PREHISTORIC PEOPLES OF THE GREAT BASIN 
(MODULE 14)

	Read:	Fagan (2000:251-278)

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	A.	The Great Basin is an archaeological area that is geographically defined by:
		1.	Most of the states of Nevada and Utah
		2.	Southern inland California
		3.	Southern Idaho
		4.	Southwest Wyoming
		5.	Southeast Oregon

		6.	Otherwise put, the Great Basin is:
			a.	Between the:
				(1)	Rocky Mountains on the east
				(2)	Sierra Nevadas on the west
			b.	South of the archaeological Inland Plateau
			c.	North of the archaeological area of the Southwest

	B.	Current ecological conditions in the Great Basin are characterized by:
		1.	Little rain (usually 60 cm per year and often half of that
		2.	Soil cannot absorb the rain, so there is usually runoff in the form of flash floods
		3.	Altitudinal variety (i.e., zonation) ranges:
			a.	Valley desert
			b.	Juniper and pinon
			c.	Alpine in higher elevations
		4.	Thus, while a generally dry area, there exists microenvironmental variation with vertical zonation.

	C.	Ecological conditions in the Great Basin during the Pleistocene were quite different:
		1.	There were rivers and lakes
			a.	Now characterized by:
				(1)	Dry riverbeds
				(2)	Dry lake playas
		2.	Humans moved into the area in the late Pleistocene

	D.	Prehistoric cultural chronology for the Great Basin:
		1.	ca. 11,200 B.C.—Fort Rock
		2.	Danger Cave, Utah (located above the Great Salt Lake):
			a.	ca. 9000 B.C. began to be occupied.
				(1)	Animals in variety were exploited
				(2)	Plants (65 species) varied as well
				(3)	Dry conditions favored preservation of organic artifacts:
					(a)	Woven artifacts:
						i)	Nets
						ii)	Textiles
						iii)	Baskets
					(b)	Wooden artifacts:
						i)	Arrows
						ii)	Haftings, etc.
					(c)	Effigies—split-wood mountain goat effigies
			b.	ca. 2000 B.C.: Beginnings of the Desert Archaic Tradition:
				(1)	Coiled, almost waterproof, baskets
				(2)	Duck decoys
				(3)	Wild-grass harvesting sickles

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		3.	Hogup Cave chronology gives a good long sequence (broken up into "units" or levels):
			a.	Unit I:
				(1)	ca. 6400-350 B.C.
				(2)	Conditions were moist
				(3)	Desert Archaic Culture was well off and running
			b.	Unit II:
				(1)	ca. 300 B.C.-A.D. 400
				(2)	Dry conditions
				(3)	Desert tends to disperse population
			c.	Unit III:
				(1)	ca. A.D. 400-1300
				(2)	Fairly moist conditions
				(3)	This is the time of the florescence of the Fremont Culture (to be discussed momentarily)
			d.	Unit IV:
				(1)	ca. A.D. 1300-1850
				(2)	Dry (note, coincidence of this and the "Little Ice Age")
				(3)	The ethnic Shoshone occupy the area
				(4)	With the exception of the Fremont, the Archaic lifeway continues in most areas to the time of 
					the historic Shoshone

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			e.	The Fremont Culture is the main exception, and is quite interesting.

		5.	Fremont Culture:
			a.	Dates: ca. A.D. 500-1400
			b.	Situated in the eastern Great Basin
				(1)	Eastern Utah
				(2)	North of the Anasazi of the Southwest
			c.	Probably an outgrowth of the Desert Archaic Tradition, but had some cultural affinities with both:
				(1)	Southwest cultures
				(2)	Plains cultures
			d.	Most characteristic artifact: limbless clay figurines
			e.	Subsistence:
				(1)	Horticultural lifestyle:
					(a)	Corn:
						i)	Zea mays
						ii)	ca. ±A.D.400
					(b)	Other seeds (Artemesia and others)
				(2)	Hunted and gathered during part of the year
			f.	Had above-ground masonry architecture (similar to the Southwest)
			g.	Produced grayware pottery

			h.	Note that
				(1)	Flourishing of the Fremont Culture correlates with the relatively moist Hogup III Unit, and,
				(2)	Decline correlates with the increasing desiccation that characterizes the Hogup III Unit onward.

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	E.	Terms related to discussion of PREHISTORIC PEOPLES OF THE GREAT BASIN:
		1.	Great Basin: Geographically and ecologically defined:
		2.	Great Basin: Postglacial pluvial lakes and archaeology?
		3.	Great Basin: Characteristic subsistence?
		4.	Great Basin: Characteristic artifact inventories:
		5.	Great Basin: Paleoindian Culture: Clovis and San Dieguito: characteristics? significance?
		6.	Great Basin: Fort Rock—significance?
		7.	Great Basin: Danger Cave cultural sequence
		8.	Great Basin: Split-wood mountain goat effigies? significance?
		9.	Great Basin: Hogup cultural and ecological sequence?
		10.	Great Basin: Desert Archaic Tradition—general characteristics?
		11.	Great Basin: Hogup III—significant cultural events?
		12.	Great Basin: Gypsum Cave Site: significance?
		13.	Great Basin: Fremont Culture: main characteristics? significance?
		14.	Great Basin: "Limbless figurines"?
		15.	Great Basin: the Shoshone
		16.	Great Basin: Ethnographic and linguistic picture

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