Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation

Part of: Society for American Archaeology 86th Annual Meeting, Online (2021)

This collection contains the abstracts of the papers presented in the session entitled "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Over the last decade, Paleoindian research in the Far West has become integral to the discussion of the peopling of the Americas. Recent research at potential pre-Clovis aged sites such as the Paisley Caves, Oregon, and Cooper’s Ferry, Idaho, have ignited fierce debates, spawned novel theories, and inspired new researchers to join the field of Paleoindian archaeology. This symposium explores the future of Far West Paleoindian archaeology by focusing on the research of current and recent graduate students from various universities. These papers will examine old ideas and present new questions, methods, and discoveries in topics such as colonization, settlement/subsistence, and technological organization. The goal of this symposium is to foster new ideas and to develop bonds among the next generation of Far West Paleoindian researchers so that they may continue and build on the legacy of our predecessors.

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  • Documents (12)

Documents
  • Explaining Paleoindian Settlement in the Intermountain West: A Regression Adjustment Approach (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Kenneth Vernon. David Zeanah. D. Craig Young. Robert G. Elston. Brian F. Codding.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Identifying the ecological drivers of Paleoindian settlement has broad implications for a host of related behaviors, including colonization, mobility, and subsistence. Unfortunately, important proxies like spatial site patterning suffer from well-known sampling biases, most notably, taphonomic decay, opportunistic survey,...

  • Fiber Identifications of Paisley Caves Textiles: Exploring Plant Selection for Technology in the Northern Great Basin (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Elizabeth Kallenbach.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Plant fiber identifications were made for a subset of Oregon’s Paisley Caves cordage and netting in order to explore plant selection for fiber technologies. Fiber artifacts from this assemblage include basketry, matting, netting, cordage, and rope, with the oldest braided rope dating to ca. 12,000 years ago....

  • Geoarchaeological Insights from a Late Pleistocene–Terminal Holocene Site on Isla Cedros, Baja California (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Loren White.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Current geoarchaeological investigations of the Cerro Pedrogoso (Rocky Hill) site on Isla Cedros, Baja California, seek to provide a context for a Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene human occupation along the Pacific coast. Here, a rich assemblage of artifacts signals the presence of maritime coastal adaptations from at...

  • Hasketts and Crescents: An Analysis of the Lithic Tools from Weed Lake Ditch, Oregon (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Jordan Pratt.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Several open-air sites with buried stemmed point technology have been discovered in the Harney Basin, southeastern Oregon. These sites provide a unique way to expand our current understanding of Western Stemmed lithic technology and subsistence practices from the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The research presented...

  • A Late Pleistocene Snapshot: Feature 134 at Cooper's Ferry (Nipéhe), Idaho (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Samuel Burns.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Cooper’s Ferry (Nipéhe), located in the Lower Salmon River Canyon in western Idaho, is currently the oldest published radiocarbon-dated archaeological site in North America, with dates as early as ~16,000 cal BP. As this site is south of the southernmost extent of the continental ice sheets during the Last Glacial Maximum...

  • Microarchaeological Approaches to the Identification of the Younger Dryas in the Northern Great Basin (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Justin Holcomb. Lisa-Marie Shillito. Alicia Sawyer. Karl Wegmann. Panagiotis Karkanas.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Younger Dryas Chronozone (YDC) is a cooling event occurring 12,900–11,600 years ago (cal BP) marked by rapid changes in plant and animal communities, subsequently affecting late Pleistocene human population organization and settlement dynamics across the globe. In North America’s Northern Great Basin, these changes...

  • New Perspectives from Smith Creek Cave: A Lithic Technological and Geochemical Analysis of the Paleoindian Assemblage (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Caitlin Doherty.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. With the recent reporting of pre-Clovis-aged Western Stemmed components at archaeological sites in the Great Basin, there is renewed interest in the previously excavated Paleoindian assemblage from Smith Creek Cave. There, a stemmed-point component was originally dated to approximately 13,000 years ago. A thorough...

  • Paleoethnobotany of the Connley Caves, Oregon: Investigating Pleistocene Plant Food Economies (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Katelyn McDonough. Jaime Kennedy.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Questions concerning human paleoecology and subsistence strategies continue to shape Paleoindian research in the Great Basin. Despite significant advances in our understanding of human lifeways during the terminal Pleistocene, the relationship between human populations and plant food communities is still unclear....

  • Renewed Investigations at Leonard Rockshelter (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Sara Sturtz. Geoffrey Smith.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Leonard Rockshelter is located in Pershing County, Nevada. Initially mined for bat guano, workers discovered artifacts in 1938, prompting a visit by Robert Heizer. Heizer returned to excavate the site in 1950 and reported more than 2 m of stratified deposits from which he recovered a modest assemblage of perishable and...

  • Using Landscape Learning to Explore Diachronic Change within the Western Stemmed Tradition (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only David Hunt.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. The Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) spanned as much as 5,000 years in the Great Basin. However, due to deflationary erosion, more refined control within this wide temporal range remains elusive. Thus, temporally sequencing WST sites, subtypes, and their diagnostic artifacts is currently difficult, often unattainable, and...

  • Western Stemmed Tradition Lithic Procurement Strategies at the Catnip Creek Delta, Locality, Guano Valley, Oregon: A Gravity Model Approach (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Derek Reaux.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. Source provenance analyses have long featured prominently in Great Basin Paleoindian archaeology. Such research has primarily focused on reconstructing Paleoindian settlement/subsistence strategies, territoriality, and socioeconomic interactions by sourcing obsidian artifacts from sites and mapping their geographic...

  • A Western Stemmed Younger Dryas-Aged Sewing Camp at the Connley Caves, Oregon (2021)
    DOCUMENT Citation Only Richard Rosencrance.

    This is an abstract from the "Far West Paleoindian Archaeology: Papers from the Next Generation" session, at the 86th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology. There is compelling evidence that people throughout the Americas adapted to the cold Younger Dryas winters by manufacturing tight-fitting, sewn clothing. Ethnographic observations of Arctic peoples indicate that they harvested hide animals and manufactured clothing during residential aggregation events in the fall....