Management Summary
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The Coleville and Bodie Hills NRCS Soil Inventory, Walker and Bridgeport, California: A Reevaluation of the Bodie Hills Obsidian Source (CA-MNO-4527) and its Spatial and Chronological Use Cultural Resources Report CA-170-07-08 Prepared by F. Kirk Halford BLM, Bishop Field Office Archaeologist with contributions from Gregory J. Haverstock, BLM, Bishop Field Office Alexander K. Rogers, Maturango Museum Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, Far Western Anthropological Research Group Craig E. Skinner, Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Bishop Field Office Report on file at the BLM, Bishop Field Office, California. 2008 The Coleville and Bodie Hills NRCS Soil Inventory, Walker and Bridgeport, California: A Reevaluation of the Bodie Hills Obsidian Source (CA-MNO-4527) and its Spatial and Chronological Use Cultural Resources Report CA-170-07-08 Prepared by F. Kirk Halford BLM, Bishop Field Office Archaeologist with contributions from Gregory J. Haverstock, BLM, Bishop Field Office Alexander K. Rogers, Maturango Museum Jeffrey S. Rosenthal, Far Western Anthropological Research Group Craig E. Skinner, Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management, Bishop Field Office Report on file at the BLM, Bishop Field Office, California. 2008 Acknowledgements This report has been a long time in development; seventeen years actually. That was the first time I set foot in the Bodie Hills and from that time the area has become my focal interest for advancing research and just for the sheer fact of exceedingly abundant and great archaeology. As a federal archaeologist the opportunities don’t present themselves often to do research level work, but when they do I jump at the chance. So this report represents an accumulation of those opportunities wrapped into many years of on the ground work in the Bodie Hills with scientific analyses added when the chance arose. This project represents one of those events, with an opportunity to tie the many years together in a more meaningful analysis. The greatest accomplishment is that we have fully mapped the greater Bodie Hills Obsidian Source or District (CA-MNO-4527), introduced here, and provide compelling evidence for substantive early Holocene procurement and use of Bodie obsidian. This project has benefitted from lots of fire side and conference room chats over the years with friends and colleagues and, of course, all the work that has come before. Certain individuals were pivotal to this project including Greg Haverstock, who loves chasing after obsidian as much as I do and helped with two years of forays to define and map the Bodie Hills obsidian landscape. Craig Skinner of the Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory completed the obsidian hydration analyses and has done all my Bodie samples over the years. Geologists Angela Jayko and Dave Wagner spent a day in the field providing thoughtful insights about the formational processes of the Bodie Hills source. Jeff Rosenthal, of Far Western Anthropological Research, shared freely of his data and his time in discussions, and his and colleagues’ works on the western Sierran front were a foundation for this report. Finally, Sandy Rogers, of Maturango Museum, applied his sophisticated and evolving EHT formula to the analyses and wrote two manuscripts of the results for this report. This report has greatly benefitted from all, but any of its errors are mine alone to account for. It’s a work in progress, maybe seventeen more years. i Table of Contents Page Acknowledgments.…...................................................................................................................................................i Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................................ii-iv Management Summary..............................................................................................................................................1 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................2-3 Project Area Description........................................................................................................................................9-14 Geology.....................................................................................................................................................9-10 Modern Flora and Fauna….....................................................................................................................10-11 Modern Climate….......................................................................................................................................11 Paleoclimate ...........................................................................................................................................11-14 Previous Research................................................................................................................................................14-31 History....................................................................................................................................................14-15 Ethnography ...........................................................................................................................................15-16 Prehistory Regional Studies ..............................................................................................................................16-17 Obsidian Studies…............................................................................................................................17-19 Use of Obsidian in the Study Area....................................................................................................19-21 Temporal Periods ..............................................................................................................................21-24 Research Near The Study Area...........................................................................................................................16-21 Archaeological Research in the Bridgeport Valley/Bodie Hills.......................................................24-26 Studies Within 1 Mile of the Project Area........................................................................................26-30 Previously Recorded Sites within 1 Mile Radius of the Project Area...............................................30-31 Research Design..................................................................................................................................................31–33 Management Objectives .......................................................................................................................31 Research Objectives and Questions ..................................................................................................31-32 Methods ............................................................................................................................................32-33 Results ................................................................................................................................................................33-46 Flaked Stone Analyses…...................................................................................................................34-35 Obsidian Hydration Analyses.............................................................................................................35-46 Application of Recent Hydration Rate Derivations..................................................................38-46 Date Formulations Derived from Obsidian Hydration Equations............................................39-46 Comparison to Other Research in the Bodie Hills Area...........................................................45-46 Discussion...........................................................................................................................................47-48 Conclusions.........................................................................................................................................48-49 Management Considerations…................................................................................................................50 ii Table of Contents Page References ...........................................................................................................................................................51-68 Figures Figure 1. Soil Inventory Location Map (Northern).....................................................................................................4 Figure 2. Soil Inventory Location Map (Southern)............................................................... .....................................5 Figure 3. Control Unit Location Map .........................................................................................................................6 Figure 4. The Greater Bodie Hills Obsidian District…..............................................................................................7 Figure 5. Bodie Hills West cobble flow…………………………………..................................................................8 Figure 6. Bodie Hills West Obsidian Source ..............................................................................................................8