Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Investigation of numerous scarred juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) trees in western Nevada, from which it is concluded Indians took wood for the manufacture of archery bows, necessitated a review of the literature on Great Basin bows and the materials from which they were made. The goal was to better understand the significance of these trees and the relationship of the industry represented by them to the manufacture of bows in the area as a whole. Use of horn, antler, and bone for bow stave material is discussed elsewhere (Wilke 1988). In this paper, I discuss the use of various woods for bow staves in the Great Basin and adjacent regions. I then discuss the harvesting of wood for bow staves from still living Juniper trees in western Nevada, and offer ideas about the exchange of wooden bow staves or completed bows from this region to other regions. Finally, I speculate on the relationships between bowyers and the trees from which they took their bow staves, and assess stave harvesting and tree regrowth as these phenomena relate to the concept of aboriginal resource management.

The HQ site is the most extensively investigated of several currently known focal points of aboriginal life around Malheur Lake. A wide-ranging archaeological reconnaissance of the Refuge in 1973 and 1974 resulted in the identification of 166 sites of ancient human activity around Malheur and Harney lakes and south along the Blitzen River (Newman et al. 1974). Widely scattered and often abundant surface traces suggest that most such spots were visited many times over the years for brief periods, probably for some specific purpose. Deep, rich accumulations of artifacts, bones, and other cultural remains that bespeak long-term occupation of a specific place are much less common. The HQ site is one such accumulation; others so far known include the Squaw PU site (35HA1038) on the north shore of Malheur Lake, and the Blitzen Marsh (35HA9) and Diamond Marsh (35HA1263) sites in the riparian area south of the lake (Fagan 1973, 1974; Goddard 1974; Aikens 1983a; Toepel et al. 1985). The geographical placement of these four sites (and other evidence) suggests that each was a center for local exploitation of plant and animal resources (Fig. 1).This paper compares data obtained during 1985 research at the HQ site to the results of earlier work there and at the other three sites to define a prehistoric Malheur lakeshore culture and place it in the broader context of the prehistory of the Desert West.

Several very large modified and unmodified pieces of obsidian have been recovered separately from and near archaeological sites on the Pineridge Ranger District, Sierra National Forest, Fresno County, California (Fig. 1). The discovery of these specimens, weighing up to 7 kg., on the west slope of the Sierra Nevada suggests that bulky, minimally reduced obsidian raw material and cores were a regular part of the prehistoric obsidian exchange inventory. Current lithic technology models incorporating a paradigm that emphasizes efficiency in resource and artifact procurement, production, distribution, and exchange may not adequately characterize trans-Sierran prehistoric lithic production systems. This paper describes the subject artifacts and their dating, and discusses the finds vis-a-vis models of obsidian artifact production and exchange in the western Great Basin and southern Sierra Nevada.

In the interior western United States, archaeologists have sometimes sought to determine whether projectile points were used with atlatl darts or with arrows by analyzing specimens with respect to variation in neck width (Thomas 1978; Corliss 1980). Such an approach represents use of a morphometric variable, often in lieu of impact damage (Bergman and Newcomer 1983; Odell and Cowan 1986) or edge damage (papers in Hayden 1979). Damage is often not present. Considerations of size, shape, bilateral symmetry, basically triangular shape, and ends that may be pointed, notched, or stemmed, as well as ethnographic information alone often lead to the categorizing of a group of artifacts as "projectile points." Resulting classifications are relevant to functional and thus adaptational concerns and also to temporal concerns because of the late Holocene (ca. 2,500 to 1,500 B.P.) shift from the atlatl and dart or spear to the bow and arrow. The dating of this transition is unclear. Hanes (1977) believed it occurred ca. 2,500 B.P. in southeastern Oregon; Pettigrew (1981) placed it ca. 1,700 B.P. in northwestern Oregon.

Gould (1966) addressed a similar problem of assigning projectile points to specific functional categories that may ultimately prove temporally sensitive. He was working on the coast of northern California with mostly late prehistoric (post-1,000 B.P.) materials thought to post-date the transition from atlatl and dart to bow and arrow. Because his materials were from a coastal site, the possibility that some stone projectile points were used on arrows while others were used on harpoons bad to be considered. While Gould (1977:161) later reported that his distinction of the two functional categories was made "with size, not shape, as the main criterion," in this paper we follow his original discussion (Gould 1966) as it is more detailed.

This paper is an attempt to synthesize available data on the prehistory of Fish Lake Valley in a coherent manner. The intent is to create interest in an area containing archaeological and ethnographic resources that could yield valuable prehistoric settlement and subsistence data with potential for comparison with those available in the Owens Valley, to the west.

