. Observing the differences between these neighboring basins will inform the broader regional issue of how and when Paleoindian peoples responded to the ultimate demise of the basin wetland habitats central to their land use strategy.

Michael Lenzi

Results of Experiments with Replicated Crescents to Evaluate Proposed Functions
Michael Lenzi
This paper presents results from a series of experiments involving replicated crescents to evaluate some of the more common hypotheses proposed for the function of crescents and gain a better understanding of their role in the prehistoric toolkit. Crescents were used to cut leather, scrape willow, and tip projectiles thrown at targets. Models from human behavioral ecology were applied to evaluate the efficiency of crescents for each task. Additionally, the breaks that accrued from use on the replicated crescents were compared to archaeological patterns. Results from this study indicate that the primary function of crescents for cutting and slicing tasks and scraping plants is not supported; however, use as transverse projectile points is well-supported.

Michael Lenzi and Vickie Clay

New Obsidian Sources, Conveyance Zones, and Toolstone Profiles from Southern Lahontan Valley and Rawhide Flats, NAS Fallon, Churchill County, Nevada
Michael Lenzi and Vickie Clay
Sourcing of obsidian nodules collected during evaluation of sites on one Naval Air Station Fallon training range in southern Lahontan Valley identified three previously unknown obsidian sources. These new sources are designated Dead Camel Mountains, Desert Mountains, and Lahontan Valley. Chemical ascription of temporally diagnostic obsidian projectile points from 29 sites in southern Lahontan Valley and Rawhide Flats generally demonstrate foragers had very large conveyance zones during the Paleoindian Period, with decreased conveyance zones through time. Lithic material type profiles for projectile points, tools, and debitage found on these sites located in two adjacent valleys show measurable differences in toolstone use that may represent different proximities to sources and/or different types of land use.

Kelly McGuire and William Hildebrandt

Taking Stock: A Far Western Perspective of Native America and CRM in the Great Basin
Kelly McGuire and William Hildebrandt
The Native American voice within the institutional and regulatory framework of Great Basin CRM has rightfully increased through the last several decades. While a number of successes can be pointed to, much of the current status of this relationship remains challenging, and sometimes contested. While Far Western must navigate this landscape, we also have a unique perspective, as we work directly with Native Americans, mostly younger people, actually doing archaeology. This experience has proven positive and occasionally transformational for both Native Americans and archaeologists. We advocate for the expanded participation of Native Americans at all levels of the archaeological enterprise.

Adrian Whitaker and Jeffrey Rosenthal

Delayed Adoption of Intensified Hunter-Gatherer Subsistence Strategies and the Continued Utility of the Traveler/Processor Model to Explain Changes
Adrian Whitaker and Jeffrey Rosenthal
Bettinger and Baumhoff’s Traveler/Processor Model was a crucial contribution to Great Basin archaeology nearly 35 years ago and the model continues to bear theoretical fruit today. This paper examines how people living in large villages with intensified economies in California’s Great Central Valley co-existed with less-economically intensive adaptations in the adjacent Central Sierra Nevada Foothills for nearly 4,000 years despite consistent contact between the two. In this paper, we examine how the adjacent regions had such different trajectories of economic intensification. We outline how a combination of new technology and climatic instability changed the relative suitability of processor economic strategies and led foothill foragers to shift to a more valley-like adaptation. More generally, the model provides a framework to explaining the coexistence of neighboring but dramatically different economies – for instance foragers vs. farmers – despite contact, as well as the mechanisms that might catalyze a shift from one economy to another.

Justin Wisely

Crazy Little Thing Called Starch: Starch Grain Analysis of Bedrock Mortars
Justin Wisely
Starch grain analysis is an underutilized non-destructive method for improving our understanding of prehistoric plant usage, previously only utilized as a laboratory technique. As part of a larger landscape sampling for my master’s thesis at California State University, Chico, I sampled bedrock mortars at CA-ALP-156 and CA-ALP-171 in the Sierra Crest using the in-field extraction method I developed. This research covers the development of the reference collection, the creation and application of this new in-field sampling technique, and subsequent results. As the sampling of bedrock mortars is only one of the many potential uses for this non-destructive technique, there will be a discussion of future research avenues made possible by bringing starch grain sampling out of the lab and into the landscape.

