The Truckee Meadows is a well-watered valley in western Nevada with archaeological evidence of aboriginal human occupation extending from 150 B.P. to about 10,000 B.P. Obsidian samples from 27 archaeological sites in and around the Truckee Meadows (401 individual specimens) have been analyzed for geochemical source determination, and 183 of these obsidian specimens have been analyzed for hydration rind thicknesses. A total of 20 different obsidian sources in seven distinct geographic localities is represented in the combined obsidian samples. Despite this great diversity, 46% of the sample obsidian was derived from local sources, while 38% was derived from the Mono Basin in southeast California. The remainder of the sample obsidian (16%) was derived from sources scattered throughout northeast California and northwest Nevada, as well as from several unidentified sources. No temporal trends or shifts in the utilization of particular obsidian sources are apparent in the sample. Hydration rind thicknesses vary from 0.8 to 9.8, but the data for Sutro Springs obsidian suggest that hydration rind thickness is an unreliable technique for determining the age of obsidian artifacts, whether relative or absolute.

Tucker Hill is located in the Lake Abert- Chewaucan Marsh Basin in Lake County, Oregon. In 1995, as part of the requirements associated with the permitting process for a mining company to conduct a perlite quarrying operation, the authors conducted a cultural resources inventory of the upper slopes and top of Tucker Hill (Hutchins 1995), as well as a program of archaeological testing for 13 sites located on and around Tucker Hill (Hutchins et al. 1996). Evidence derived from archaeological survey and site testing provided what the authors believe to be a representative view of the types of sites occurring on the Tucker Hill landform. Studies of lowland sites in the Lake Abert-Chewaucan Marsh Basin have been conducted by Oetting and Pettigrew (1985, 1987), Pettigrew (1985), and Oetting (1988, 1989,1990a, 1990b), but this investigation of Tucker Hill is one of very few archaeological studies of upland sites in this vicinity.

There has been considerable debate in recent years concerning the nature and consequences of prehisoric marine mammal exploitation along the Pacific coast of North America. Preliminary data from the vertebrate faunal assemblage from the northern California coastal site of Duncans Point Cave (CA-SON- 348/H) has been included in this debate. Detailed analysis of the mammal remains from Duncans Point Cave indicates a high frequency of juvenile seals and sea lions, suggesting that rookeries were accessible to the prehistoric inhabitants of the site. Changes in the shellfish assemblage suggest that profound environmental and topographic changes have occurred there. With little evidence supporting intensification or diet breadth expansion, an understanding of topographic changes, such as coastal erosion, is necessary to explain the patterns seen in this faunal assemblage.

In this report the depositional context and formal attributes of the Caspar fluted point are described and discussed. A reconstruction is then offered of the probable Mendocino coastal habitat that could have been exploited by hunter-gatherers 11,000 years ago.