Near and Far: Spatial Relationships of Inter- and Intra-Site Artifacts at Rimrock Draw Rockshelter (35HA3855), Harney County, Oregon.

Summary

Rimrock Draw Rockshelter is located along a relict stream channel in southeastern Oregon. The lithic assemblage includes Western Stemmed (WST) points; Northern Side-notched (NSN) points; and artifacts associated with fluting technology, such as fluted bifaces, fluting flakes, overshot flakes, and bifaces with overshot flake scars. NSN and WST distributions within the rockshelter have vertical and horizontal separations, indicating temporal and areal differences in site use occurred that can be tied to distinct stratigraphic components. Surface distributions outside of the rockshelter also indicate distinct areas of occupation, with WST points found primarily above the rockshelter, NSN points on terraces upstream, and fluted technology on downstream terraces. Obsidian geochemical sourcing of an additional 100 artifacts from the site (250 total) reinforces our perspective that mobility patterns varied through time. WST points were transported from diverse sources in central and eastern Oregon, northern California, and northern Nevada. Fluting technology was localized, with most obsidian originating within 50 km of the site. Sources for NSN points suggest a wide-ranging population. Geochemical sourcing data for fluted and stemmed artifacts from Sagehen Gap, Sheep Mountain, and the Dietz site (all near Rimrock Draw Rockshelter) will enhance our perspective on mobility patterns in Oregon Paleoamerican sites.

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This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)   •
• The Frison Institute/Geoarchaeology Interest Group Symposium: Archaeology and Geoarchaeology of Rockshelters and Caves

Keywords

Spatial Coverage