Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Lake-Level Fluctuations in the Lahontan Basin, Nevada: An Expanded Approach

Summary

In the Great Basin, most substantial Paleoindian sites are found on landforms associated with extinct lakes and wetlands, suggesting that early groups had a special affinity for lacustrine settings. The Lahontan Basin of western Nevada contains a rich record of Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene (TP/EH) lake-level fluctuation and an extensive record of Paleoindian occupation. In 2008, Ken Adams and colleagues compared the relationship between site location and lakeshores of known ages using a small number of Paleoindian sites in the Black Rock Desert and Winnemucca Lake basins. They argued that sites dating to between ~13,000 and 8,000 years ago should be concentrated at elevations between 1200 and 1235 m ASL. Their research relied on a small archaeological data set from a limited geographic area. To test their hypothesized relationship between site distribution and lakeshore elevation, I compiled site location data for the entire Lahontan Basin. My results shed additional light on the spatial-temporal relationship between Paleoindian sites and Pleistocene lakeshores and help evaluate the validity of their model at a much broader scale.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

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

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Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 20495