FGV Sources of the Great Salt Lake Desert, Utah

Summary

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

This presentation focuses on the geochemistry and archaeological exploitation of fine-grained volcanic (FGV) lithic sources of the greater Great Salt Lake Desert (GSLD) in northwestern Utah. Regional volcanism during the Tertiary is responsible for recurring tectonic activity and normal faulting, and this geology holds a variety of toolstone sources that were useful to people. Non-obsidian fine-grained toolstone of volcanic origin, usually referred to as FGV, is available at geochemically distinct sources to the east and west at Flat Hills, off the southern toe of the Cedar Mountains south of Dugway, and in the Deep Creek Range; they average about 60 kilometers from the central region of the southern GSLD. By combining X-ray fluorescence characterization of these sources with a discussion of their exploitation history, this presentation provides one of the few overviews of these important resources. When combined with our knowledge of obsidian procurement and use in the wider region, this research contributes to understanding lithic conveyance zones and precontact patterns of mobility in the eastern Great Basin.

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): 53751