Analysis of ground stones found at a west-central Mojave Desert rock shelter site

Summary

CA-SBR-14 is a rock shelter site located in the South Range of Naval Air Weapons Station (NAWS), China Lake in the west central Mojave Desert. Subsurface investigation of the site has provided important contextual data that challenges previous interpretations of prehistoric use of the area. Artifacts collected include milling slabs on the surface of the site, fire-affected fragments that were recovered from subsurface test units, and three handstones that appear to have been deliberately placed with other artifacts in an unusual feature. Analysis of collected ground stone flakes provides possible evidence of ground stone manufacture. Compared with plant and coprolite data, this poster provides important insights into prehistoric food processing at the site.

Cite this Record

Analysis of ground stones found at a west-central Mojave Desert rock shelter site. Richard Nicolas, Anthony Morales, Melanie Saldana. Presented at The 81st Annual Meeting of the Society for American Archaeology, Vancouver, British Columbia. 2017 ( tDAR id: 430237)

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Keywords

Spatial Coverage

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

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 17534