Modeling Middle Holocene Site Frequencies in Southeastern Wyoming: Exploring the Early Archaic through Probabilistic Models

Summary

The lack of Middle Holocene sites on the Northwestern Plains provided grounds for further research on its source. A range of explanations have been proposed for the low frequency of archaeological sites dating between 8000 and 5000 BP in southeastern Wyoming, including geological, cultural, and researcher bias. Some suggest that human populations occupying the plains during this time were reduced. However, others point out that conditions during and following this time period may have destroyed sites or deeply buried them. Using quantitative and probabilistic models, this poster explores the likelihood of finding an Early Archaic period site given information concerning the history of research in the area, the chance of revealing buried cultural remains, and potential sources of geological bias. Further, it provides predictions of locations in Platte and Goshen Counties, Wyoming, that would benefit from further investigation; these areas will be subject to research attention in the future.

SAA 2015 abstracts made available in tDAR courtesy of the Society for American Archaeology and Center for Digital Antiquity Collaborative Program to improve digital data in archaeology. If you are the author of this presentation you may upload your paper, poster, presentation, or associated data (up to 3 files/30MB) for free. Please visit http://www.tdar.org/SAA2015 for instructions and more information.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 80th Annual Meeting, San Francisco, CA (2015)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage