VAFB-1982-06: An Addendum to Prehistoric and Historic Land Use Strategies in the San Antonio Terrace: A Research Design to Guide Archaeological Studies in Support of the MX Missile Test Facility on Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

Summary

This document is a report that outlines an attempt to develop a set of explicit statements for guiding prehistoric research on San Antonio Terrace. These hypotheses fall into three major classes. The first class relates to environmental change with hypotheses linking to specific expectations for the project area, and by extension, to changes in patterns of subsistence and settlement behavior in prehistory. The second class of hypotheses derive from basic anthropological expectations about the behavior of hunters and gatherers. These hypotheses attempt to link a) patterns of resource utilization and settlement location to b) the spatial and temporal distribution of resources. The third class of hypotheses relates to post-depositional processes. There is ever-accumulating evidence that San Antonio Terrace is an extremely dynamic ecosystem. The nature and extent of post-depositional processes had a major effect on a) the types of prehistoric activities which are preserved in the archaeological record, b) the "filtering" of archaeological data, and c) our ability to even discover sites. Therefore, these post-depositional processes have an enormous role in not only what we see of the past, but also how we see the past.

The development of a regional predictive model is important for two reasons. First, hunter-gatherer site location, density, and diversity can be modeled based on broad environmental relationships. Second, knowledge of the probable numbers, types, and locations of resources can be a valuable planning tool. The distribution of hunter-gatherer sites across the landscape is closely correlated with the availability and diversity of subsistence resources. Building upon this premise, we assume that systematic relationships between selected environmental variables and inter-site variability exist. In all cases, we assume hunter-gatherers will optimize resource exploitation strategies to minimize the impact of fluctuations in resource availability.

Predictive models aid in the elucidation of settlement variability in lieu of complete survey data by isolating relevant variables and predicting the location and number of cultural resources in non-surveyed areas. Such variability is especially evident on northern VAFB due to the diversity of major topographic and environmental zones. Nowhere is the dichotomy in resource exploitation strategies as clear as on the San Antonio Terrace.

Unlike general models of hunter-gatherer behavior proposed previously in central coastal California, a continuous areal predictive model permits consideration of non-site areas. This is especially important in light of modern cultural resource management needs on VAFB. Predictive models are especially important in that both site and non-site data can be predicted. These data can then be used to prepare general archaeological sensitivity maps. Hence, considerations of potential impacts to archaeological sites can be evaluated early in the planning process. This permits greater refinement in the planning process and potential cost savings in archaeological survey, testing and mitigation of impact programs.

Knowledge of the distribution and characteristics of sites is important in evaluation of the significance of a site and its potential eligibility to the NHRP. The majority of site significance evaluations on VAFB to date have been made in lieu of detailed information on the numbers and distributions of different kinds of sites. This knowledge will allow considerable refinement in significance evaluation and a sound footing for mitigation of recommendations since the loss of a portion of one resource may be evaluated on the basis of the impact on larger settlement system.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Vandenberg Space Force Base (VSFB) - Cultural Resource Report

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Roscoe Loetzerich

Record Identifiers

VAFB Document Number(s): VAFB-1982-06

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