Surface Archaeology in the Wilderness: Assessing Interpretation, Significance, Approaches, and the Need for Enhanced Protection

Summary

This is an abstract from the "SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts" session, at the 90th annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology.

Developing a realistic understanding of the regional archaeological record and creating high-fidelity models of human land use dynamics require comprehensive documentation and integration of both underrepresented surface and the often-emphasized subsurface components. Without incorporating data from both, behavioral models risk being only marginally accurate. Since 2002, the Greybull River Sustainable Landscape Ecology (GRSLE) project has recorded over a quarter million surface artifacts in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem (GYE), with a focus on remote areas of the Washakie Wilderness within the Shoshone National Forest, Wyoming, at elevations above 2500m. This presentation highlights the diversity and complexity of the surface record through data from a 2024 sampling of one drainage system, where over 20,000 surface artifacts—including both temporally diagnostic and non-diagnostic stone tools—were individually mapped and analyzed in the field, diverging from the more conventional site-based approach. This largely non-collection inventory method reveals the critical interpretative value of these oft-underutilized surface data patterns for developing landscape-scale models of past human behavior. The findings underscore the urgent need for the systematic integration of surface materials into archaeological management frameworks, emphasizing their importance for accurately assessing archaeological value and enhancing protection measures.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 90th Annual Meeting, Denver, CO (2025)   •
• SAA 2025: Individual Abstracts

Keywords

Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 53398