Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

This paper discusses lithic raw material prospects (or simply "prospects"), places where potentially flakeable tool stone was assayed or tested for quality. It characterizes this site type and contrasts it with quarries, places where stone was obtained consistently and in quantity, and places where stone was picked up, used, and discarded with little modification. We believe prospects represent a major archaeological site type that has received inadequate attention in the literature.

This study is focused on the desert areas of California and Nevada. The ranges of the western pond turtle and the desert tortoise overlap in portions of this region so that specific attention is directed to these two species in the first part of this paper. Similar archaeological problems may exist in other areas where species ranges overlap (e.g., Hohokam sites in Arizona).

Faunal analysts should be aware that both turtle and tortoise remains can occur at archaeological sites in areas where their ranges overlap or where there is a possibility that these animals, or objects derived from them, were exchanged. Environmental and cultural interpretations that are based in part on faunal remains should consider that while turtle and tortoise elements may be confused, ecological requirements and seasonal availability generally are very different for the two reptilian genera.

The second part of this paper narrows the focus to the desert tortoise, the remains of which are present in many sites in the southwestern Great Basin and adjacent eastern areas (Tables 1-3; Fig. 1). The major portion of the ethnographic literature search and the synthetic discussion is focused on this animal.

The reconstruction and interpretation of prehistoric subsistence has been a focus of Santa Barbara-area archaeology for many years, and the analysis of faunal remains is an integral part of this research. Shellfish remains are an abundant and visible constituent of local sites. The role of shellfish in subsistence, and their relative contribution to the prehistoric diet, have been topics of recent literature (Erlandson 1988a; Glassow and Wilcoxon 1988). To understand the role of shellfish in the prehistoric diet, it is necessary to document the nature of shellfish remains in archaeological sites.

In recent years a large body of quantified data on shellfish from several sites in the vicinity of the Goleta Lagoon has been recovered, and it is now possible to consider the nature and causes of changes through time in shellfish remains in a broad context. This paper is a description of shellfish assemblages from 14 site components from 11 sites, and a discussion of explanations for changes through time in shellfish exploitation.

The Hearth site was named for a large charcoal stain in a stabilized spring dune near the eastern edge of the Alvord Basin. Wheeled traffic on a narrow desert road had exposed the shallow hearth in a swale between higher dunes. The feature was associated with numerous lithic artifacts apparently eroding from either side of the linear dune. Deflated areas to the east and west of the hearth contained abundant artifacts, including fire-cracked rock, ground stone artifact fragments, flakes, and occasional manufactured tools. We were further drawn to the site by its proximity to several small springs and the Tule Springs marsh to the south. The site offered an opportunity to study the relationship of settlement location and water resources in the dry Alvord Basin during the later prehistoric past.

Objectives of this study have been to recover and interpret the remains of tiny fishes from archaeological site CA-LAK-386 and to determine the season of occupation.

The ethnobiological data present in Great Basin oral tradition form the basis of this paper. The oral tradition of a variety of Great Basin groups was examined and references to economic activities, specifically the procurement and preparation of foods, were recorded. This information was then compared with the extant data regarding Great Basin economic activities in an effort to broaden our understanding of Great Basin subsistence strategies and cultural ecology.

Shell Bead and Ornament Exchange Between California and the Western Great Basin. James A. Bennyhoff and Richard E. Hughes. American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Papers 64:Part 2, 1987, 96 pp., 14 figs., 13 tables, $10.50 (paper).

Human Skeletal Biology: Contributions to the Understanding of California's Prehistoric Populations. Gary D. Richards, ed. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 24, 1988, iv -i- 178 pp., 10 figs., 79 tables, 3 maps, $9.95 (paper).

Santa Ines Mission Excavations: 1986-1988. Julia G. Costello. Salinas: Coyote Press series in California Historical Archaeology No. 1, 1989, xii + 196 pp., 63 figs., 46 tables, $24.95 (paper).

Surface Archaeology at Landels-Hill B^ Creek Reserve and the Gamboa Point Properties, Monterey County, California. Martha Brown and Terry Jones, eds. Santa Cruz: University of California, Santa Cruz, Environmental Field Program Publication No. 18, 1989, xviii + 248 pp., 27 maps, 13 figs., 7 plates, 34 tables, appendix, $19.00 (paper).

Exploring the Fremont. David B. Madsen. Salt Lake City: Utah Museum of Natural History, 1989, xiv + 70 pp., 70 figs., $12.00, (paper).

Papers on the Archaeology of the Mojave Desert. Mark Q. Sutton, ed. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 10, 1987, 152 pp., $12.45 (paper).

Analysis of South-Central Californian Shell Artifacts: Studies from Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, and Santa Barbara Counties. Gary S. Breschmi and Trudy Haversat, eds. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 23, 1988, xiv + 105 pp., 21 figs., 28 tables, $8.70, (paper).

Archaeological Investigations at CA-RIV-1179, CA-RIV-2823, and CA-RIV-2827, La Quinta, Riverside County, California. Mark Q. Sutton and Philip J. Wilke, eds. Salinas: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 20, 1988, viii + 164 pp., 34 figs., 23 tables, $12.45 (paper).

Rice Bowls in the Delta: Artifacts Recovered from the 1915 Asian Community of Walnut Grove, California. Julia G. Costello and Mary L. Maniery. University of California, Los Angeles, Institute of Archaeology Occasional Paper No. 16, 1988, 98 pp., 12 tables, 143 figs., bibliography, $14.00 (paper)