D. Craig Young

Deep in the Dust: Archaeological Landscapes in Tons per Year
D. Craig Young
The search for early archaeology in the Great Basin has shifted from a focus on prominent lacustrine features (e.g., spits and strandlines) to zones of potential resource productivity, especially basin-margin and deltaic wetlands. While theoretically smarter, we have made our work more difficult – these once expansive landforms may now be buried deep in dust. Bounded only by wind, dust transport and deposition are truly landscape-scale phenomena. Primary dust deposition can be measured today in tens of tons per acre per year. In the drying Late Pleistocene-Early Holocene transition, dust production and deposition may have been an order of magnitude greater. Eroded from hundreds of drying basins, eolian dust was deposited as vast silt plains or recycled into expansive distal reaches of alluvial fans. Reworked dust, as loess or alluvium, often forms temporally undifferentiated playa-like deposits, where we continue our hopeful searches – this silt-capped, reworked landscape may be too young. Temporally constraining dust episodes while identifying and investigating dust-infused landforms reveals potentially stratified paleo-landscapes, thereby narrowing our search for significant Paleoindian archaeology in the Great Basin.

Posters Click on Title Link to View Poster

Ryan Byerly

Hunter-Gatherer Sites on the Pisgah Crater Lava Flow near Lavic Lake, San Bernardino County, California
Ryan Byerly
Far Western’s National Register evaluations of archaeological sites on the Pisgah Crater Lava Flow, adjacent to Lavic Lake aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California, reveal that hunter-gatherers utilized the many natural shelters created by collapsed lava blisters and tubes within the flow as settings for short term camps in support of regional resource pursuits. This poster summarizes data gathered from limited test excavations and collections of these lava flow sites and compares them to similar data gleaned from other local sites to frame a coherent picture of regional site use as a foundation for the construction of a Base-wide hunter-gatherer settlement-subsistence model.

Ryan Byerly, Lindsey Daub, Eric Gingerich, and Joanna C. Roberson

Modeling Mojave Desert Hunter-Gatherer Settlement and Subsistence from Lava Flow Sites Aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, San Bernardino County, California
Ryan Byerly, Lindsey Daub, Eric Gingerich, and Joanna C. Roberson
Throughout prehistory, that portion of the south-central Mojave Desert now encompassed by the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center appears to have largely supported short term hunter-gatherer occupations linked to the procurement of locally available jasper and chalcedony. Here, we specifically examine and compare data gathered from Far Western’s National Register evaluations of sites on the Pisgah Crater and Amboy Crater lava flows to model broader-scale settlement and subsistence patterns of the hunter-gatherers that preferentially exploited these toolstone, primarily as evident during the Late Holocene.

Daron Duke, D.Craig Young, Sarah Rice, Jaynie Hirschi, and Anya Kitterman

The Wishbone Site: An Early Paleoindian Waterfowl Cooking Feature from the Great Salt Lake Desert
Daron Duke, D.Craig Young, Sarah Rice, Jaynie Hirschi, and Anya Kitterman
Recent survey on the Old River Bed delta yielded a charcoal-rich feature containing burned waterfowl bones and debitage. The feature is eroding from the playa surface and is surrounded by an associated concentration of stone tools, including Haskett projectile points. It is over 12,000 years old. Artifacts were found both on the surface and buried. In this poster, we provide details, including radiocarbon dates, faunal and macrobotanical evidence, and lithic analysis.

