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Prehistoric Use of the Coso Volcanic Field. Amy J. Gilreath and William R. Hildebrandt. Berkeley: Contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility No. 56, 1997, X + 202 pp., 12 maps, 26 figures, 9 plates, 87 tables, $25.95 (paper).

Kashaya Pomo Plants. Jennie Goodrich, Claudia Lawson, and Vana Parrish Lawson. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1996 (reprint of a 1980 ed.), 176 pp., 13 figs., $12.95 (paper).

Prehistoric Cold Storage on the Snake River Plain: Archaeological Investigations at Bobcat Cave. Lael Suzann Henrikson. Archaeological Survey of Idaho, Monographs in Idaho Archaeology and Ethnology, No. 1, Idaho State Historical Society, 1996, v + 38 pp., 26 figs., 3 tables, $10.00 (paper).

A Survey and Analysis of Prehistoric Rock Art of the Warner Valley Region, Lake County, Oregon. Mary Frances Ricks. University of Nevada, Reno, Department of Anthropology Technical Report 96-1, 1996, 179 pp., 53 figs., 22 tables, 1 map, 4 appendices, bibliography, index. No price given (paper).

Radiocarbon dates for the historic village of Chetlessenten (the Pistol River site) suggest that the numerous features and artifacts excavated by Hefiin (1966) from this Oregon coast site date primarily between about A.D. 1600 and A.D. 1856. In this paper, we summarize the historical importance of this well-known site, describe poorly documented investigations of the site by University of Oregon archaeologists between 1960 and 1961, report on architectural details for a semisubterranean wood plankhouse that may have been typical of precontact dwellings at Chetlessenten, and discuss the evidence for the antiquity of the site.

Weavers of Tradition and Beauty: Basketmakers of the Great Basin. Text by Mary Lee Fulkerson, photographs by Kathleen Curtis. Reno: University of Nevada Press, 1995, xxiii + 138 pp., 2 maps, 120+ photographs, glossary, bibliography, index, $19.95 (paper).

Grass Games and Moon Races, California Indian Games and Toys. Jeannine Gendar. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1995, 125 pp., 65 black and white photographs and illustrations, $12.95 (paper).

Across the West: Human Population Movement and the Expansion of the Numa. David B. Madsen and David Rhode, eds. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1994, xi + 255 pp., 37 figs., 15 tables, 18 maps, $51.95 (paper).

Central California Coastal Prehistory: A View from Little Pico Creek. Terry L. Jones and Georgie Waugh. University of California, Los Angeles, Perspectives in California Archaeology, Vol. 3, 1995, 186 pp., 68 figs., 120 tables, 3 appendices, bibliography, index, $22.00 (paper).

Although the interpretations offered in this paper are exploratory, they demonstrate that existing political economic models are seriously flawed. These models are based on demonstrably unrealistic assumptions and are increasingly out of step with current empirical and theoretical studies. Alternatively, models of intensification point to productive new research directions. Equipped with these models, southern California researchers can enter global discussions about post-Pleistocene cultural change, including the origins of social complexity, sedentism, and other important cultural developments. There is every reason to suppose that southern California coastal research will be an important voice in these discussions.

Chumash Healing: Changing Health and Medical Practices in an American Indian Society. Phillip L. Walker and Travis Hudson. Banning: Malki Museum Press, 1993, xv -I- 161 pp., 38 figs., glossary, index, $16.95 (hard cover), $12.95 (paper).

This paper reports the authors' assessment of these issues and considers the occupational record of the Sunshine Locality in light of the environmental and cultural history of the region.

In this paper, the age and context of two distinctive shell beads recently found at the DJ Ranch site in south-central Oregon are discussed. These beads, which almost certainly originated on the southern California coast, clearly indicate the existence of extensive trade networks during the Middle Holocene. Such beads have also been identified as evidence of an early cultural interaction sphere linking the southern Channel Islands and adjacent mainland coast with peoples of the western Great Basin. The examples from the DJ Ranch site significantly extend the spatial distribution of such beads. Archaeologists working throughout the Great Basin and California should be aware of these distinctive beads and their potential implications.

Sandspit: A Redwood Northcoast Notebook, Book I. Francesca Fryer. Self Published, 1995, viii -b 292 pp., 3 maps, 13 figs., $21.50 (paper).

The purpose of this paper is to show that California was in close and intimate proximity to the germs and vectors required for pre-mission pestilence. In addition, the perception of California's geographic immunity will be revealed as unwarranted owing to the multiple pathways available for conveyance of microbial infection into the state. This examination will trace the routes which may have channeled exotic diseases into pre-mission California and illuminate the dispersal mechanisms that transported them. Once California specialists are convinced of the probabilities of pre-mission pestilence, they may be motivated to more confidently search for new evidence of its arrival and reevaluate the old. The goal of this geographic assessment is to stimulate these long overdue efforts.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to apply archaeobotanical data to intensification models that have been developed to explain subsistence and settlement pattern shifts observed in prehistoric central California.

This paper presents the results of in-field data analysis of stone artifacts from the surface of 26NY7920, a large WST site near Yucca Mountain on the Nevada Test Site (Fig. 1). Examination of the spatial dispersion of stone artifacts allowed the site to be partitioned into three clusters based upon tool and flake densities from across the site. The kinds of stone artifacts found within the clusters were compared with each other and with the rest of the site assemblage found in a nonclustered context, in order to make inferences regarding the segregation of activities at the site. This analysis included evaluating lithic reduction strategies, stone tool content, and toolstone selectivity.

The Archaeology of CA-MNO-2122, A Study of Pre-Contact and Post-Contact Lifeways Among the Mono Basin Paiute. Brooke S. Arkush. University of California Anthropological Records, Vol. 31, 1995, X -b 199 pp., 75 figs., 41 tables, 4 appendices, $40.00 (paper).

This paper provides a brief outline of the current understanding of the prehistory of the Mojave Desert, a broad framework of culture history, an outline of diachronic environmental change, and a summary of some of the research directions in Mojave Desert archaeology.

Since the early 1970s, Great Basin archaeologists have debated projectile point chronology, most specifically focusing on the duration of certain types in different parts of the Basin. Large corner-notched types play a central role in this debate, since in some areas they appear during the Early Holocene and persist until recent times, while in other areas they represent much shorter time spans. Further, the occurrence of large side-notched types is limited primarily to those areas in which the large corner-notched types have long temporal distributions. This paper examines the component attributes of large side-notched and corner-notched point types and offers a functional explanation for their differential distribution in time and space.

The outer form and inner meaning of Wind River Shoshone Ghost Dance are shaped by conceptions of nature and the relationship of people to the natural world. This paper examines Numic conceptions and images of nature in myth, shamanism, the Round Dance, and the Shoshone Ghost Dance, noting their close correspondence. Topics include the circle of nature and power, the power of song, dance, and language, nature and metaphor, and death and resurrection. Underlying concerns for food, weather, and health in myth, shamanism, the Round Dance, and Shoshone Ghost Dance songs further attest to the Numic nature of Wovoka's Ghost Dance religion and its performance by Wind River Shoshone in this century.

With these interpretations in mind, and considering that much of northeastern Nevada lies between the Bonneville and Lahontan basins, this paper addresses two related questions: (1) do Elko series points postdate split stemmed points in northeastern Nevada? and (2) do the split stemmed points in northeastern Nevada chronologically match those from the Bonneville Basin or those from the Lahontan Basin?

This paper presents the analysis of faunal remains from four sites on the west end of Santa Cruz Island, California; a discussion of other Channel Island subsistence data; and a comparison across the three broad ecological zones of the Santa Barbara Channel area: the islands, the mainland coast, and the interior regions. The faunal analysis indicates that the inhabitants of Santa Cruz Island relied almost exclusively on marine resources, with terrestrial mammals and birds contributing relatively little to the animal portion of the diet. These data also demonstrate the increasing importance of fish through time, with marine fish being the most important animal resource in all three ecological zones during the Late Period. New information on ancient sea temperature for the period from approximately A.D. 1150 to 1300 indicates environmental change during that time period. Some of this information was derived from analysis of fish otoliths, a new method that may have broader application in coastal areas. These data support models that invoke environmental change as a factor in prehistoric cultural evolution in the Santa Barbara area, but do not indicate a major decline in marine productivity during the Middle to Late Period transition.

Flutes of Fires: Essays on California Indian Languages. Leanne Hinton. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1994, 270 pp., $18.00 (paper).

Time's Flotsam: Overseas Collections of California Indian Material Culture. Thomas C. Blackburn and Travis Hudson. Ballena Press Anthropological Papers No. 35. 1990, 225 pp., 30 photographs, tables, bibliography, index, appendix (out of print).

In recent years, several authors have tried to grapple with problems in the study of lithic scatters (e.g., Talmage et al. 1977; Jackson et al. 1988; Hall and Jackson 1993). A great deal more, however, can be done to help advance this objective. This paper attempts to add to the discussion by suggesting some other approaches to the assessment of their significance that may benefit their research and management potential.

Prehistoric Settlement Along the Eastern Margin of Rogers Dry Lake, Western Mojave Desert, California. Brian F. Byrd, Drew Pallette, and Carol Serr, with contributions by Susan Smith and R. Scott Anderson (Pollen Analysis), Jean Hudson (Vertebrate Remains), Margaret Newman (Immunological Analysis), Thomas Origer and M. Steven Shackley (Obsidian Studies), Lisa Klug and Virginia S. Popper (Paleoethnobotanical Analysis). San Diego: Brian F. Mooney Associates Anthropological Technical Series 2,1994, ix + 192 pp., 58 figs., 66 tables, $25.00 (paper).

Multi-Component Archaic and Late Prehistoric Residential Camps Along the Sweetwater River, Rancho San Diego, California. Brian F. Byrd and Carol Serr, with contributions from John Beezley, Lynne Christenson, Margaret Newman, Thomas Origer, M. Steven Shackley, and Beta Analytic. San Diego: Brian F. Mooney Associates Anthropological Technical Series 1, 1993, xiii + 431 pp., 40 figs., 213 tables, 9 appendices, $25.00 (paper)

The Pomo Indians of northern California perceived their villages as being separate from, but connected with, the wild places surrounding them, resulting in structurally differing interpretations for Community and Wilderness. The village and its fringe served as the focus of the woman's world, while the man's world often focused more on the wilderness. Power, an essential part of the Pomo experience, could be gained in both worlds. In the village, power was often of a communal nature, and its acquisition involved elaborate rituals enacted by numerous people. In the wilderness, however, power could be gained alone by way of supernatural experience. In order to acquire and maintain these powers, a spiritual balance was sought to connect the natural and cultural orders. This paper is a discussion of Pomoan thought and an examination of the relationship of the Pomo to Community and Wilderness.

This paper reports on the reanalysis of four atlatls from Plush Cave and Roaring Springs Cave in southeastern Oregon; three are effectively complete and one is a spur only. At present, no meaningful chronological data are available on these artifacts. However, based on comparisons with artifacts from site deposits of known age, it can be minimally stated that they are of Middle Archaic age.

Traditional formulations of gender, as they have been applied to prehistoric subsistence practices and work organization in California, have sometimes served to mask or obfuscate aspects of adaptive variation. This is particularly true of more ancient lifeways, such as those subsumed under the Milling Stone Horizon, that are not so easily recognized in the cultural landscape of ethnographic California. In this paper, it is argued that gender organization was much less circumscribed during the Milling Stone Horizon; the procurement and processing of major plant and animal staples were the domain of comparatively heterogeneous task groups, incorporating men, women, and children. In the face of mid-Holocene environmental stress, and dispersed but increasingly dense populations, a demographically inclusive, low-bulk foraging strategy may have provided a reasonable solution to the challenges of food gathering. Further, this lack of polarity in gender relationships had social and ideological dimensions, manifested in the absence of explicit gender referents in burial associations. The dynamics of gender and its relationship to work organization are considered crucial to the understanding of prehistoric culture change in California.

This paper synthesizes the data on prehistoric dogs (Canis familiaris) and other related canids in the eastern Great Basin. Data presented here suggest that domesticated dogs were relatively rare in the eastern Great Basin throughout the Holocene. Skeletal remains of dogs appear to be more commonly associated with sites in wetland habitats, a pattern previously identified in the western Great Basin. In these habitats, dogs may have been able to subsist with little or no assistance from humans.

