University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Anthropology Department Theses and Dissertations Anthropology, Department of 2019 Late Paleoindian Land Tenure in Southwest Wyoming: Towards Integrating Method and Theory in an Analysis of Taphochronometric Indicators of Time-Averaged Deposits in the Wyoming Basin, Wyoming USA Cynthia D. Highland University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthrotheses Part of the Anthropology Commons Highland, Cynthia D., "Late Paleoindian Land Tenure in Southwest Wyoming: Towards Integrating Method and Theory in an Analysis of Taphochronometric Indicators of Time-Averaged Deposits in the Wyoming Basin, Wyoming USA" (2019). Anthropology Department Theses and Dissertations. 61. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/anthrotheses/61 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Anthropology, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Anthropology Department Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. LATE PALEOINDIAN LAND TENURE IN SOUTHWEST WYOMING: TOWARDS INTEGRATING METHOD AND THEORY IN AN ANALYSIS OF TAPHOCHRONOMETRIC INDICATORS OF TIME-AVERAGED DEPOSITS IN THE WYOMING BASIN, WYOMING USA by CYNTHIA D. HIGHLAND A THESIS Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Master of Arts Major: Anthropology Under the Supervision of Professor LuAnn Wandsnider Lincoln, Nebraska December 2019 LATE PALEOINDIAN LAND TENURE IN SOUTHWEST WYOMING: TOWARDS INTEGRATING METHOD AND THEORY IN AN ANALYSIS OF TAPHOCHRONOMETRIC INDICATORS OF TIME-AVERAGED DEPOSITS IN THE WYOMING BASIN, WYOMING USA Cynthia D. Highland, M.A. University of NEbraska, 2019 Advisor: LuAnn Wandsnider According to BailEy (2008), substantive timE perspectivism acknowlEdges that different types of phenomEna operatE over different timE spans and resolutions as a mattEr of coursE WhilE mEthodological timE perspectivism concErns the notion that the nature of the data at our disposal, as WEll as the timEscalE of obsErvation WE choosE to viEW it With, Will affect the types of pattErns that are possiblE to detEct in the archaEological record. This thesis Explores thesE ideas further. It is a pilot study of southwEst Wyoming Late PalEoindian land tEnure Embedded Within an ExtEnded critique of Wandsnider (2008). To Wandsnider’s original samplE of archaEological sitE components, I add a samplE of Late PalEoindian components. I build on Wandsnider’s original graphical analysis, Which utilizEs taphochronomEtric indicators to disEntanglE disparatE sourcEs of assEmblage variation, Especially in relation to occupation frequency and intEgration. Results of the combined analysis suggest that many of the taphochronomEtric indicators continue the pattErns identifiEd by Wandsnider in the original analysis. HowEver, LatE PalEoindian components in the intErior basin location also generatE a feW unexpectEd pattErns, given the highly intEgratEd appearancE of thesE components. An Explanatory model combining the concEpt of “intEgration” With BailEy’s “cumulative palimpsEst” along With an adaptation of KowalEWski’s (1996) “disharmonious timE-averaging” is proposEd to partially account for thesE differencEs. The discussion of intEgration in Wandsnider (2008) is revisEd in light of pattErning sEEn for the LatE PalEoindian components. I intErpret thesE results in tErms of LatE PalEoindian land tEnure systEms. iii ã Cynthia D Highland 2019 iv DEDICATION For my parents, Richard and Mary Craven and In memory of my great-Aunt Anne Elizabeth Stamps, A strong and caring woman who persisted. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I express my most sincere gratitude to my thesis committee, Drs. LuAnn Wandsnider, Heather Richards-Rissetto, and Sophia Perdikaris for their assistance in completing this thesis. I am especially grateful to LuAnn Wandsnider who first introduced me to time perspectivism in her intellectually stimulating Time in Archaeology seminar in 2005. Heather Richards-Rissetto also provided me with important tools in digital heritage methods and analysis in her rigorous GIS in Archaeology and Digital Heritage courses. I am also grateful to my former supervisors at TRC Mariah Associates Inc., Craig Smith and Lance McNees, who taught me how to write cultural resource reports and granted me the opportunity to supervise fieldwork on numerous interesting projects in Wyoming, Utah, and the Mojave Desert region of Southern California. It was a great pleasure to work with Bill Eckerle (Western GeoArch