When asked to take a retrospective and prospective look at the state of Great Basin archaeology vis-a-vis the public it was clear that the scope and dimensions of such an endeavor could quickly escalate to unmanageable proportions. In this paper, I will focus on what I see as positive efforts that have been employed to include the public in what it is we do and the hurdles we need to overcome to realign our priorities. I then turn to the future and where we ought to think about going in the next decade.

This paper summarizes the results of an initial field program at the Mt. Augusta site and an adjacent midden deposit, site 26CH369. Chronological and functional inferences are offered which suggest that the former represents a bighorn sheep drive facility of some antiquity. The paper concludes with a more detailed discussion of relevant ethnographic and archaeological analogs, focusing on the possibility that the facility may have incorporated the use of nets to procure bighorn.