Technological Organization of Two Prearchaic Sites in Grass Valley, Nevada

Summary

The research presented here works from the proposition that patterns in lithic assemblages reflect human organizational strategies. Preliminary investigations of 26La4434, a single component Prearchaic site in Grass Valley, reveal a pattern of large game exploitation in proximity to a Pleistocene shoreline. Standard metric, morphological, and edge-wear analysis of the flaked stone assemblage is used to evaluate whether the site facilitated access to local wetland resources and large game intercept hunting. We compare these results with the Knudtsen site (26La781), a dense site with a diverse assemblage that suggests a broad range of tasks and site functions. We argue that the observed technological organization is conditioned by several factors, including the local environment, raw material availability, and group mobility.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

Keywords

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 21955