UC Merced Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology
Title Invaders from the South? Archaeological Discontinuities in the Northwestern Great Basin
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Journal Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology, 7(2)
ISSN 0191-3557
Author Layton, Thomas N
Publication Date 1985-07-01
Peer reviewed
eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Journal of California and Great Basin Anthropology Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 183 -201 (1985)
Invaders from the South? Archaeological Discontinuities in the Northwestern Great Basin
THOMAS N. LAYTON
N 1972 this author published a series of gist (Cowles 1960), lacks precise provenience Ihydration measurements on obsidian pro documentation. jectile points recovered during an archaeologi More recently, major excavations were cal excavation at Hanging Rock Shelter conducted under the direction of the author (NV-WA-1502) in northwestern Nevada (Lay- at Last Supper Cave (NV-HU-102), located 32 ton 1972a). These data were used to tempor km. northeast of Hanging Rock Shelter. As a ally order a number of recognized Great Basin consequence of these investigations, a point types in the collection. In addition, the 9,000-year obsidian hydration sequence is hydration results indicated possibly two epi now available for the site. Among the objec sodes of occupational hiatus at the shelter. tives of this paper is a comparative evaluation The earlier break was believed to have coin of the hydration records from Hanging Rock cided with the onset of Altithermal climatic Shelter and Last Supper Cave. Given advances conditions (cL Antevs 1953), while the later since 1972 in the measurement of obsidian hiatus was thought to have occurred relatively hydration bands, additional hydration meas late during the ensuing Medithermal climatic urements have been obtained for certain of period. At the time of the hydration analysis, the specimens from Hanging Rock Shelter. however, obsidian studies were largely in their Hydration data from both sites collectively infancy and the importance of geochemical support the recognition of terminal and environmental variables had yet to be Anathermal/early Altithermal and late Medi fully appreciated by most archaeologists. thermal episodes of occupational hiatus and Moreover, the Hanging Rock Shelter se projectile point stylistic discontinuity in quence, spanning some 9,000 years, stood northwestern Nevada. alone as the longest and most well- documented, site-specific obsidian hydration THE SITES record in the general region. The only extant Hanging Rock Shelter and Last Supper record of comparable length consisted of Cave are situated in the heart of the High hydration measurements on obsidian artifacts Rock Country of northwestern Nevada (Fig. from Cougar Mountain Cave (Layton 1972b), 1). A tableland of vast, layered lava beds but this uncataloged assemblage, excavated averaging 1,850 m. above sea level in elev and reported upon by an amateur archaeolo- ation, the region is the most southerly exten sion of the Columbia Lava Plateau. Lava beds are warped, faulted, eroded, and often ex Thomas N. Layton, Dept. of Anthropology, San Jose State posed as rimrock in canyon walls. Vegetation Univ., San Jose, CA 95192. throughout the region can be generally de-
[183: 184 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY
few perishable artifacts were found — primar • Cougar Mountain Cave ily near the surface of the deposit. Human occupation of the shelter spans the last 9,000 OREGON IDAHO years, terminating with an historic component (Layton 1973a). Three hundred seventy-eight typable projectile points, almost all of obsid • Last Supper Cave « Hanging Rock Shelter ian, were recovered from Hanging Rock Shel
• Silent Snake Springs Danger Cavei ter. Last Supper Cave was discovered, map
Soulh Fork Shelter ped, and tested during the summer of 1968 and completely excavated during the summers Honey Lake of 1973 and 1974. Initially exposed by the umboldt Lake Bed 5. downcutting of Hell Creek through a faulted Wagon Jack Shelter* Reese River Valley rhyoHtic lava flow, the cave apparently owes • Alta Toquima Village its origin to the collapse and stream-removal of soft sediments underlying the flow. Situ ated at an elevation of 1,650 m., the cave is o approximately 10 m. wide at the mouth and Crooked Fork Site ca. 22 m. deep, with its walls converging CALIFORNIA Owens Valley towards the rear. The cave opens to the east, but its interior is nearly always shaded. Fig. 1. Locations of Hanging Rock Shelter and Last Spring-fed Hell Creek, which flows only mar Supper Cave, and other sites mentioned in ginally in late summer, lies 20 m. below the text. floor of the cave. The stratified cultural scribed as Artemisia-domina.tQd Upper Sonor- deposits reach a maximum depth of 1.3 m., an Life Zone. with the lowermost deposits seasonally wet Hanging Rock Shelter was discovered in from groundwater. Numerous perishable arti 1967 and excavated during the summer of facts were found in the upper deposits and in 1968 (Layton 1970, 1972a). Lying 53 km. nearby pack-rat nests. A series of radiocarbon south of the Nevada-Oregon border and 45 dates indicate human occupation of the cave km. east of the Nevada-California border, the over the last 9,000 years with, as at Hanging site is located in a canyon formed by the Rock Shelter, a terminal historic component downcutting of Hanging Rock Creek through (Layton 1977a). Approximately 600 typable a massive rhyolitic lava flow. Stream under projectile points, again nearly all obsidian, cutting led to the formation of the shelter were recovered from Last Supper Cave. itself. The ground surface of the shelter is approximately 1,700 m. above sea level, and OBSIDIAN AND THE 4.5 m. above Hanging Rock Creek (at present, HIGH ROCK COUNTRY a perennial spring-fed stream). Given its Research in the past three decades has southern exposure, the floor of the shelter shown that the hydration of obsidian is receives some direct sunshine. The cultural controlled by at least three major variables: deposits have a maximum depth of one meter time, temperature, and chemical composition and are seasonally wet from groundwater. (cf. Friedman and Smith 1960; Friedman and Consequently, during the excavation only a Long 1976; Taylor 1976; Michels and Tsong INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH? 185
1980). In most cases, the specific temperature ature history than do obsidian artifacts found history of an obsidian tool over thousands of at open sites where hydration may proceed at years is extremely difficult to ascertain. Vag accelerated rates because of higher effective aries of preservation, including duration of temperatures (Layton 1973b). ground-surface exposure, depth of burial, and climatic changes, all contribute to a highly THE DATA variable temperature history. Likewise, the The present study is based on hydration chemical composition of a particular obsidian measurements for 126 obsidian projectile tool and the chemistry of the soil in which it points from Hanging Rock Shelter and 121 lies directly influence the rate of hydration in obsidian points from Last Supper Cave. Both ways not yet fully understood. The absence samples include most of the major point types of adequate controls over both the tempera known for the northern Great Basin. With the ture history and chemical composition of exception of Great Basin Stemmed series archaeological obsidian in many published points (Layton 1979: 47; Tuohy and Layton hydration studies has often led to anomalous 1977), the type designations used here follow results which, in turn, have forced extremely the morphological key proposed by Thomas cautious applications of this dating method. (1981a) for the central and western Great Fortuitously, the High Rock Country of Basin. northwestern Nevada is a region ideally suited Hydration values for the specimens from for obsidian hydration dating since, for a Hanging Rock Shelter were obtained by Paul number of reasons, some degree of control Aiello at the University of California, Los can be achieved over the temperature histories Angeles, Obsidian Hydration Laboratory in and chemical compositions of obsidian arti 1970. Hydration on the Last Supper Cave facts. First, obsidian occurs in abundance specimens was measured in 1979 by Marvis throughout the High Rock Country. Thus, Kelly, under the supervision of R. E. Taylor, local obsidian has been the primary tool at the University of Cahfornia, Riverside, material throughout prehistoric human occu Obsidian Hydration Dating Laboratory. Origi pancy of the region (over 95% of all exca nally, in an attempt to at least minimally vated chipped-stone tools are made of obsid control for geochemical variability, artifacts ian). Second, obsidian trace-element charac from both sites were candled and only those terization studies in northwestern Nevada are displaying a similar color and degree of fairly advanced due to the efforts of Jack translucency were selected for measurement. (1976), Erickson, Hagan, and Chesterman Subsequently, however, at the suggestion of (1976), and Hughes (1983a, 1983b, 1985). Taylor (personal communication 1979), two Finally, numerous exogene rockshelters occur apparent problems in the extant hydration throughout the High Rock Country exposed data were addressed with additional, focused at the basal edges of dissected lava flows. laboratory analysis. First, Taylor observed Many of these shelters contain multicom- that in both sample sets there were a number ponent archaeological deposits featuring of anomalous hydration measurements — par abundant obsidian tool assemblages presum ticular points showed far more or far less ably indicative of successive occupations over hydration than did most of their typological long periods of time. Obsidian artifacts pro counterparts whose hydration values were tected from direct solar exposure in the generally well clustered. Taylor suggested that shaded coolness and aggrading deposits of the points displaying anomalous hydration such shelters share a far less variable temper values be "fingerprinted" by x-ray fluores- 186 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY
Table 1 OBSIDIAN SOURCES IDENTIFIED BY XRF ANALYSIS OF CERTAIN PROJECTILE POINTS FROM HANGING ROCK SHELTER AND LAST SUPPER CAVE Number of Specimens Source Hanging Rock Shelter Last Supper Cave Totals Massacre Lake/Guano Valley 9 8 17 Home Camp A 11 2 Cowhead Lake - 1 1 Badger Creek 1 - 1 Unknown 2 - 2 Totals 13 10 23 cence spectroscopy (XRF) to determine if thin and five display values categorized as obsidian source (i.e., geochemical) variability unusually thick. Although admittedly an in might account for the divergent hydration adequate sample, the six remaining specimens, data. Therefore, 23 points previously meas representing four different obsidian sources, ured for hydration (13 from Hanging Rock also fail to show any apparent correlation Shelter, 10 from Last Supper Cave) were between hydration value and source assign selected for XRF analysis and obsidian source ment. While it is certainly true that additional ascription. sourcing analysis should be pursued with Each of the 23 points was placed into one respect to the Hanging Rock Shelter and Last of three categories (unusually thin, unusually Supper Cave projectile points, these results thick, or modal hydration) based on its suggest that the anomalous hydration values hydration value relative to the measurements are not necessarily a consequence of obsidian obtained on all other points of the same type source variabihty, but could be attributable to from the same site. The XRF analysis was post-depositional factors or to unrecognized performed by Richard E. Hughes and Thomas properties of obsidian that can vary within a L. Jackson at the Department of Geology and particular source. Geophysics, University of California, Berke The second major weakness recognized by ley, using procedures described in Hughes Taylor in the original hydration study in (1983a: 26-29, 1983b, 1985). Among the 23 volved measurement instrumentation. In light points, Hughes and Jackson were able to of the large number of specimens from Last identify four known, local obsidian sources Supper Cave showing less than two microns of and two unknown (but possibly local) hydration, and given a 0.2-micron reading sources. The results demonstrate source varia error using the standard optical measurement tion in the obsidian-point assemblages from procedure, Taylor instituted a far more accur both Hanging Rock Shelter and Last Supper ate photographic measurement technique de Cave (Table 1). However, when thin, thick, veloped and described by Findlow and De- and modal hydration values were compared Atley (1976: 166-167). The technique con against source assignments, there appeared to sists of photographing (35-mm. color slide) a be no correlation between hydration rim hydration band at high magnification, photo thickness and obsidian source (Table 2). For graphing a stage micrometer at the same example, of the 17 specimens ascribed to the magnification, projecting the image onto a Massacre Lake/Guano Valley source, five dis flat surface, and measuring the hydration play hydration values categorized as unusually band with a ruler calibrated to the projected INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH? 187
Table 2 XRF OBSIDIAN SOURCE DETERMINATIONS FOR PROJECTILE POINTS FROM HANGING ROCK SHELTER AND LAST SUPPER CAVE DISPLAYING ANOMALOUS HYDRATION VALUES Number of Specimens Unusually Modal Unusually Thin Hydration Hydration Thick Hydration Hanging Rock Last Supper Hanging Rock Last Supper Hanging Rock Last Supper Source Shelter Cave Shelter Cave Shelter Cave Masacre Lake/Guano VaUey 2 3 5 2 2 3 Home Camp A 1 - - 1 — _ Cowhead Lake - - - 1 — — Badger Creek - - 1 - - - Unknown 1 - - - 1 ~ Totals 4 3 6 4 3 3 image of the micrometer. Measurements are obtained on other Northern Side-notch points taken at a large number of loci along the from the two sites. Michels also was able to band, and then averaged. With this approach, secure band measurements on 41 additional the reading error is reduced to less than 0.05 points that initially appeared to lack visible microns. Under Taylor's supervision, thin hydration. The problem of "invisible hydra sections of specimens (from both Last Supper tion" and its resolution are discussed by Cave and Hanging Rock Shelter) displaying Michels, Marean, and Tsong (1981: 3-4). less than two microns of hydration were ANALYSIS photographed and hydration bands measured using the technique described above. Obsidian hydration measurements for pro A final analytical problem with respect to jectile points from Last Supper Cave and the hydration data from Hanging Rock Shel Hanging Rock Shelter, respectively, are graph ter and Last Supper Cave was the significant ically arrayed, by point type, in Figures 2 and number of demonstrably old projectile points 3. The two hydration records are combined in lacking visible hydration — despite additional Figure 4. Several revisions have been made to thin-section removal, preparation, and exami the data originahy reported for Hanging Rock nation. The question here was whether hydra Shelter (Layton 1972a) in order to facilitate tion was actually absent or simply invisible. comparison with the data from Last Supper Six Northern Side-notch points from the Last Cave. These include appropriate changes to Supper Cave collection with apparently no point type nomenclature, deletion of hydra visible hydration were sent to Joseph Michels tion measurements on a small number of at the Pennsylvania State University Obsidian uncommon point types, and inclusion of Laboratory. On one specimen, Michels and his replacement measurements on a few speci associates determined that hydration was in mens that originahy displayed somewhat an deed present by preparing a depth profile of omalous hydration values. hydrogen concentration by means of second Three patterns are evident in the distribu ary ion mass spectrometry. With the existence tions of hydration measurements in Figures 2 of a hydration band thus demonstrated, by and 3. First, there is, in general, a sequential manipulating the lighting system Michels was pattern in which types gradually supplant able to optically measure hydration on the each other, but with broad temporal overlap. remaining five points. The resultant hydration Thus, for example, Gatechff Spht-stem points values are comparable to those previously are graduaUy supplanted by Elko Eared 188 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY
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C (IQ •2 X ^ •J •1 u e 3 - ^1 CO ^ uoiiidnooo P*M*|u|uiia* •t 1:1 •—a Rock Country, but it does indicate a settle earlier types, whereas more than 50% of the ment pattern change in which these two 435 diagnostic points associated with the Alta upland exogene rockshelters were abandoned Toquima Village were of the Desert series. At - Hanging Rock Shelter first, followed by Alta Toquima, Thomas' smaU, Yankee Blade- Last Supper Cave. Equally of interest is that phase viUage overlies strata containing remains Desert series projectile points clearly postdate of the more extensive, early hunting complex. this abandonment at both sites. These facts Thomas (1981b: 113) summarized: "It is may be relevant to an understanding of the premature to speculate about the causes of Numic spread. In the following arguments, this settlement pattern shift. Clearly it could however, it must be remembered that there is be related to the so-called Numic expansion no reason to assume that the High Rock which occurred at about this time." Country contained all of a settlement pattern, Recent high-altitude surveys and excava nor that these two sites are "typical," "nor tions directed by Robert L. Bettinger in the mative," or "modal" representations of an White Mountains bordering Owens Valley in entire system (D. H. Thomas, personal com southeastern California have produced evi munication 1983). dence of a shift in adaptive strategy analogous For many years dialect geography and to that recognized by Thomas at Alta To glottochronology (Lamb 1958) have provided quima. Bettinger (personal communication the major basis for an inferred post-A.D. 1000 1983) recognized a cessation of long-distance spread of Numic-speaking groups into the hunting and a shift to more intensive pinyon Great Basin from a southeastern California exploitation ca. A.D. 600. He noted that this homeland. Until recently, archaeological evi shift coincides with a period of major temper dence for such a spread has been difficult to ature oscillations inferred from tree-ring muster, but recent research (Thomas 1981b; widths. Bettinger's excavation of a large house Bettinger and Baumhoff 1982; Butler 1981) containing both Rosegate and Desert series has considerably strengthened the Lamb points at the Crooked Forks site, above 3,400 model. m. elevation, allowed him to tentatively sug Excavations by David H. Thomas at Alta gest that this shift occurred several hundred Toquima ViUage, situated at an elevation of years earlier in southeastern California than it 3,400 m. on Mount Jefferson in central did in central Nevada (see also Bettinger and Nevada, have produced evidence of a settle Oglesby [1985J, this issue. Ed.). ment pattern shift ca. A.D. 1000. Thomas These high-altitude adaptive shifts from (1981b: 112-113) wrote of "an early hunting- hunting to gathering, occurring sequentially oriented complex," lacking seed-grinding from south to north, fit weh with Lamb's stones and reflecting use of the highlands by (1958) model of a Numic spread north and all-male hunting bands operating out of valley east out of southeast Cahfornia into the Great base camps. Subsequently, during the Yankee Basin. In this regard, recent work by B. Rob Blade phase, Thomas found that there was a ert Butler (1981) in southern Idaho is relevant dramatic cessation of communal hunting and to the direction and the duration of the the establishment of a residential village with Numic spread. Butler has reanalyzed a num numerous associated seed-grinding imple ber of late archaeological assemblages and has ments and ceramics. Thomas noted that of concluded that there is no evidence of Numic- the 279 diagnostic projectile points collected speaking people in southern Idaho prior to in a 1,450-ha. survey of non-village hunting the 16th Century. He argued that the "Lemhi territory, 98% were of the Rosegate series and phase may actuaUy have begun no earlier than INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH? 195 A.D. 1800 (and) it is the only phase that can Dated tree stumps from Osgood Swamp be attributed to the northern Shoshone in the near Lake Tahoe suggest a major warm, dry BirchCreek Valley" (1981: 15). interval from A.D. 800 to 1050 (Sercelj and Recently, Bettinger and Baumhoff (1982) Adam 1975; Hattori 1982: 33). The strati attempted to explain the Numic spread in graphic shift from large to small roof fah in processual terms. The problem has always the talus facies at Last Supper Cave after A.D. been to explain how one group of hunters and 460 may indicate a decrease in freeze-thaw gatherers can displace another when neither activity and, likewise, the onset of warmer, displays any intrinsic technological or numeri drier climate. Additionahy, the late-period cal superiority. Bettinger and Baumhoff abandonments of both Hanging Rock Shelter argued forcefully that this kind of displace and Last Supper Cave noted above support ment can occur by virtue of competitive the idea that a major settlement pattern shift advantages or disadvantages inherent in partic took place, and excluded these once attractive ular adaptive strategies. They contrasted locahties from the seasonal round. Regret hypothesized pre-Numic "travelers," prac tably, large-scale settlement pattern studies of ticing a low-cost, male-oriented, large-game- the kind accomplished by Bettinger in south hunting strategy, with Numic "processors" eastern Cahfornia and Thomas in central practicing a more female-oriented, high-cost, Nevada have not been done in the High Rock seed-harvesting strategy. They ascribed most Country. Thus, at present, it is impossible to Great Basin rock art to the pre-Numic period show where in the High Rock Country people as hunting magic and identified certain speci were living during this period, or alternatively, alized seed-processing implements (twined, to demonstrate that the area was, in fact, paddle-shaped seed beaters and deep-twined, abandoned. triangular winnowing trays) as Numic-related. The important issue here, however, is that The Bettinger-Baumhoff model clearly ex the hypothesized Numic expansion seems to plains in broad theoretical terms how a Numic have occurred in concert with a period of expansion could have occurred at the expense climatic fluctuations. Bettinger and Baumhoff of pre-Numic peoples. Their argument also (1982) suggested that Numic groups may have seems to fit the available archaeological and enjoyed a competitive, organizationally de linguistic data. They have been careful, how rived advantage that facilitated their expan ever, to avoid basing any portion of their sion into territories simultaneously occupied argument on environmental data, thus avoid by non-Numic groups. But it remains to be ing the charge of crass environmental deter determined whether the former displaced minism. Perhaps they have been too timid in and/or absorbed the latter, or whether Numic this respect. Bettinger (personal communica groups simply moved into areas left vacant by tion 1983) recognized major climatic oscil a diminishing pre-Numic population. Specifi- lations ca. A.D. 600 concurrent with the shift cahy, climatically induced environmental from a traveling to a processing strategy in changes may have forced pre-Numic abandon southeastern Cahfornia. Moreover, the possi ment of areas later settled by Numic popula bility that whole family units were moving up tions. The evidence from Hanging Rock Shel to elevations of more than 3,400 m. in both ter and Last Supper Cave may indicate that southeastern California and central Nevada these sites had been abandoned for a substan provides at least circumstantial evidence of an tial period of time before being reoccupied by inadequacy of seed resources at lower ele the presumably Numic-speaking manufac vations. turers of Desert series projectile points. 196 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY Bettinger and Baumhoff (1982) provided western North America, however, was any an elegant model for population replacement thing but simple, and a parsimonius explana which, as they recognized, must be tested tion of this linguistic mosaic has provided a against the varied regional aspects of the standing chahenge for several generations of Numic expansion. In this regard, it is particu linguists. Their historical reconstructions, gen larly important to consider the possibility of erally involving population movements into or significant population reduction, on local, out of the Great Basin, have made it an arena areal, or regional levels, prior to the arrival of for an ever-changing choreography of linguis Numic groups. Although the physical nature tic gymnastics. Most reconstructions have of the Great Basin archaeological record is been based on dialect geography, glottochron such that it tends to inhibit delineation of ology, and liberal doses of hocus-pocus (Goss periods of severely diminished land use or 1977: 50). Archaeological input has generally outright abandonment, obsidian hydration been minimal. The problem here has been one dating, applied where possible on a massive of linking linguistic groups with archaeo scale, may prove quite effective in diachron- logical complexes, for, as Boas long ago ically monitoring occupational intensities. demonstrated and Fowler (1977: 7) reminded Finally, in a recent paper, Mark Q. Sutton us, race, language, and culture vary independ (1985) presented compeUing ethnohistoric ently. evidence that the Numic expansion continued During the past ten years major advances weU into the 19th Century. Sutton observed in the development and refinement of region that Numic groups were militarily aggressive, al chronologies in the Great Basin and the and although they rarely fought among them Columbia Plateau have occurred, and it has selves, they were at war with virtually all of become apparent that certain widespread, their neighbors. According to Sutton (1985), stylistically distinct artifact types possess Numic groups "consistently apphed force and restricted temporal and geographic distribu were only halted or pushed back by coalitions tions. These artifacts consist primarily of of greater size and/or better weapons (e.g., projectile points, for they are the only styhsti- guns)" and, further, he argued that "since the cally distinctive common denominator of ah use of force was so important in late expan Great Basin sites. If, as Aikens (1977: 212) sions, it was probably an important factor in pointed out, styhsticaUy based analyses pro the replacement of pre-Numic peoples vide "the only real potential for defining throughout the Great Basin over the past socio cultural boundaries or interaction millennium." It seems apparent that a fuh spheres, diffusion trends, and migrations," explanation of the Numic spread must focus then styhstic analysis should be a primary on the subtle and variable interplay of both tool for any broad-based reconstruction of cultural and environmental factors. Great Basin linguistic prehistory. The poten tial for use of stylistic information contained BUILDING PREHISTORIC in projectile points to monitor inter-group ETHNOLINGUISTIC BOUNDARIES and intra-group relations is addressed by The 19th-century linguistic picture in the Weissner(1983: 272). Great Basin was a simple one, with most of In this paper I have argued for the the region occupied by peoples speaking occurrence of two periods of prehistoric languages assigned to the Numic language occupational hiatus in the northwestern Great family of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic stock. Basin. In nearby Surprise Valley, O'Conneh The geographic distribution of languages in (1975: 46) recognized the earlier hiatus be- INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH? 197 tween the so-named Menlo and Bare Creek 1978: 248, 1981: 130) I have shown that phases. O'Conneh suggested a Sahaptin lin emigrants following the Lassen-Applegate guistic affiliation for the Menlo phase because wagon road between A.D. 1847 and 1849 had its earth lodges and Northern Side-notch numerous first-person interactions with Paiute points appear closely related to similar config throughout the High Rock Country, but urations in the Columbia Plateau. Beginning practically none in Surprise Valley, which with the following Bare Creek phase, charac seems to have been largely unoccupied. The terized by brush structures and Gatecliff data source on 19th-century Paiute occupa Split-stem points, O'Connell saw an archaeo tion in Surprise Valley has traditionally been logical continuum leading to the Bidweh "Ethnography of the Surprise Vahey Paiute" phase (Numic-speaking Surprise Valley Pai by Isabel Kehy (1932), but it is now recog ute) at the end of the cultural sequence. nized (Voegehn 1956: 4) that Kelly un Nonetheless, O'Connell (1975) found the knowingly described the lifeways of post- prospect of a Numic occupation spanning 1860 emigrants into the valley from Oregon almost 6,000 years unsettling because it con and not those of a native population. AU tradicted Lamb's (1958) model of a much evidence indicates that there were few Paiute more recent expansion of Numic speakers. in Surprise Valley until after the establish O'ConneU's 6,000-year continuum may be ment of Fort Bidweh in the 1860s. more apparent than real. The problem is that Who, then, expanded out of the central the terminal Bidweh phase, which is not Great Basin to reoccupy Surprise Valley and represented at any of the sites he excavated, the High Rock Country ca. 4000 B.C., fohow- may not exist. O'Conneh believed that since ing the retreat of Menlo phase peoples pos the ethnographic Surprise Valley Paiute were sessing a Plateau affinity? What was the real, they had to be represented by Desert ethnolinguistic affiliation of these new arrivals series points elsewhere in the valley at locali who were to begin an unbroken occupation of ties yet to be discovered. In examining ama the region lasting throughout the duration of teur artifact collections from Surprise Valley, Gatecliff Split-stem, Elko Eared, and Rose this author has found very few Desert series gate series projectile points, until circa A.D. points — suggesting, perhaps, that there was 1000? Given the current state of knowledge but limited prehistoric occupation of Surprise and low level of sophistication in linguistic Valley by Numic speakers. In short, hydration archaeology, this author believes that at pres data from the High Rock Country appear to ent such questions cannot be answered with show a mid-Medithermal period of abandon any degree of credibility. ment that was fohowed by an occupation by Recently, at Kramer Cave on Lake Win- the presumably Numic-speaking manufac nemucca, Hattori (1982: 155) identified as turers of Desert series points. It is suggested Penutian a component, dated to 2200 B.C., here that this period of abandonment also rich in Gatechff Split-stem points. This Penu occurred in Surprise Valley, but that the tian attribution was based primarily on the vahey was never again occupied until well into abundance of associated Cahfornia trade the historic era. goods. Although Hattori produced an excel The problem may have been that Surprise lent archaeological monograph, the bridging Valley marked the unfriendly boundary be argument used to justify a Penutian linguistic tween newly arrived Paiute in the High Rock assignment for this component suffers from a Country to the east and Pit River peoples to major methodological obstacle. With equal the west. Elsewhere (Layton 1977b: 244, facility, occupants of the High Rock County 198 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY and Surprise Vahey from roughly 4000 B.C. REFERENCES to A.D. 1000 can be variously labeled as Penutian, Hokan, or Uto-Aztecan speakers, Adovasio, J. M., and G. F. Fry but this is linguistic sleight of hand. At 1972 An Equilibrium Model for Culture Change in present there is neither a body of theory nor a" the Great Basin. In: Great Basin Cultural methodology, other than the direct historical Ecology: A Symposium, Don D. Fowler, ed., approach, that can allow one to make linguis pp. 67-71. Desert Research Institute Publica tions in the Social Sciences No. 8. tic assignments to archaeological assemblages in a manner that can be rephcated by Aikens, C. Melvin independent researchers. Unfortunately, the 1977 Interdisciplinary Models and Great Basin Prehistory: A Comment on Current Orient direct historical approach demands an un ations. In: Models and Great Basin Pre broken evidentiary chain leading from the history: A Symposium, Don D. Fowler, ed., ethnographic present into the archaeological pp. 211-213. Desert Research Institute Pub past. Evidence for two breaks in the archaeo lications in the Social Sciences No. 12. logical sequence of northwestern Nevada and Antevs, Ernst northeastern California has been presented 1953 The Postpluvial or Neothermal. Berkeley: here. If, in fact, these breaks are real, bridging University of California Archaeological Sur them linguisticahy should test our mettle. vey Reports No. 22: 9-23. In conclusion, most Great Basin archae Bettinger, Robert L., and Martin A. Baumhoff ologists are fuhy aware of the "Danger Cave 1982 The Numic Spread: Great Basin Cultures in Competition. American Antiquity 47: Syndrome," namely the pitfahs that accom 485-503. pany generahzations about a region based on materials recovered from a single site. Those Butler, B. Robert 1961 The Old Cordilleran Culture in the Pacific concerns certainly apply to the arguments Northwest. Idaho State College Museum offered above. Thus, I hope that the present Occasional Papers No. 5. effort will inspire the framing of alternative 1962 Contributions to the Prehistory of the Col hypotheses and a continuation of problem- umbia Plateau. Idaho State College Museum oriented research in the northwestern Great Occasional Papers No. 9. Basin. 1981 When Did the Shoshone Begin to Occupy Southern Idaho? Essays on Late Prehistoric ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Culture Remains from the Upper Snake and The work reported here was supported by grants Salmon River Country. Idaho Museum of from the Nevada State Museum, the Max C. Fleisch- Natural History Occasional Papers No. 32. man Foundation, and a Teschemacher Fellowship Clewlow, C. William, Jr. from the Peabody Museum of Harvard University. 