Opportunistic Hunting Patterns Among Late Archaic Aborigines: In the Vicinity of Indian Springs, Nevada

Summary

Ethnographic summaries indicate that Great Basin hunter-gatherers conducted a variety of resource strategies to perpetuate their physical lives and cultural lifeways. Due to the paucity of lush spring and meadow sites, it is likely that opportunistic hunting and gathering actions were common in the southern Great Basin. Steward (1938:181-82) notes that southern Nevada Paiutes likely used the resources of the Indian Springs vicinity for travel and resource procurement. He also stated (Steward 1938:93-94) that the camps surrounding Indian Springs were used on a temporary basis. This is probable due to a limited number of observable resources in this area, other than the grasses, reeds and small animals common in ephemeral marsh environments. Steward argued that other groups also used the Indian Spring area when food was scarce. Based on this description of a landscape that yielded relatively low quantities of food, it is probable that opportunistic hunting, in contrast to planned tasks such as constructing blinds or nets for rabbit hunts, was quite common.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Nellis Air Force Base Cultural Resources Archive   •
• Nellis AFB - SHPO

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