Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Based on our study, we interpret Lava Butte to be an extensively used foraging base camp that was first inhabited during the Middle Archaic Period, but after the eruption of Lava Butte at 6,169 B.P., by human populations using Elko series dart points. Circumstantial evidence suggests multiple, spring through fall habitations occurring over a period of many centuries. Situated around a deep bedrock fault, the site was optimally located to take advantage of both forest and riverine resources. Lava Butte was subsequently occupied during the Late Archaic Period (after 2,000 B.P.) by populations first using Rosegate, then Desert Side-notched, projectile points. The relative scarcity of Late Archaic Period projectile points indicates that this habitation was more ephemeral and taskspecific than the Elko occupation. The site was apparently inhabited during the transition from atlatl to bow and arrow technologies in central Oregon. Abundant volcanic activity in the upper Deschutes River Basin may have initially inhibited extensive human settlement, but by the Middle Archaic Period, the volcanic terrain of the region provided attractive natural features and habitational settings that were important to survival on the High Lava Plains.