1968 Surface Archaeology of the Black Rock For their assistance in producing this paper, I Desert, Nevada. Berkeley: University of Cali thank Robert L. Bettinger, Martin A. Baumhoff, fornia Archaeological Survey Reports William Hildebrandt, Richard Hughes, Thomas L. No. 73: 1-94. Jackson, Joseph Michels, Dwight Simons, R. E. Cowles, John Taylor, David Hurst Thomas, and Donald R. Tuohy. 1960 Cougar Mountain Cave in South Central As teacher, friend, and colleague, the late Martin Oregon. Rainier, Oregon: Privately printed. A. Baumhoff was a major influence in the lives of two generations of Great Basin researchers. Speaking as Davis, J. O. one of his students, but expressing the feelings of all, 1974 Geologic Setting and Stratigraphy of Last we wiU miss his disciplined thought, his elegant and Supper Cave, Humboldt County, Nevada. original assaults on messy problems, his spartan prose, Report on file at the Department of Anthro and his genuine pleasure in a weh-fought argument. pology, Nevada State Museum, Carson City. INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH? 199 Ericson, Jonathon E., T. Hagan, and C. Chesterman Heizer, Robert F., M. A. Baumhoff, and C. W. 1976 Prehistoric Obsidian in Cahfornia II: Geo Clewlow logic and Geographic Aspects. In: Advances 1968 Archaeology of South Fork Shelter (Nv-El- in Obsidian Glass Studies: Archaeological 11), Elko County, Nevada. Berkeley: Uni and Geochemical Perspectives, R. E. Taylor, versity of California Archaeological Survey ed., pp. 218-239. Park Ridge: Noyes Press. 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University of California Anthropological International Journal of American Linguis Records 20(4): 119-149. tics 24(2): 95-100. 200 JOURNAL OF CALIFORNIA AND GREAT BASIN ANTHROPOLOGY Layton, Thomas N. Michels, Josephs W., C. W. Marean, and I. S. Tsong 1970 High Rock Archaeology: An Interpretation 1981 "Invisible" Hydration Rims on Obsidian of the Prehistory of the Northwestern Great Artifacts: A Test Case. MS on file at the Basin. Ph.D. dissertation. Harvard Uni Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania versity. State University, University Park, Penn sylvania. 1972a A 12,000 Year Obsidian Hydration Record of Occupation, Abandonment and Lithic Michels, Joseph W., and I. S. Tsong Change from the Northwestern Great Basin. 1980 Obsidian Hydration Dating: A Coming of Tebiwa 15(2): 22-28. Age. In: Advances in Archaeological Method 1972b Lithic Chronology in the Fort Rock Valley, and Theory, Vol. 3, Michael B. Schiffer, ed., Oregon: An Obsidian Hydration Study from pp. 405444. 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Sutton, Mark Q. 1978 From Pottage to Portage: A Perspective on 1985 An Ethnohistoric Perspective on the Numic Aboriginal Horse Use in the Northern Great Expansion. Paper presented at the Society Basin Prior to 1850. Nevada State Historical for American Archaeology Annual Meeting, Society Quarterly 21(4). Denver. 1979 An Introduction to the Archaeology and Swanson, Earl H. Paleo-ecology of Pluvial Lake Parman in the 1972 Birch Creek: Human Ecology in the Cool High Rock Country of the Northwestern Desert of the Northern Rocky Mountains Great Basin. Journal of New World Archae 9000 B.C.- A.D. 1850. Pocatello: Idaho ology 3(3): 41-56. State University. 1981 Traders or Raiders: Aspects of Trans-Basin Taylor, R. E., editor and California-Plateau Commerce, 1800-1830. Journal of Cahfornia and Great 1976 Advances in Obsidian Glass Studies: Archae Basin Anthropology 3(1): 127-137. ological and Geochemical Perspectives. Park Ridge: Noyes Press. Layton, Thomas N., and David H. Thomas 1979 Silent Snake Springs: A Pinto Site in the Thomas, David Hurst High Rock Country of the Northwestern 1981a How to Classify the Projectile Points from Great Basin. American Museum of Natural Monitor Vahey, Nevada. Journal of Cali History Anthropological Papers 55(3). fornia and Great Basin Anthropology 3(1): 743. Leonhardy, Frank C, and David G. Rice 1970 A Proposed Culture Typology for the Lower 1981b The 1981 Aha Toquima Village Project: A Snake River Region, Southeastern Washing Preliminary Report. Report on file at the ton. Northwest Anthropological Research Department of Anthropology, American Mu Notes 4(1): 1-29. seum of Natural History, New York. INVADERS FROM THE SOUTH? 201 Tuohy, Donald R., and Thomas N. Layton Warren, Claude N. 1977 Toward the Establishment of a New Series 1968 The View from Wenas: A Study in Plateau of Great Basin Projectile Points. The Re Prehistory. Idaho State Cohege Museum porter 10(6): 1-5. Occasional Papers No. 24. Voegelin, Erminie W. Weissner, Polly 1956 The Northern Paiute of Central Oregon: A 1983 Style and Social Information in Kalahari San Chapter in Treatymaking. Ethnohistory 3: Projectile Points. American Antiquity 48: 1-10. 253-276.