Tucker Orvald and Kathryn Ataman

Surface Archaeology of the Soldier Meadows Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC), Humboldt County, Nevada
Tucker Orvald and Kathryn Ataman
Located in the Black Rock Desert-High Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, the Soldier Meadows ACEC is an exemplary locality given its unique hydrological, biological, and cultural features. Between 2013 and 2014, the BLM Black Rock Field Office directed Section 110 inventory aimed at formally documenting cultural resources within the 2,078- acre ACEC. Surface archaeology includes a near-continuous distribution of early through late Holocene flaked and ground stone accumulations as well as historic-era Emigrant Trail evidence, a stage and freight transportation corridor, and extensive ranching infrastructure that reflects homestead- through corporate-scale land use. An understanding of the surface archaeology in the ACEC will allow for long-term adaptive management, provide a resource for problem-oriented archaeological research, and help the BLM conserve this unique setting and its pervasive archaeological record.

D. Craig Young (Contributor)

Prearchaic Adaptations in the Central Great Basin: Preliminary Findings from a Stratified Open-Air Site
Brian F Codding (University of Utah), David W. Zeanah (California State University, Sacramento), D. Craig Young (Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.), Joan Brenner Coltrain (University of Utah), Erik P. Martin (University of Utah) and Robert G. Elston (University of Utah)
Early Holocene occupants of the Great Basin preferentially occupied highly productive habitats surrounding pluvial lakes. While growing evidence details the adaptations of these Prearchaic foragers in the Eastern and Western Great Basin, our understanding of the Central Great Basin remains impoverished, largely due because of the limited number of stratified archaeological sites containing well preserved material suitable for faunal analysis and radiocarbon dating. However, recent investigations of an open-air site along the northern shore of Pleistocene Lake Gilbert in Grass Valley, Nevada have revealed a buried deposit with preserved organic material associated with Prearchaic technology. Here we report preliminary analyses examining the chronology, subsistence, and technology associated with the site. Geoarchaeological analyses of soil map units and landforms suggest that similar sites are likely to be found elsewhere in Grass Valley. These findings help clarify our view of Prearchaic foragers in the Central Great Basin and expand our understanding of the earliest adaptation in the region.

A Behavioral Ecological Frame of Reference for Investigating Prearchaic Adaptations
David W. Zeanah (California State University, Sacramento), Brian F. Codding (University of Utah), Amber Johnson (Truman State University), Robert G. Elston (University of Nevada, Reno), and D. Craig Young (Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc.)
Occupants of the Great Basin 13-8 kya cannot be understood by direct analogy with ethnographic Great Basin foragers because they lived in climatic circumstances and at population densities utterly unlike those of recent times. Archaeological evidence suggests that hunter-gatherers were highly mobile with hunting oriented lithic technology lacking milling equipment, but acquired a broad spectrum of faunal prey and tended to camp near wetland environments. Here we develop expectations about the range of hunter-gatherer adaptations feasible under climatic scenarios for the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition as inferred from paleoenvironmental proxies. Using the marginal value theorem and theoretical expectations of sexual division of labor, we evaluate the range of subsistence and mobility evident in Binford’s ethnographic database under similar environmental parameters. This serves as a framework for casting specific expectations for Grass Valley, Nevada in context of broader Pre-archaic subsistence-settlement in the western and central Great Basin.

Poster Symposium Click on Title Link to View Poster

Prehistory of Nevada’s Northern Tier: Highlights from the Ruby Pipeline

Project Organizer: William R. Hildebrandt

Kaely Colligan, William Bloomer, and William Hildebrandt

Native Stoneworking Across Northern Nevada
Kaely Colligan, William Bloomer, and William Hildebrandt
Interesting characteristics from flaked stone assemblages recovered during the Ruby Pipeline project portray varied production patterns across the northern swatch of Nevada. Single-component assemblages reveal a transition from obsidian dominate landscapes in the west to cryptocrystalline silicate areas in the east over time. Data from these areas support several trans-Holocene changes in tool stone selection, production intensity, and reduction strategies which can be linked to broader changes in demography, land-use patterns, and work organization – most notably, the changes that occur late in time when the intensity of flaked stone production crashes and people’s interest in biface reduction declines as well.

William R. Hildebrandt

Colonization of Northern Nevada
William R. Hildebrandt
The Ruby Pipeline corridor passes through four major habitat zones. Maximum resource productivity occurs in the west, and declines when moving in an easterly direction. Consistent with the expectations of Ideal Free Distribution modeling, the most productive zones were occupied first, followed by the infilling of the others over time. This sequence of settlement remained in place until about 500 years ago when long term habitat rankings were up ended, and the lower ranked eastern zones saw higher population densities than the western areas for the first time in prehistory. This radical change is linked to the more intensive use of small seeded plants with new technological systems brought to the area by the Western Shoshone.

Jerome King

Long-Distance Obsidian Conveyance in Late Prehistoric Northern Nevada
Jerome King
The huge database of geochemically sourced obsidian artifacts from the Ruby Pipeline provides a unique perspective on changing patterns of prehistoric obsidian procurement and conveyance in the northern Great Basin. One of the most striking trends is an increase in obsidian source diversity in the Late Prehistoric period, driven by increased representation of distant obsidian sources. Average transport distances, as quantified both by diagnostic projectile points and by samples of debitage from dated site components, are by far the highest in the Late Prehistoric period. Local sources still dominate obsidian source profiles, as they do in earlier periods, but the increase in the representation of far-distant sources is dramatic. The apparent timing of this shift, as well as the very long distances involved, suggest that obsidian may sometimes have been transported by Native traders on horseback.

Kelly McGuire and Nathan Stevens

The Archaeological Correlates and Evolution of Geophyte Procurement in the Northwestern Great Basin
Kelly McGuire and Nathan Stevens
The economic importance of geophytes along the northwestern rim of the Great Basin is such that the entire region has been broadly categorized as the “root complex” by Catherine Fowler. However, the archaeological manifestations of geophyte gathering, processing, storage, and consumption are not well understood. Here, we review assemblages recovered from prime geophyte habitat in the Barrel Springs area in an effort to correlate certain tool types with productive geophyte zones, and to establish a settlement context of geophyte use. Particular attention is given to formed and simple flake tools and their role in the manufacture and maintenance of digging sticks, a central element of the geophyte harvest. We then discuss the energetic returns associated with geophyte procurement and its role in foraging systems through time in this region.

Allika Ruby and Jerome King

Landscape Analysis of Pronghorn Trap Features in Eastern Nevada
Allika Ruby and Jerome King
A Landscape Analysis of Pronghorn Trap Features in Eastern Eastern Nevada contains the remains of many large wooden enclosures that were thought to have been used by prehistoric hunting groups to capture pronghorn. These enclosures, or corrals, display highly similar characteristics which reflect their builders’ sophisticated understanding of pronghorn behavior. Researchers from Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., conducted a detailed analysis of the construction techniques used to build four such enclosures along the Ruby Pipeline corridor near Montello. Our study indicates that the builders intentionally integrated features of the landscape into the corrals that likely increased their effectiveness. Our presentation highlights the characteristics shared by the four prehistoric corrals as well as a nearby historic-period corral, compares them to other documented pronghorn corrals in the region, and offers a predictive model for locating additional corrals.

Andrew Ugan and Laura Harold

Large-Scale Perspectives on Subsistence Stability Across the Northern Great Basin
Andrew Ugan and Laura Harold
Substantial attention is paid to prehistoric big game use in the western U.S., especially as it relates to changes in climate, hunting pressure, or the social contexts of foraging. However, many such studies are tightly focused, sometimes site-specific affairs. Here we take a broad look at big game use by summarizing faunal assemblages from 153 sites across the northern Great Basin. We show that while there is huge variation in site-specific reliance on big game within time periods and an increase in the frequency of large animals between the Paleoarchaic and later periods, the overall array or resources taken is generally broad and there is little difference in mean reliance on big game from the Early Archaic onwards. These data suggest broad stability in hunting patterns, and we discuss the reasons for the observed pattern, its generality, and its implications.

D. Craig Young

The Eco-Regions and Geomorphic Setting of the Ruby Pipeline Project in Nevada’s Northern Tier
D. Craig Young
The varied landforms of Nevada’s Northern Tier provide context for understanding the archaeological patterning that forms the basis for interpreting the human past in the vicinity of the Ruby Pipeline Project – research presented in this poster session. Eco-regions defined by modern floral communities and geologic units are the starting point, and these are viewed through a lens of late Pleistocene to Holocene landscape evolution. Geomorphological investigation of local landforms and regional geomorphic process included documentation of 25 alluvial profiles at 15 study locations in eleven hydrologic basins. These localities inform a model of changing conditions in alluvial systems across the Northern Tier.

Cuyama Valley- A Corridor to the Past
receives the 2016 Governor’s Historic Preservation Award

Kaely Colligan · October 18, 2016 ·

Far Western was awarded one of the coveted 2016 Governor’s Historic Preservation Awards for the Cuyama Valley – A Corridor to the Past project. The California Office of Historic Preservation chose the project as an exceptional example of historic preservation efforts on behalf of California’s cultural heritage. The project, directed by Far Western Project Manager and Principal Investigator Patricia Mikkelsen, was a collaborative effort among the Native Chumash community, the District 5 Central Coast Specialist Branch of the California Department of Transportation, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, Foothill Resources, and Tiley Research.

Project Background

Excavation Cuyama — Excavation of the ethnographic village of Wenexe’l taken in 1970 by Crew Chief Al McCurdy. This impressive saucer-shaped depression was characterized by burned timbers, postholes, and hearth/pit features. Recovered artifacts from within the depression included flaked and ground stone tools, shell and stone beads, modified bone, bones, shell, and historic-period material such as glass beads and roof tiles. It dates to the Late Period-Historic-era, 600 cal BP–1806 AD.

Cuyama Valley – A Corridor to the Past showcases seven archaeological sites that underwent initial salvage excavations in the late 1960s and early 1970s, with final analysis nearly 40 years later.

The California Division of Highways (precursor to the California Department of Transportation [Caltrans]) carried out three highway realignment projects along State Route 166 in Cuyama Valley. As the project pre-dated the birth of modern Cultural Resources Management practices (i.e., funding was not set aside for analysis of cultural materials unearthed during infrastructure projects), the assemblage was never formally documented. As a result, the collection sat untouched in the UC Santa Barbara archives. Dr. Valerie Levulett, Chief of the Caltrans Central Coast Environmental Specialist Branch and one of the original archaeologists who participated in the salvage excavation work, submitted a Caltrans Transportation Enhancement grant proposal to address the long-delayed processing of these important collections. With the grant approved, Far Western, under a Caltrans cultural resources on-call contract, was tasked with the challenge of not only analyzing the collection, but recreating the excavation itself through numerous field and photograph logs, field notes, and maps. Far Western also reached out to others who were part of the original project, including Dr. Jeanne Binning, Al McCurdy, and Max Farrar, to help set the scene.

Prior to this endeavor, little was known about Cuyama Valley prehistory. Minimal formal archaeological work and few publications have focused on the valley—a corridor that once connected the prehistoric population centers of the Central Valley and Central Coast. The data compilation brought to light a wealth of information about the history and lifeways of the Native people of the region.

Far Western catalogued approximately 3,000 flaked and ground stone tools, including over 400 projectile points, and nearly 5,000 shell, stone, and glass beads and ornaments. These types of discoveries allow for an array of research opportunities and contributions to the archaeology, ethnography, and history of the region.

