Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

Snare use in the arid Desert West of North America is characteristic of a broad-spectrum subsistence strategy, a conclusion supported by the contextual occurrence of snare bundles. Such a system insured against economic crises by including a wide range of plants and animals on its list of food items. It is suggested that microfauna, which are often relegated to the "also present" category of archaeologically derived subsistence profiles, played a significant role in the prehistoric annual round of the Desert West and possibly a key role in the spring.