article

The Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene archaeology of the Great Basin

Journal of world prehistory11 (2)Published In 1997 • Pages: 161-236

By: Beck, Charlotte, Jones, George Thomas.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Beck and Jones don't distinguish between the Paleoindian and Early Archaic periods. Instead, they refer to the population living in the Great Basin during the Terminal Pleistocene and Early Holocene as Paleoarchaic. Where it was possible to distinguish between the Paleoindian and the Early Archaic time periods only the data that pertain to the Early Archaic time period were marked for OCM (Outline of Material Cultures) codes. Beck and Jones have written a review of the Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene archaeological record in the Great Basin. They focus on the lithic technologies there because that is what has survived and they discuss where sites are located and why. Most Great Basin sites are surface ones with no stratigraphy which has made it difficult to determine the chronological order of the various projectile points. Recent studies, however, indicate that some of the stemmed projectile points were probably multiuse tools rather than just hunting weapons.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Culture summary
Lithic industries
Weapons
General tools
Settlement patterns
Land use
traditionCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Early Desert Archaic
HRAF PubDateThe date HRAF published the document
2010
RegionThe area the document pertains to
North America
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southwest and Basin
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Archaeologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Sarah Berry; 2009
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
11,500-7500 BP (9500-5500 BC)
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Great Basin; California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah; United States
NotesAdditional notes
Charlotte Beck and George T. Jones
Includes bibliographical references (p. 222-236)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
87655790
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Indians of North America--Antiquities