Exploring High-Elevation Social-Ecological Relationships through Two Pilot Field Seasons of the Central Cascades Alpine Land-Use and Fire History Project

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 88th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Precontact archaeology in Washington State’s Central Cascades is not well studied due to the region’s remote location and perception as a marginal area separating cultural centers in the western and eastern portions of the state. Recent research in the adjacent North and South Cascades (i.e., North Cascades National Park and Mt. Rainier National Park) has revealed that subalpine ecozones contain a long and rich cultural history spanning much of the Holocene, but similar investigations are lacking in the Central Cascades. Therefore, this project aims to evaluate the spatial distribution and chronology of land-use in the Central Cascades to understand how precontact land management practices may have contributed to the ecological diversity now seen in high elevations. We present results from two pilot seasons of archaeological survey and paleoecological sampling on Kachess Ridge and the Alpine Lakes Wilderness within the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. We discuss the challenges of working in these remote areas, the results of our data collection efforts, and our vision for the future of this project. We anticipate that this work will help fill in large gaps in our understanding of regional culture history, as well inform theories regarding human impact of these unique and overlooked ecological zones.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2023: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 88th Annual Meeting, Portland, OR (2023)

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 36765.0