The Role of Geomorphology and GIS in the Identification of Paleoindian Archaeological Sites at Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, U.S.A.

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2019: General Sessions" session, at the 84th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

We discuss the role of geomorphology in identifying early Paleoindian archaeological sites at North America’s highest-elevation natural lake, Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming. Prior research proposed geomorphological models for the ages of Yellowstone Lake paleoshorelines that mark former lake levels after Late Pleistocene glacial retreat. Based on results of 10 years of archaeological research at the lake, we confirm the accuracy of these paleoshoreline models and present a geographic-information-systems (GIS) predictive model for Paleoindian site locations. Results of an archaeological survey for Paleoindian sites along ancient shores of the northeastern portion of Yellowstone Lake indicate that the GIS and the paleoshoreline models are robust Paleoindian site location predictors.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 84th Annual Meeting, Albuquerque, NM (2019)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 23347