Gemini Solar Project Final RMPA And
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APPENDIX F Cultural Resources Support Information GEMINI SOLAR PROJECT FINAL RMPA/EIS Cultural Resources Support Information Cultural Resources Support Information Prehistory Overview Researchers have created cultural sequences over the years with many being developed as units of time based upon assumptions about cultural development and lifeways. The useful construction of temporal units does not necessarily correspond to the actual cultural developments, and furthermore, should not be considered an expression of cultural homogeneity in any region. Warren and Crabtree express that these time periods do not denote a cultural uniformity in time or space but are noteworthy in their temporal and spatial distinctions, even when these distinctions cannot be described (Warren and Crabtree 1986). Cultural overviews restate and synthesize these chronologies, and these overviews sometimes contribute to confusion by adding terminology to already existing sequences (Warren and Crabtree 1986) Reassessments have been made recently of New World prehistory, including the Great Basin. One of the most noteworthy is the general acceptance of pre-Clovis humans in the New World. Some of the general temporal periods used by archaeologists have been adjusted based upon some of the new lines of evidence. There is an on-going discussion about the length and name of some of these previously defined archaeological periods. The timeline presented in Table 1 is constructed upon more standardized time periods for southern Nevada as outlined in A Prehistoric Context for Southern Nevada (HRA, Inc., Conservation Archaeology, and Gnomon, Inc. 2012). Additional information has been added to summarize some of the diagnostic artifacts for the time periods along with the broad periods of time. Paleo-Archaic (ca. 15,000 – 7,000 Before Present) For several decades, the established viewpoint in New World archaeology was that the first inhabitants of the Americas were the Clovis people. Clovis people were big-game hunters, who used distinctive fluted points called the Clovis point. Over the last several decades, however, numerous studies are providing evidence of a pre-Clovis population (Dillehay 1997, Gilbert, et al. 2008, Wagner and McAvoy 2004, Waters and Stafford, Jr. 2007). These pre-Clovis finds have been scattered, with limited distribution, making it difficult to provide a detailed discussion of the temporal or spatial distribution of the pre-Clovis populations or to discuss their potential lifeways. In the Great Basin, this is true with Paisley Cave. The Site has possibly produced evidence for pre-Clovis populations (Gilbert, et al. 2008), however, more recent studies from the site indicates that this may be a more contemporaneous population with Clovis that used Western Stemmed Projectile points instead of Clovis points. This could indicate a separate population migration along with evidence for a different technology between western and eastern population migrations during early prehistoric times (Jenkins 2012, Dennis, et al. 2012, University of Oregon 2012, Dziebel 2012). Clovis points, in the Southwest and Plains, are clearly associated with the hunting of extinct megafauna, such as mammoths (Cordell 1997). Most Clovis sites are not, however, associated with the remains of the extinct megafauna (Elston and Zeanah 2002, Hill 2007). Haynes (2008) provides a fairly tight range for the dates of Clovis points in the Plains and Southwest (11,500 – 10,900 Before Present [BP]). Waters and Stafford (2007) argue that Clovis are restricted to an even narrower 200-year period (11,050 – 10,800), i GEMINI SOLAR PROJECT FINAL RMPA/EIS Cultural Resources Support Information with the occupation dates of Clovis and non-Clovis sites (including sites with non-fluted points) overlapping. Because of the narrow range of dates, and the overlap between Clovis and non-Clovis sites, Water and Stafford argue that people were present in the New World prior to the appearance of Clovis technology (Beck and Jones 1997). Table 1 Generalized Cultural Chronology for Southern Nevada Date Select Diagnostic Major Period Sub-Period Date Range Range Artifacts Historic – Numic and 174 BP – Glass, Metal N/A Euro-American, etc. Present Post-Puebloan (Late Desert Side-Notched Prehistoric/Protohistoric Point, Cottonwood 650 BP – N/A Triangular Point, 174 BP Brownware Ceramics, Basketry Puebloan (Formative) 750 BP – Rose Spring Point, Pueblo III 650 BP Eastgate Point (Rosegate), Grayware Ceramics, Black/Gray 800 BP – Late Ceramics, Black/White 750 BP Ceramics, Corrugated 900 BP – Grayware, Black-on- Pueblo II Middle 800 BP Red Ceramics 1750 BP – 950 BP – 650 BP Early 900 BP 1150 BP – Pueblo I 950 BP 1450 BP – Basketmaker III 1150 BP 1750 BP – Late Basketmaker II 1450 BP Archaic (Middle and Late) 2150 Elko Series Point, Terminal 4000 Late BP – Gypsum Point, Late BP – Archaic 1750 (Gatecliff Series) Archaic 1750 (Gypsum) BP Humboldt Point, Slab 7500 BP – BP Metate 1750 BP Pinto Point, Leaf- Middle Archaic 7500 BP – Shaped Knives, Flat (Pinto) 4000 BP Milling Stones ii GEMINI SOLAR PROJECT FINAL RMPA/EIS Cultural Resources Support Information Date Select Diagnostic Major Period Sub-Period Date Range Range Artifacts Paleo-Archaic (Clovis) STEMMED POINTS 13100 BP 11000? BP Silver Lake Point, Early Archaic – 7500 BP – 7500 BP Lake Mojave Point, Crescents, Large Flake Tools FLUTED POINTS 13100 BP – Paleo-Indian 12800 BP Clovis Point, Folsom Point Most researchers in the Great Basin divide Paleo-archaic into two phases based upon the dominant point style: fluted and stemmed (Roberts and Ahlstrom 2007). The fluted points found in the Great Basin and Mojave Desert are not necessarily Clovis points, nor is it known if they are restricted to the same temporal range as Clovis points (Beck and Jones 1997). In addition, there are a few sites from this period in the Great Basin and Mojave Desert that are clearly associated with the extinct megafauna. The above discussion about stemmed points at Paisley Cave adds to this dialogue about the Great Basin region. Beck and Jones (2010) argue that artifacts associated with the Clovis culture are only found in the eastern portion of the Great Basin, and that stemmed points in the Intermountain West are as early as Clovis points are in the Great Plains. If this portrayal is accurate, then the division of the Paleo-archaic period into two phases based solely on projectile point type (fluted vs. stemmed) is inaccurate. Beck and Jones believe that the Clovis and stemmed points represent separate populations that spread through migration, coming into contact with one another in the eastern Great Basin. In their model, the current project area could contain sites associated with both Clovis and Stemmed point populations. As noted above, they also argue that most, but not all, of fluted points found in the Great Basin are not true Clovis points. The Paleo-archaic period is often characterized as the big game hunting period of North American prehistoric (Cordell 1997). More recent research has shown highly variable strategies used by the earliest known inhabitants of the interior of the New World, with regional variability in the subsistence patterns (Hill 2007). Because Paleo-archaic sites are often found on Pleistocene lake terraces, Kelly (1997) argues that wetland resources were important in their diet. The terraces also would have been attractive to early humans because of the close proximity to water sources which would attract a variety of land animals. A major logistical strategy that these populations most likely followed was group mobility. This was due to climate fluctuations and drops in local supplies of resources. Such fluctuations would have required populations to change location when resources became scarce. Unlike other areas the Great Basin and Southwest, there is minimal evidence for early occupation in the project vicinity in particular, and in the southeastern Great Basin in general. While fluted points have been found throughout the eastern Mojave Desert region, they tend to be isolated specimens rather than part of a specific tool assemblage. Typically, they are found on the surface along the margins or terraces of now dry lakes. In addition, isolated fluted points have been recovered from the Las Vegas Valley, in the Clark County Wetlands Park (Roberts and Ahlstrom 2000), and several collectors/looters also claim to have recovered fluted points from southern Nevada (Dixon 1987, Perkins 1967, Ezzo 1995). Fluted points iii GEMINI SOLAR PROJECT FINAL RMPA/EIS Cultural Resources Support Information have been collected from several locations within Coyote Springs Valley, located west of proposed project area (Blair 1992, Leavitt 2005). The period after 10,000 BP was a time of increasing fluctuations in climate, although the long-term trend was towards increasing aridity/decreasing rainfall. The pluvial terraces on the Pleistocene lakes continued to be occupied in this period, but there is an increase in the number of sites in higher elevation zones (Rafferty and Blair 1988). Architectural remains generally include cleared areas on desert pavement surfaces called ‘sleeping circles’ on rock rings that are accompanied by crude basalt tools. These are usually scrapers, large knives, retouched flakes, crescents, drills, and stemmed points that have been called, Silver Lake and Lake Mojave (Campbell, et al. 1937), San Dieguito (Rogers 1929). Western Pluvial Lakes Tradition (Hester 1973, Bedwell 1973), and more recently grouped together as Western Stemmed varieties