Searching for the "Paleoarchaic individual" and unique Paleoarchaic "production grammar" in the Great Basin

Author(s): Geoffrey Cunnar; Ed Stoner; Tom Bullard

Year: 2017

Summary

Archaeological investigations were conducted by Western Cultural Resource Management in the Fire Creek Archaeological District in the central Great Basin. We address the results of investigations at a Paleoarchaic site containing a buried soil with both an abundant stemmed point trajectory and a Levallois-like reduction method dating to the Younger Dryas. Employing agency theory and through an examination of depositional history, the chaîne opératoire and spatial analyses, we argue that the artifacts located both on the surface and in the buried soil are indicative of activities conducted in a moment in time and not a palimpsest accretion. Components of the chaîne opératoire are discussed and the identity of the Paleoarchaic occupants is examined within the broader regional context of the Great Basin. Further the identification of ancient soils on Great Basin alluvial fans and the ramifications for future archaeological work in such contexts is addressed.

Cite this Record

Searching for the "Paleoarchaic individual" and unique Paleoarchaic "production grammar" in the Great Basin. Geoffrey Cunnar, Ed Stoner, Tom Bullard. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 429312)

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Spatial Coverage

min long: -122.761; min lat: 29.917 ; max long: -109.27; max lat: 42.553 ;

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 16907