Underwater in the High Desert: Exploring Site Presence and Preservation on Drowned and Buried Lake Features
Author(s): Neil N Puckett
Year: 2018
Summary
Walker Lake, NV, a high desert, perennial lake in the western Great Basin, has been subject to naturally changing water levels for over 15,000 years. Ranging in size from the southernmost branch of Pleistocene Lake Lahontan to a small alkali wetland, Walker Lake provided varying landscapes for people to use and live around through time. Fieldwork during summer 2017 investigated drowned river channels and beach features for depositional history, site presence, and site preservation. Submerged test pit excavations and core samples around the northern end of the lake reveal the lakes environmental history and importance to prehistoric peoples. When combined with previous terrestrial and underwater investigations, the results clarify the roles pluvial lakes played to prehistoric societies in the Great Basin.
Cite this Record
Underwater in the High Desert: Exploring Site Presence and Preservation on Drowned and Buried Lake Features. Neil N Puckett. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, New Orleans, Louisiana. 2018 ( tDAR id: 441862)
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Keywords
General
Geoarchaeology
•
landscapes
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Underwater Terrestrial
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
Prehistoric
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 345