Archaeological Excavations at Pie Creek and Tule Valley Shelters, Elko County, Nevada

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1 NEVADA DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS DIVISION OF MUSUEUMS AND HISTORY SUB Hamburg B/89960 NEVADA STATE MUSEUM ANTHROPOLOGICAL PAPERS NUMBER 25 Archaeological Excavations at Pie Creek and Tule Valley Shelters, Elko County, Nevada by KELLY R. McGUIRE MICHAEL G. DELACORTE KIMBERLY CARPENTER Contributing Authors: William Bloomer Virginia L. Butler Amy J. Gilreath Elizabeth Honeysett Carie Montero D. Craig Young Eric Wohlgemuth FAR WESTERN ANTHROPOLOGICAL GROUP, INC EUGENE M. HATTORI, Series Editor GARSON CITY, NEVADA JULY 2004

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Preface Acknowledgements Abstract i iii v INTRODUCTION 1 ENVIRONMENTAL CONTEXT 5 Paleoenvironment 8 ETHNOGRAPHIC CONTEXT 11 ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT 13 Chronological Framework 13 Early and Middle Holocene 14 Late Holocene 16 Previous Site Investigations in Tule Valley 18 CRNV CRNV CRNV CRNV (with William Bloomer) 20 Discussion 21 RESEARCH PERSPECTIVES 23 Chronology 23 Organization of Technologies 24 Population Replacements 25 Land-use Intensification 26 Evolutionary Ecology and the Logistical Hunting of Large Game 27 PIE CREEK SHELTER (CRNV ) 29 FIELD AND LABORATORY METHODS 31 Field Methods Laboratory Methods 35 Flaked Stone Artifacts 36

3 Ground and Battered Stone Artifacts 37 Ceramics 38 Other Artifacts 38 GEOARCHAEOLOGY (by D. Craig Young) 39 A Floodplain Terrace: Mazama Tephra Strata 9 and Rock Fall 2 42 The Early Shelter: Strata Rock Fall 1 42 The Late Shelter: Strata The Chronology of Cultural Occupation 45 Component IV and IVa: Stratum 9 and Lower Apron Deposits 45 Component III: Strata 7 and 8 46 Component II: Strata 5 and 6 46 Component I: Strata 1 to 4 46 Cultural Features 46 Feature 1 47 Feature 2 47 Feature 3 47 Feature 4 47 Feature 5 49 Feature 6 49 Feature 7 49 Features 8 and 9 51 Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature Feature CHRONOMETRICS 53 Radiocarbon Dating 53 Projectile Points 53 Northern Side-notched (Figure 28) 58 Humboldt (Figure 29) 58 Gateclifif (Figure 30) 59 Elko (Figure 31) 60 Rose Spring and Eastgate (Figure 32 and Figure 33) 62

4 Desert Series (Figure 34) 63 Other Projectile Points (Figure 35 and Figure 36) 63 Obsidian Sourceand Hydration Analysis 64 A Browns Bench Hydration Rate 67 GENERAL ASSEMBLAGE CHARACTERISTICS 69 FLAKED STONE (by Amy Gilreath) 69 Methods 69 Component IV 72 Component III 75 Component II 79 Component I 82 Summary 82 MILLING AND PROCESSING EQUIPMENT 84 Millingstones 84 Handstones 86 Other Processing Tools 86 Discussion 86 POTTERY (by Carie Montero) 87 Discussion 88 MODIFIED BONE (by Kimberly Carpenter) 88 Awls and Other Pointed Tools 89 Beads, Tubes, and Bead-Manfacturing Debris 89 Miscellaneous 91 Discussion 91 MODIFIED WOOD (by Elizabeth Honeysett) 91 Promontory Peg 91 Pointed Sticks 93 Fire-making Apparatus 93 Wood Cylinders 93 Split Sticks 93 Miscellaneous Wood Fragments 93 SHELL BEADS 94 CORDAGE 94 MISCELLANEOUS ARTIFACTS 96 HUMAN BONE 96

5 ARCHAEOBOTANICAL REMAINS (BY ERIC WOHLGEMUTH) 96 Results 97 Habitat Preferences of Chenopodium and cf. Elymus 97 Sampling Considerations 98 Seed Remains by Component 98 Discussion 103 TERRESTRIAL FAUNAL REMAINS (by Kimberly Carpenter) 105 Methods and Materials 105 Descriptive Summary 106 Discussion 107 Conclusions 110 FISH REMAINS (by Virginia L. Butler) 110 Methods and Materials 114 Order Salmoniformes 114 Order Cypriniformes 115 Family Catostomidae Suckers 115 Family Cyprinidae Minnows 115 Family Cottidae-Sculpins 116 ~Non-Oncorhynchus 116 Results and Discussion 116 Natural vs. Cultural Origin of Fish Bone 116 Recovery Issues 117 Temporal Variation 117 Fish Body Size 119 Animal Processing/Butchering 120 Fish Paleobiology and Fish Conservation 121 Summary 122 SYNTHESIS AND CONCLUSIONS 123 Component IV and IVa - Pie Creek Phase (ca to 4500 BP [ l4 C yr BP ]) 123 Component III - South Fork Phase (4500 to 3200 BP [ l4 C yr BP ]) 125 Component II -James Creek Phase (3200 to 1450 BP [ 14 C yr BP ]) 127 Component I - Maggie Creek and Eagle Rock Phases (1450 BP [ C YR BP] to Contact) 128 The Late Holocene Ascendance of Hunting in the Great Basin 130 TULE VALLEY SHELTER (CRNV ) (by Michael Delacorte) 137 ARCHAEOLOGICAL PROCEDURES AND SUBSURFACE STRATIGRAPHY 137 Subsurface Stratigraphy 141 Chronology 143

6 ARTIFACT ASSEMBLAGE 146 Projectile Points 146 Projectile Point Blanks 147 Drill 147 Bifaces 147 Flake Tool 149 Core Tool 149 Debitage 149 Millingstones 150 Handstones 151 Hoppar Mortar 152 Miscellaneous Stone 153 Worked Bone 153 Pottery (with Carie Montero) 153 FAUNAL AND FLORAL REMAINS 155 Bone Bed Fauna 155 Cultural Deposit Fauna 156 Molluscs 157 Archaeobotanical Remains 157 SUMMARY, INTERPRETATION, AND IMPLICATIONS 158 Formation of Rock Shelter Bone Beds 159 The Behavior Significance of Small Site Assemblages 160 REFERENCES CITED 163