U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Bureau of Land Management NEVADA A Cultural Resources Model for Pine Valley, Nevada by Michael Drews Eric lngbar David Zeanah William Eckerle Cultural Resources Series No. 13 2004 • • • • • • • • • • A Cultural Resources Model for Pine Valley, Nevada • Final Report on Department of Energy Agreement DE-FC26-01BC15337 • • • by • Michael Drews • Gnomon, Inc. • Eric lngbar • Gnomon, Inc. • David Zeanah • California State University Sacramento William Eckerle • Western Geoarch Research • • Gnomon, Inc. • 1601 Fairview Drive, Suite F • Carson City, Nevada 89701 • • with the assistance of: • Nevada Division of Minerals • July, 2002 • • 1• • • • ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS • The work reported here has many roots. Models and spatial hypotheses in management • and archaeology have a long, long history. One cannot begin to state the intellectual debts • owed. • This project could never have succeeded without the prior work done by David Zeanah and the staff of Intermountain Research. The seminal studies sponsored by the U.S. Fish • and Wildlife Service, then by the Naval Air Station, Fallon, provided the impetus for this project. The Bureau of Land Management Railroad Valley planning project is the • immediate progenitor of this work. Without the Bureau's initiation of that work, this work would not exist. The Department of Energy made possible this study, a sponsorship • and collaboration that could never have occurred without the assistance of the Bureau of • Land Management and, especially, the Nevada Division of Minerals . • The staff of the Nevada Division of Minerals were responsible for all of the outreach and public coordination. They did a terrific job. John Snow and Alan Coyner of the Division • served as our industry and agency coordinators. Wanda Martin kept the administrative • wheels turning at the Division for the project • The BLM Elko Field Office staff, especially Bryan Hockett and Tim Murphy, were great supporters and helped the project proceed in a rational fas'hion. The Bureau of Land State • Office staff - Dr. Pat Barker and Steve Wells - were instrumental in keeping the momentum of the work moving forward from Railroad Valley. The Nevada Petroleum • Society, represented by Jerry Walker, were able and active collaborat0rs in helping us to understand the perspectives of industry. The Nevada State Museum and the Nevada State • Historic Preservation Office were, as always, extremely helpful . • We were assisted in the final stages by able reviewers and interested parties. Tim Seaman • and Mary Hopkins traveled from New Mexico and Wyoming, respectively, to assist. Marilyn Nickels of the Bureau of Land Management and William Hochheiser of the • Department of Energy made the arduous trek from Washington, D.C., to attend our workshop on the study. Many BLM field office cultural resource specialists took time • from busy schedules to talk with us by phone and even to attend the workshop. We are • very grateful for all of the help, criticism, and encouragement given. • We authors would be remiss if we did not thank the staff members of our respective • organizations. This project is theirs too. Only the errors, gaffes, and mistakes are ours. • • • • • • • • • • Table of Contents • Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................... i List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... v • List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... vi • Chapter 1 -- Overview and Introduction... ....................................................................... 1-1 • The Management of Cultural Resources .................................................................... 1-3 An Overview of Model Fonnulation ......................................................................... 1-4 • The Pine Valley Study ............................................................................................... 1-8 • Chapter 2--The Pine Valley Model Area ......................................................................... 2-1 Introduction... ............................................................................................................. 2-1 • Project Area Definition .............................................................................................. 2-1 • Geography .................................................................................................................. 2-3 Geology ...................................................................................................................... 2-6 • Hydrology .................................................................................................................. 2-8 Landforms .................................................................................................................. 2-8 • Bounding Mountains. ............................................................................................ 2-8 • Piedmont Slopes ................................................................................................... 2-8 Fan Skirts ........................................................................................................... 2-13 • Basin Floors ....................................................................................................... 2-13 Soils .......................................................................................................................... 2-14 • Paleoenvironrnental Context .................................................................................... 2-16 Full Glacial Period (18,000 - 15,000 BP) .......................................................... 2-17 • Deglaciation (15,000 - 11,000 BP) .................................................................... 2-18 • Terminal Pleistocene/Holocene Transition (11,000 - 9000 BP) ........................ 2-19 Early Holocene (9000 - 7500 BP) ...................................................................... 2-20 • Middle Holocene (7500 - 5000 BP) ................................................................... 2-21 Middle to Early-Late Holocene (5000 - 3500 BP) ............................................. 2-22 • Middle-Late Holocene (3500 - 1000 BP) .......................................................... 2-22 Early-Latest Holocene (1000 - 500 BP) ............................................................. 2-23 • Terminal-Latest Holocene (500 - 150 BP) ......................................................... 2-24 • Prehistoric Cultural Context .................................................................................... 2-24 Pre-Archaic (11,000 BP to 8,000 BP)................................................................ 2-25 • Early Archaic (7,000 to 4,000 BP) ..................................................................... 2-27 Middle Archaic (4000 BP to 1500 BP) .............................................................. 2-27 • Late Archaic (1500 BP to Historic Contact) ...................................................... 2-27 Ethnographic Cultural Context ................................................................................ 2-28 • Historic Cultural Context ......................................................................................... 2-31 • Exploration. ........................................................................................................ 2-31 Transportation.................................................................................................... 2-32 • Ranching ............................................................................................................ 2-33 • Mining, Milling and Commerce ........................................................................ 2-34 • • • 11 • • • Chapter 3 -- Archaeological and Environmental Information Collection ....................... 3-1 • Archaeological Information ....................................................................................... 3-1 Cultural Resource Archive Maps ......................................................................... 3-1 • Archaeological Site Forms and Reports .............................................................. 3-1 General Land Office (GLO) Plats ........................................................................ 3-2 • Automated Data ................................................................................................... 3-2 Cultural Resource Information Gaps ................................................................... 3-3 • Natural Resmrces and Environmental Information .................................................. 3-3 Soils, Sediments, Landforms ............................................................................... 3-3 • Vegetation ............................................................................................................ 3-3 • Geomorphology and Geology .............................................................................. 3-4 Hydrology ............................................................................................................ 3-4 • Digital Topography .............................................................................................. 3-4 Natural Resource Information Gaps .................................................................... 3-4 • Chapter 4 -- Landscape Sensitivity .................................................................................