TERMINAL PLEISTOCENE-EARLY HOLOCENE LITHIC RAW MATERIAL CONVEYANCE AT PLUVIAL LAKE MOJAVE AND THE SOUTHERN CONVEYANCE ZONE, MOJAVE DESERT

Summary

This paper evaluates Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene (TP-EH) lithic raw material conveyance patterns around pluvial Lake Mojave and the southern conveyance zone proposed by Jones et al. (2003). Geologic samples from 12 fine-grained volcanic (FGV) source areas around Lake Mojave were submitted for xrf analysis to expand the regional database, and 50 FGV and obsidian artifacts from the Campbell collection and sites along the TP-EH shorelines of Lake Mojave were sourced by xrf to document the mobility patterns around this pluvial lake. Goldstone Variety 1 dacite (70-80 km northwest of Lake Mojave) is the dominant nonlocal FGV as is obsidian from the Coso volcanic field (190 km to the northwest) and Shoshone Mountain (140 km north of Lake Mojave in western Nevada). The Goldstone dacite and Coso obsidian depict a southeast pattern of movement to Lake Mojave and the Shoshone Mountain obsidian a southward movement. We evaluate if and how the xrf data from Lake Mojave fit the proposed southern conveyance zone. Additionally, we use extant xrf data from multiple Fort Irwin and other Mojave Desert TP-EH sites to evaluate the southern conveyance zone at the regional-scale.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 81st Annual Meeting, Orlando, FL (2016)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage