BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT .,~ .w.~ Californil DeMrt District The Prehistory and Management of Cultural Resources in the Red Mountain Area o BACKGROUND TO PREHISTORY OF THE EL PASO I RED MOUNTAIN DESERT REGION 8 AN ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROTECTION AND STABILIZATION PLAN FOR THE SQUAW SPRING WELL ARCHAEOLOGICAL DISTRICT NEAR RED MOUNTAIN, CALIFORNIA . cultural resource publications anthropology - history ~~~-------------~~~--~~--- Cover illustrations by Clara Stapp. Illustrator. Bureau of Land Management. California Desert District. Petroglyph design from Squaw Spring (SBr 2613). in Northwestern San Bernardino County. California. Forward This volume contains two working papers on the prehistory of the California Desert. The first paper entitled "Background to Prehistory of the El Paso/Red Mountain Desert Region" by Matthew C. Hall and James P. Barker et. al. is a reprint of the 1975 edition. It is the direct result of work undertaken as the result of an environmental analysis report prepared by the Bureau of Land Management for the leasing of geothermal resources in the Red Mountain vicinity. The detailed discussion of the prehistory of the area is extremely important to general prehistory of the Upper Mojave Desert. The second paper "An Archaeological Protection and Stabilization Plan for the Squaw Spring Well Archaeological District near Red Mountain, California" is authored by Russell 1. Kaldenberg and Jan Townsend following recom­ mendations made in the Red Mountain Geothermal Environmental AnalysiS Report which was greatly influenced by the Hall and Barker report cited above. This report is a logical sequence to the first and is a step by step method by which cultural resource specialists may affect the protection of cultural resources. Gary Stumpf (Salem District Office) and Butch and Ginger Hancock (A.R.T. maps) are to be thanked for their outstanding assistance in the Squaw Spring Project as are Gail Givens (former Area Manager for the Barstow Resource Area), William Olsen, Gerry Hillier, Bruce Ottenfeld, Ron Keller, Bary Freet, Tracy Cortez, and Clara Stapp who as usual, did the fantastic rock art illustrations throughout the volume. All rock art illustrations are from Steam Well and Squaw Spring. Russell L. Kaldenberg Cultural Resource Program Manager Printing Coordinator Riverside, California 1981 General Editor Russell L. Kaldenberg BURE.AU OF LAND MANAGEME.NT ---------""\ o BACKGROUND TO PREHISTORY OF THE EL PASO / RED MOUNTAIN DESERT REGION by Matthew C. Hall and James P. Barker with contributions by Toni B. Snyder and Richard A. Weaver edited by Harry W. Lawton Archaeological Research Unit University of California Riverside, California CALIFORNIA DESERT OISTRICT SBr-3087. Rock Circle on Small Playa, William Olsen provides scale. Golden Valley region of Red Mountain Planning Unit. General view easterly of Lava Mountains from Squaw Spring Archaeological District Red Mountain Planning Unit. CONTENTS Introduction Regional Environmental History of the El Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units 4 An Ethnohistory and History of the EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units 13 Ethnographic Sketch of the El Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units 32 A Cultural Sequence for the EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units 41 Potential Archaeological Significance of the El Paso/Red Mountain 64 Planning Units Site Distribution, Research Opportunities, and Sensitive Archaeological Areas in the EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units 66 Acknowledgements 71 Appendix I: Major Plant Communities of the El Paso/Red Mountain 72 Planning Units Literature Cited 74 ii LIST OF FIGURES l. El Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units: Base Map 2 2. EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units: Geomorphic Provinces 5 3. Pleistocene Drainages of Southeastern California 9 4. EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units: Major Historic Locales 14 5. EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units: Major Concentrations of IS Mining Activities 6. EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units: Approximate Ethnographic 33 Boundaries 7. Cultural Sequence: EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units 44 iii INTRODUCTION This report represents the second in a series of regional (Le., Planning Unit) studies undertaken or scheduled for the California Desert Planning Program, United States Department of Interior, Bureau of Land Management. Both the initial report, "Background to Prehistory of the Yuha Desert Region" (Weide and Barker 1974), and the present one were prepared by the Archaeological Research Unit, Dry Lands Research Institute, University of California, Riverside. The intent of these studies is to provide the BLM with an overview of information pertaining to the prehistory of a planning unit, which can then serve as