Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology

By "historic Western Shoshone identities," I refer to those I found in a short but intensive and productive six-week field season in summer of 1989. I call these identities historic, rather than contemporary, because they do not seem to be products of contemporary political conditions. Rather, they seem to either have arisen or persisted during the historic period, ca. 1880 to the present. Some might call this the "reservation period," but since less than 40% of the Western Shoshone population was living on reservations until well into the 1970s, that designation is somewhat inappropriate. These identities were aboriginal, but that is not the point I wish to stress. Steward (1938: 248) flatly denied these identities had any significance. My purpose, then, is to ascertain why they persisted during a period in which they would be expected to disappear, or why they became more important when, if Steward was right, they had not been so aboriginally.

In this paper we explore the use of rock art as an indicator of cultural interaction between neighboring tribal groups in south-central California. The are is of particular interest because of numerous shared cultural traits, including spectacular geometric polychrome painting tradition.

The detailed study of shell bead production refuse enhances the ability of archaeologists to determine when and where particular bead types were manufactured. As discussed below, since the dating of bead and ornament types is far from conclusive, such studies will help refine the chronology. Furthermore, analysis of shell detritus from archaeological contexts greatly expands on the few ethnographic cases and replication studies available that describe shell bead and ornament manufacture techniques (Merriam MS; Barrett and Gifford 1933; Barrett 1952; Hampson 1975; King 1978; Macko 1984).

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.

The purpose of this paper is to report on the human remains from the Elsinore Burial site.

Prior to the 1930s, a small minority of Nevada Indians lived on reservations that provided them a means of livelihood. The largest number of Indians in the state did not live on any kind of trust territory at all.

This paper summarizes the results of an initial field program at the Mt. Augusta site and an adjacent midden deposit, site 26CH369. Chronological and functional inferences are offered which suggest that the former represents a bighorn sheep drive facility of some antiquity. The paper concludes with a more detailed discussion of relevant ethnographic and archaeological analogs, focusing on the possibility that the facility may have incorporated the use of nets to procure bighorn.

In this paper, I present the results of a recent radiocarbon study designed to test and refine King's proposed chronology for CA-SBA-1.

The Archaeology of Pinyon House, Two Eagles, and Crater Middens: Three Residential Sites in Owens Valley, Eastern California. Robert L. Bettinger. New York: American Museum of Natural History Anthropological Paper No. 67, 1989, 355pp., 98 figs.,102 tables, $38.00, (paper).

Western Pomo Prehistory: Excavations at Albion Head, Nightbird's Retreat, and Three Chop Village, Mendocino County, California. Thomas N. Layton (with contributions by Dwight D. Simons ans Glen Wilson). Los Angeles: University of California Institute of Archaeology Monograph No. 32 1990, 229 pp., 77 figures, 74 tables, $20.00 (paper).

Prehistoric Human Geography in the Carson Desert, Part I: A Predictive Model of Land-Use in the Stillwater Wildlife Management Area. Christopher Raven and Robert G. Elston. Portland, OR: US Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1, Cultural Resources Series No. 3, 1989, ix + 184pp., 1 appendix, 39 figs., 20 tables, gratis (paper). Prehistoric Human Geography in the Carson Desert, Part II: Archaeological Field Tests of Model Predictions. Christopher Raven. Portland, OR: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Region 1, Cultural Resources Series No. 4, 1990, vi -I- 143 pp., 5 appendices, 73 figs., 7 tables, gratis (paper).

Osteological Analysis of the Stillwater Skeletal Series, Stillwater Marsh, Churchill County Nevada. Sheilagh T. Brooks. Fallon: USDI Fish and Wildlife Service, Cultural Resource Series No. 2 1988, 405 pp., 28 tables, 49 figs., gratis (paper).

The Archaeology of the Afton Canyon Site Joan S. Schneider. San Bernardino County Museum Association Quarterly 36(1), 1989, 161 pp., 61 figs., 26 tables, 8 appendices, $10.00 (paper).

Archeology of James Creek Shelter, Robert G. Elston and Elizabeth E. Budy, eds. University of Utah Anthropological Papers No. 115. 1990, xiv + 321 pp., 110 figs., 85 tables, 7 appendices, $22.50 (paper).

Archaeological Study of CA_VEN-110, California Roberta S. Greenwood, John M. Foster, and Gwendolyn R. Romani. Pacific Palisades: Greenwood and Associates, 1986, v + 273 pp., 14 figs., 24 tables, 9 apprentices, no price given (paper). Archaeological Study of CA-VEN-110, Ventura, California: Fish Remains Mark A. Roeder. Pacific Palisades: Greenwood and Associates, 1987, i+ 26 pp., 1 fig., 12 tables, 9 appendices, no price given (paper).

Archaeological Excavations at CA-SFR-113, the Market Street Shell Midden, San Francisco, California Allen G. Pastron and Michael R. Walsh. Salinas, CA.: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 25, 1988, vi + 91 pp., 10 figs., 7 tables, 5 appendices, $ 7.45 (paper)

Archaeological Investigations at CA-SLO-99, Pismo Beach, San Luis Obispo County, California Gary S. Breschini, Trudy Haversat, and R. Paul Hampson with contributions by J.A. Bennyhoff, M.F.Rondeau, and A.L. Runnings. Salinas, CA: Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory No. 26, 1988, iv + 80 pages, 11 figs., 5 tables, plus 4 appendices with tables, $6.20 (paper).