Research), who provided interesting conversation on archaeological and geoarchaeological topics of interest, and assisted in the more challenging interpretive aspects of the site stratigraphy at the Battle Spring Draw Paleoindian Site. I am also grateful to my former co-worker at TRC, Marcia Peterson, for repeatedly posing the insightful question of how to decide when a feature “ends.” My interest in Paleoindian archaeology was generated by participation in the University of Oregon’s Fort Rock Basin Prehistory Project, supervised by Drs. Mel Aikens and Dennis Jenkins, who provided a congenial atmosphere during eight weeks of camping in the Oregon High Desert. It was intensified by Drs. Marcel Kornfeld, Mary Lou Larson, George Frison, C. Vance Haynes, Rick Reider, and Bonnie Pitblado at the University of Wyoming Advanced Archaeology Field School for Graduate Students at Hell Gap. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn and study site formation processes under their supervision. I am indebted to Bonni Bruce, Supervisory Archaeologist for the USDI-BLM Rawlins Field Office, who reviewed portions of this thesis and served as a liaison for consultation with the vi other BLM Field Office Archaeologists in the BLM High Desert District in Rock Springs, Pinedale, and Kemmerer, Wyoming. The BLM High Desert District Office is the land management agency for the project area. I also thank Dr. Dave Rapson, as well as Steve Sutter, and Shane McCreary at the Wyoming State Historic Preservation Office, who graciously provided access to the WYCRIS online database, as well as data, shapefiles, and numerous copies of reports needed for the analysis. This thesis was supported by the University of Nebraska- Lincoln Champe-Weakley Scholarship, which was used for travel to present preliminary research on the Battle Spring Draw Paleoindian Site at the Plains Anthropological Conference in Edmonton, Alberta. I am grateful to ASAN for providing a tuition scholarship for 2017 to 2018, as well as the SSA, for providing additional educational funding and support for the majority of my master’s graduate program. Errors and omissions are my own. Finally, I could not have completed this thesis without the support of my extensive network of family and friends, especially the following individuals: Beth Carroll, Breonna Carroll, Madison Castor, Jon Craven, Richard Craven, Mary Craven, Morgan Cuttlers, Mary Eden, Lissandra Ellyne, AJ Gengler and family, Carol Hohmeier, Konan Blaise Koko, Curt Krueger, Paul Mitchum, Naomi Mitchum, Robert M. Mitchum, Bernadette Radek, Kate Rader, Laura Ross, and Andrew Strom. My most sincere gratitude to you all for the love, laughter, and/or support you have given me through the years. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... xii LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xvi CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND THESIS STATEMENT....................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. LANDSCAPE ARCHAEOLOGY AND TIME PERSPECTIVISM ........... 6 Landscape Archaeology .................................................................................................. 6 Time Perspectivism ......................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 3. ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT ............................................................. 14 Landscape: Topography, Hydrology, and Sediments ................................................... 14 Climate and Environmental History .............................................................................. 16 Modern Climate ......................................................................................................... 16 Soils and Vegetation .................................................................................................. 17 Climate History ......................................................................................................... 18 CHAPTER 4. CULTURAL SYSTEMATICS IN SOUTHWEST WYOMING .............. 23 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 23 Historical Summary of the Treatment of Cultural Systematics in SW Wyoming ........ 24 More Recent Paleoindian Cultural Systematics of Southwest Wyoming ..................... 29 viii Plains/Basins Sequence ............................................................................................. 30 Foothill/ Mountains Sequence ..................................................................................