background for the cultural resource section of the Unit Resource Analysis. Basic objectives in the studies are to describe and discllss available archaeological and ethnological data. The information is presented in terms of ethnohistory and ethnography, previous archaeological research, culture history (or sequence), potential archaeological significance, and archaeologica:.; sensitive areas within the planning unit. Ultimately, the background information may be incorporated into a program of statistical sampling of archaeological inventory areas in the California Desert under development by the BLM (cf. Weide 1973; Weide and Barker 1974: 90-96). The program is being designed to yield projections of patterns of site locations and densities in the desert which, ideally, will be instrumental in long-term planning of use and development in the California Desert. As defined by the Bureau of Land Management, the El Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units cover an area of variable terrain comprised of approximately 1.6 million acres in southeastern California (Fig. I). The EI Paso Planning Unit lies in the northeastern corner of Kern County, while the Red Mountain Planning Unit is located in the northwestern corner of San Bernardino County and contains an additional portion, North Searles Valley, in southern Inyo County. Geographic boundaries for the study area as a whole shall be set somewhat arbitrarily as: the northern Tehachapi and southernmost Sierra Nevada Mountains (i.e., Scodie Mountains) on the west; the northern margin of Rogers Dry Lake and the Kramer Hills on the south; eastern Searles Valley, Granite Mountain, Black Mountain, and Water Valley on the east; and the southern Argus Range and China Lake on the north. The format to be followed features four main sections and two short concluding sections. To provide an idea of the environmental setting, the first section considers the general geologic, hydrologic, vegetational and climatic evolution of the EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units. A rough synopsis of post-contact events and developments is provided in the second section which, due to the nature of the record, emphasizes ethnohistoric insights into aboriginal lifeways and the impact (Le., physical remains) of historic mining activities. The third section summarizes ethnographic data 00 aboriginal utilization of lands encompassed by the planning units, bearing in mind that there have been no comprehensive studies of peoples who specifically occupied the defined territories. The fourth section presents an archaeological sequence of culture history for the study area based on what limited data are available and, primarily, on inferential evidence gleaned from 1 EL PASO /RED MTN. PLANNING UNITS BASE MAP • •• .TROHA ! --­ I {SEARLE$. , LAKE ,.,. \ \ ~.......... \ ,, ! i , SO ........ , \.. \,>p.; flo.\~~ .,..... "' , ~ ~1; ,.<.:._._._ . ~ ,rP ,," ':-.. \ " RANDSBURG '. REO " UNTA'N ;,"KOEHN , .;. LAKE , , , .. CUDDEBACK i " , LAKE i i i , .i i I , . BLACK .............. ,GJ ~, MOUNTAIN "'l,.o.IAVE,­ , \ ......... '\, HARPER ........_ .•_•..Q BORON LA~. ~-.-,-.-.-.-.-, '\ ELNSO PAl ..........­ t liED MTH. PAl·......... i .......... ..... ......... SCALE, 1;....-6",;'" FIGURE I 2 the archaeological record in surrounding territories and the Great Basin. Although there have been locationally selective site surveys (e.g., in the EI Paso Mountains and at Black Canyon), no large-scale archaeological investigations have been conducted in either of the planning units. Nonetheless, preliminary indications are that the region has witnessed a long and varied pattern of human occupation. Each of the four main sections includes a short introduction intended to outline particular objectives and delineate certain inherent difficulties of the research. Following presentation of an inferred culture history, brief consideration is given to the overall and potential archaeological significance of the EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units. For example, the possibility of studying, through analysis of archaeological remains, the dynamic relationship between man and his habitat, cultural response(s) to an evolving environment, or interaction between human groups. The concluding portion of the report offers a description of the distribution of known archaeological sites, a brief discussion of discernible site location patterns in terms of regional research questions generated from the archaeological and ethnological records, and an indication of possibly sensitive archaeologi­ cal areas in the EI Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units. The rep,ort is accompanied by two base maps; one locates known or recorded prehistoric sites, the other delimits known or potential areas of archaeological significance in the EI I Paso/Red Mountain Planning Units. 3 REGIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE EL PASO/RED MOUNTAIN PLANNING UNITS INTRODUCTION Owing to an