Mapping Prehistoric Behavior Patterns at a Lithic Tool Stone Source in the Colorado Desert: Results of Geospatial Analysis at CA-IMP-008/H

Summary

Mapping Prehistoric Behavior Patterns at a Lithic Tool Stone Source in the Colorado Desert:

Results of Geospatial Analysis at CA-IMP-008/H

This paper sets out results obtained following a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) analysis of the spatial patterning of stone tools at a study area in the Colorado Desert of southern California. Stone tools are examined based on their utility for an explanation of their use and importance in the lives of prehistoric foragers. Current efforts to understand the prehistory of the region is undertaken, mostly, by environmental consultants in the private sector of archaeology as part of a formal [legal] obligation prior to large land development in the form of green energy projects. The results of such analyses seldom make it to the public as published material. This study employs an academic lens to extrapolate qualitative information from quantitative data from previously unpublished cultural resources management (CRM) investigations in the region. The application of optimal foraging theory, to this study, allows for the examination of human and environmental factors and constraints facilitating predictions and interpretations of prehistoric forager behaviors and their occurrence and frequency in the archaeological record at the study area.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 83rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC (2018)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21894