Archaeological Contributions

A graphic representation of local temporal indicators across time, as well as temporal charts of local projectile point and bead types

Identification of, and focus on, site-specific temporal components

Extensive original research and discussions on landscape evolution and geoarchaeological sensitivity, including a map of buried site potential in the Caltrans right-of-way in the Cuyama Valley

A detailed description and discussion of a fully exposed Chumash structure

Analysis of yucca-roasting ovens, including feature descriptions, plant identifications, and preparation methods and resulting archaeological evidence

A contribution to the ongoing debate on artiodactyl abundance

Patterns of technology, settlement, and social interactions.

Ethnographic Contributions

Estimates of non-mission populations in Cuyama Valley, and the effects of European-borne diseases, especially on children

Discussions and complex diagrams of social interactions between Cuyama Valley inhabitants and surrounding villages

Detailed kinship charts of Native individuals associated with Cuyama Valley villages

First-hand accounts from court dockets of Cuyama Valley Native Americans in the 1840s and 1850s

A focus on the concerns and activities of today’s Chumash who are carrying on the traditions and languages of their ancestors

Contributions to the History of the Region

A documented history of Cuyama Valley’s early settlement and land use, with special reference to the occupation of sites during the Spanish and Mexican periods in California

Evolution of transportation corridors through the valley

Development of adjacent road- and highway-related features that have encroached upon the seven Cuyama Valley sites.

Cuyama Exhibit — Far Western Art Director Tammara Norton worked closely with members of the Northern, Barbareño, and Ventureño Chumash tribes to create the displays depicted above for their use in educating the public about the unique prehistory of Cuyama Valley. Each tribe received a set of three portable exhibits designed to their specifications, for public outreach and education.

Public Outreach Efforts

The project produced four genres of public-oriented interpretive material designed in collaboration with individuals from the Northern, Barbareño, and Ventureño Chumash tribes for use in educating the public about the unique prehistory of Cuyama Valley—a booklet, exhibits, bookmarks, and tool replicas.

Far Western prepared a full-color, 70-page booklet, entitled The Long Road Traveled – Archaeology, Native Americans, and Europeans in Cuyama Valley, which discusses the Cuyama Valley project, the region’s prehistory and history, Chumash culture, and living descendants. It concludes with a short glossary of archaeological terms and suggestions for further reading. Caltrans printed 1,000 booklets and distributed them free to Native Americans, Cuyama Valley residents, the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, and local libraries, museums, and schools.

The project could not have been accomplished without the following individuals:

Far Western

Pat Mikkelsen
Jack Meyer
Adrian Whitaker
Eric Wohlgemuth
Nathan Stevens
Deborah Jones
Molly Fogarty Starr
Tammara Norton
Elizabeth Honeysett
Laura Harold
Jill Eubanks

Foothill Resources

Julia Costello

Caltrans

Valerie Levulett
Jeannine Binning
Krista Kiaha
Paula Carr
Ed Schefter
Terry Joslin
Rochelle Vierra

Tiley Research

Michelle Tiley

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

John Johnson

Other Individuals

Robert Gibson
Kenneth Gobalet
Gregory White
Emma Britton
Ronald Bishop
Richard Hughes
Chester King
Jeff Parsons
Thomas Origer

Far Western and Institute for Canine Forensics Identify Emigrant Grave

Sharing the Past – Far Western Contributes to the 51st SCA Annual Meeting

Organized Paper Symposium

Organized Poster Symposium

Papers

Posters

Experimental Archaeology at Far Western

Far Western at the 35th Great Basin Anthropological Conference

Papers

Posters Click on Title Link to View Poster

Poster Symposium Click on Title Link to View Poster

Prehistory of Nevada’s Northern Tier: Highlights from the Ruby Pipeline

Project Organizer: William R. Hildebrandt

Cuyama Valley- A Corridor to the Past
receives the 2016 Governor’s Historic Preservation Award

Project Background

Public Outreach Efforts

The project could not have been accomplished without the following individuals:

Far Western

Foothill Resources

Caltrans

Tiley Research

Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History

Other Individuals

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