In the summer of 1986 a rescue excavation was conducted by a University of California, Santa Cruz, archaeological field class at an eroding shell midden, CA-MNT-1223 (the Dolan I Site), on the Big Sur coast (Fig. 1). Situated 70 km. (45 mi.) south of the city of Monterey in ethnographic Esselen territory, the site had been recorded two seasons earlier by another field class during the completion of a cultural resources survey of Landels-Hill Big Creek Reserve (Jones et al. 1987). Full results of the excavation will be detailed in an impending report, but the most unusual find was a Desert Side-notched projectile point made from a fragment of abalone (Haliotis rufescens) shell.

For the Cottonwood Triangular point forms at Ystaqua, the Ipai site approximately 64 km. south of the research area, the proposed sequence postulates that the straight base form, together with the predominant broad and shallow forms, occur earlier than the deep base variant (Carrico and Taylor 1983:103). If these broad and shallow forms can be said to equate to the broad base form as described herein, this sequence appears to be at odds with the findings for Frey Creek and the adjacent mountain region in northern San Diego County as represented at Silver Crest. For lack of comparable data, at this time it is not possible to extend these conclusions from the present research to other sites within the immediate area; however, it is expected that further comparative analyses can test these proposals. It is also hoped that the definition of attributes presented here will aid in these analyses by providing objective criteria.

The occurrence of cupule petroglyphs in the Diablo Range of central California was recently reported (Parkman 1986). In that discussion, special attention was given to cupule occurrences in the northern portion of the range. Since that time, other important data have become available concerning cupule occurrences in the southern portion of the Diablo Range. This paper is a brief discussion of those data.

A small group of perishable artifacts was collected by members of the Archaeological Survey Association of Southern California (ASA) from a cave or rockshelter near Mitchell Caverns in the Providence Mountains, eastern San Bernardino County, California, some time about 1962. The cave was designated "Cave No. 5" and the collection was stored at ASA offices, most recently at their offices in Redlands, California. The collection was "rediscovered" by one of us and a brief description of the assemblage was presented (Yobe 1984). This report documents the artifacts and their associations.

California Lithic Studies: 1. Gary S. Breschini and Trudy Haversat, eds. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 11, 1987, iv + 96 pp., 26 figs., 8 tables, 1 map, $5.95 (paper).

Archaeological Resource Study: Morro Bay to Mexican Border. Larry J. Pierson, Gerald I. Shiller, and Richard A. Slater. Cardiff, CA.: U.S. Department of the Interior, Minerals Management Service, Vol. 1, 199 pp.; Vol. 2, unpaginated appendix folio of folded 37 blueline maps, 5 figs., 4 tables, 1987, no price given (paper).

An Assessment of the Research Potential of 13 Ridgetop Archaeological Sites in Humboldt and Trinity Counties in Northwestern California. L. E. Weigel and D. A. Fredrickson. Sonoma State University Academic Foundation, 1982, 57 pp., 2 figs., available for reproduction costs from Six Rivers National Forest, Eureka, CA (paper). Archaeological Investigations on Pilot Ridge, Six. Rivers National Forest. William R. Hildebrandt and John F. Hayes. Sonoma State University Anthropological Studies Center, and San Jose State University Center for Anthropological Research, 1983, xii + 379 pp., 235 tables, 47 figs., 29 plates, available for reproduction costs from Sbc Rivers National Forest, Eureka, CA (paper). Archaeological Investigations on South Fork Mountain, Six Rivers and Shasta-Trinity National Forests. William R. Hildebrandt and John F. Hayes. Sonoma State University Anthropological Studies Center, and San Jose State University Center for Anthropological Research, 1984, 221 pp., 49 tables, 20 figs., 14 plates, available for reproduction costs from Six Rivers National Forest, Eureka, CA (paper). Archaeological Investigations on Pilot Ridge: Results of the 1984 Field Season. William R. Hildebrandt and John F. Hayes. Sonoma State University Anthropological Studies Center, and San Jose State University Center for Anthropological Research, 1985, iii + 151 pp., 22 figs., 22 plates, available for reproduction costs from Six Rivers National Forest, Eureka, CA (paper).

The Church Rock Petroglyph Site: Field Documentation and Preliminary Analysis. Jo Anne Van Tilburg, Frank Bock, and A. J. Bock. Redding: Occasional Papers of the Redding Museum No. 4, 1987, 113 pp., 66 figs., 3 tables, $12.50 (paper).

We are indebted to our volunteer office staff, and especially thank Associate Editor and Typesetter Adella Schroth, Circulation Manager Meg McDonald, and Associate Editors Elizabeth Lawlor and Karen Swope for their untiring efforts.