Analysis of the Fenley Hunter Obsidian Flake from the Tule Springs Archaeological Site, Las Vegas, NV

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 89th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

This poster concerns the Tule Springs Archaeological Site (79001461/26CK4) in Clark County, Nevada, and new analyses of the obsidian flake discovered there in 1933. The importance of the flake rests in its then-postulated association with the fossil remains of extinct Pleistocene megafauna and the long-term research endeavors that have happened since. Although a direct association with megafauna could never be demonstrated, the flake was found within terminal Pleistocene sediments. Using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry, we show that the artifact originated from the Airfield Canyon obsidian outcrops associated with the Obsidian Butte geochemical source in southwestern Nevada, roughly 230 km north of Tule Springs. By contextualizing the current results within the broader spatial patterning of Great Basin toolstone conveyance at the time, we reintroduce Tule Springs as a key site in the study of the earliest occupations of the Desert West.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• SAA 2024: Individual Abstracts   •
• Society for American Archaeology 89th Annual Meeting, New Orleans, LA (2024)

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 39009.0