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University of Nevada, Reno Paleoindian Settlement Strategies University of Nevada, Reno Paleoindian Settlement Strategies Across Time and Space in the Northwestern Great Basin: Lithic Technological Organization at Last Supper Cave, Nevada A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Anthropology by Danielle C. Felling Dr. Geoffrey M. Smith/Thesis Advisor May, 2015 © by Danielle C. Felling 2015 All Rights Reserved THE GRADUATE SCHOOL We recommend that the thesis prepared under our supervision by DANIELLE C. FELLING Entitled Paleoindian Settlement Strategies Across Time And Space In The Northwestern Great Basin: Lithic Technological Organization At Last Supper Cave, Nevada be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Geoffrey M. Smith, Ph.D., Advisor David E. Rhode, Ph.D., Committee Member Douglas P. Boyle, Ph.D., Graduate School Representative David W. Zeh, Ph.D., Dean, Graduate School May, 2015 i ABSTRACT Last Supper Cave (LSC) is a stratified cave site in northwestern Nevada. It was fully excavated in the late 1960s and early 1970s by Thomas Layton and Jonathan Davis. Excavations revealed an extensive record of human occupation including a Paleoindian component recently re-dated to as old as 10,280±40 14C B.P. Despite the potential for the site to reveal information about Paleoindian lifeways in the Great Basin during the Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene (TP/EH), analysis of its lithic assemblage was never completed. LSC is located ~20 km away and 350 m higher than the nearest pluvial basin that sustained a wetland during the TP/EH. As a result, LSC represents a rare stratified upland Paleoindian site in the Great Basin and research on the collection has the potential to reveal how groups operated away from wetland environments. In this thesis, I test hypotheses about how Paleoindian settlement strategies changed across time and space in the northwestern Great Basin through analysis of lithic technological organization. I compare the lithic assemblages from the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene strata at LSC to each other and to the Parman Localities, four Paleoindian sites located along the relict shoreline of pluvial Lake Parman ~20 km away from LSC. Results reveal that: (1) occupation span increased at LSC during the Early Holocene in response to receding wetlands; and (2) LSC was primarily used during the TP/EH as a special-purpose site for procuring and reducing raw materials before transporting them to other locations. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are many people and organizations that I would like to thank for their support in completing this thesis. The Great Basin Paleoindian Research Unit (GBPRU) employed me as a Research Assistant throughout my time at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR). The GBPRU and the Sven and Astrid Liljeblad Endowment Fund funded my research and the AM-ARCS of Nevada and UNR Graduate Student Association provided travel support to attend various conferences. The support of these organizations for employment, research, and conference travel allowed me to focus on class work and this thesis instead of balancing school with a full-time job. I am also extremely thankful to my committee – Dr. Geoffrey Smith, Dr. Dave Rhode, and Dr. Doug Boyle. Doug Boyle offered initial advice with getting this project started and support throughout this process. Dave Rhode identified charcoal samples and provided feedback on various steps of my research. Finally, Geoff has provided me with assistance and support over the last three years. I was basically handed an amazing research project my first semester of graduate school and I could not be more grateful for that opportunity. He was extremely patient and helpful during every step of this process and I have become a better writer, researcher, and independent thinker because of his guidance. I would also like to thank the various people that have worked on the Last Supper Cave collection throughout the years. Studying this remarkable assemblage would not have possible without the initial work completed by Thomas Layton and the late Jonathan Davis. In particular, Thomas Layton provided the field notes and records, maps, and iii stratigraphic profiles to UNR. His work with the site and continuing support of further research with the collection is much appreciated. Additionally, the Nevada State Museum (NSM) allowed me to continuously visit their facilities and loaned me the materials necessary for this study. Anan Raymond from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe approved requests to radiocarbon date materials from the site and Craig Skinner from the Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory conducted the geochemical characterization of obsidian artifacts from the collection prior to me beginning my research. Finally, I would like to thank all of the individuals who have worked with the collection. Their research provided me with the information necessary to evaluate the site’s stratigraphy and reconstruct the activities that occurred there. Lastly, I must thank all of the people who have personally helped me during my time in graduate school. First, the faculty in the Anthropology Department at UNR challenged me and encouraged me to think critically. I learned valuable skills from each professor in every one of the classes I took at UNR and I forgive them for nearly ruining my social life. Additionally, my graduate student cohort has given me support over the last two years. The many Friday afternoons drinking beers on the porch with them at Archie’s kept me from going insane every semester. Finally, I thank my family – my mom, dad, and brother – Trevor, and all of my friends for supporting me and putting up with me throughout this process. I could not have done it without them. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................. ii LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ vii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xi CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................... 1 Research Background ............................................................................................. 3 TP/EH Climate and Environment ............................................................... 3 Great Basin Paleoindians ............................................................................ 4 Models of Paleoindian Mobility and Settlement Systems .......................... 5 Lithic Technological Organization ......................................................................... 8 Factors Affecting Lithic Technology .......................................................... 9 Methods and Scales of Lithic Analysis ..................................................... 14 Applications of Lithic Studies to Great Basin Paleoindians ................................. 19 Summary ............................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER 2: MATERIALS AND METHODS .............................................................. 23 Last Supper Cave .................................................................................................. 23 Physical Setting ......................................................................................... 23 Excavations and Stratigraphy ................................................................... 27 Previous Studies of the LSC Assemblage ................................................. 36 Evaluating Stratigraphic Integrity and Chronological Control ................. 38 The LSC Paleoindian Lithic Assemblage ................................................. 46 The Parman Localities .......................................................................................... 48 v Methods................................................................................................................. 51 Laboratory Analysis .............................................................................................. 52 Lithic Raw Material .................................................................................. 52 Debitage Analysis ..................................................................................... 52 Core Analysis ............................................................................................ 55 Uniface Analysis ....................................................................................... 56 Biface Analysis ......................................................................................... 60 Quantitative Methods and Integrative Analysis .................................................... 62 Ratios ........................................................................................................ 62 X-ray Fluorescence Analysis .................................................................... 64 Diversity Indices ....................................................................................... 64 Statistical Analyses ................................................................................... 66 Hypotheses and Expectations ..............................................................................
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