Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

The Shasta-Trinity National Forests curve around the northern and northwestern edges of the Sacramento Valley in northern California, including within their boundaries the southern Medicine Lake Highlands, the slopes of Mount Shasta, much of the steep topography of the Klamath Mountains, and the headwaters of both the Sacramento and Trinity rivers. The approximately 1,800 recorded prehistoric archaeological sites on the Forests encompass some 8,000 years of prehistory. Cultural materials from these sites have been organized into three or four patterns with the Borax Lake Pattern being the oldest (e.g., Hildebrandt and Hayes 1984; Sundahl 1992b). Although constituting the smallest proportion of cultural remains on the Forests, materials of the Borax Lake Pattern are well represented in the Squaw Creek drainage in Shasta County and in South Fork Mountain and at the Cox Bar Site (CA-TRI-1008), both in Trinity County (Fig. 1). A considerable amount of research, primarily sponsored by the Shasta- Trinity National Forests, has been conducted in these areas. This article describes and compares the Borax Lake Pattern assemblages from these areas and proposes the recognition of two aspects within the pattern.