Ethnobotany of the California Indians, Vol. 1: A Bibliography and Index. Beatrice M. Beck. Champaign, Illinois: Koeltz Scientific Books USA/Germany, 1994, iii + 165 pp., 1 map, bibliography, index. Ethnobotany of the California Indians, Vol. 2: Aboriginal Uses of California's Indigenous Plants. Sandra S. Strike. Champaign, Illinois: Koeltz Scientific Books USA/Germany, 1994, ii + 210 pp., 1 map, 18 illus., 1 appendix, bibliography, index, $80.00 (2 vol. set, paper).

The Santa Rita Village Mortuary Complex (CA-ALA- 413): Evidence and Implications of a Meganos Intrusion. Randy S. Wiberg. Coyote Press Archives of California Prehistory, No. 18, 1988, vi + 99 pp., 8 tables, 35 figures, appendix, $5.95 (paper).

Backtracking: Ancient Art of Southern Idaho. Max G. Pavesic and William Studebaker. Idaho Museum of Natural History, 69 pp., 1 map, 57 figs. (42 in color); with a foreword by Catherine S. Fowler, $21.95 (paper).

Residential architecture has traditionally been of special interest to archaeologists (Trigger 1967), and in recent studies of hunter and gatherer societies it has assumed new importance as an indicator of social complexity (Price and Brown 1985) and residential mobility (Ames 1991). A great deal of productive research has been conducted in southern Idaho in the last 15 years, resulting in the identification of 15 sites with house features and information on 29 separate structures. This paper describes the prehistoric houses built in southern Idaho, compares these with other residential structures in the Intermountain West, and identifies needed research to place these features in a broader interpretative framework. The geographic area of the study includes the Snake River Plain in southern Idaho, and the Boise, Payette, and Weiser river drainages in western Idaho (Fig. 1). For recent overviews of southern Idaho prehistory see Butler (1986), Holmer (1990), Meatte (1990), Titmus and Woods (1991), and Pavesic and Studebaker (1993).

This paper discusses the difficulty of distinguishing authentic versus fake effigy figures from coastal and island southern California, and the commotion caused among the scientific community as it attempted to deal with atypical effigies that were bought and sold by various dealers, individuals, and museums. Some of the individuals involved in these dealings were known pothunters. This fact compounds the problem of authenticating pieces that lack firm provenience.

Essays on the Prehistory of Maritime California. Terry L. Jones, ed. Center for Archaeological Research at Davis, Publication No. 11, 1992, vii + 277 pp., 72 figs, 56 tables, $22.00 (paper).

In this paper we have focused on the northern Santa Lucia Range, where archaeological surveys and excavations, completed during the last decade, provide on-the-ground validation of settlements and cultural features suggested in the Harrington notes and records.

This paper contains a brief review of coastal residential structures, illustrating their modes of construction and possible uses. This review provides a basis of comparison with residential structures investigated at the Nursery site (CA-SCLI-1215), San Clemente Island. The latter provides new information from the southern Channel Islands, a region that remains largely terra incognita with regard to maritime cultural evolution. The Nursery site data include well preserved architectural features with associated radiocarbon dates. These data show that residential structures similar to those of the northern Santa Barbara Channel were being constructed on San Clemente Island as early as 3,700 radiocarbon years B.P. We also suggest that the appearance of these structures may have been related to important maritime economic trends that affected all of coastal southern California.

Ludlow Cave (CA-SBR-1887), also known as Two Raven Cave, was first formally recorded by E. W. Shepard in 1958. A complex and confusing trail of documentation follows this initial recordation. Shepard made several trips to the site, collecting artifacts which were subsequently turned over to the San Bernardino County Museum in the early 1960s. His records make reference to vandalism, but the degree of disturbance is unknown. The museum agreed to loan the collection to California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB), to be cataloged and analyzed. The purpose of this paper is to present a summary of the site history and recovered materials contained in the Ludlow Cave collection.

Two Hunting-Related Archaic Sites in Elko County, Nevada. Frederic F. Petersen and Steven M. Stearns. Sparks, NV: Falcon Hill Press, 1992, 147 pp., 32 figs., 11 tables, 7 plates, 5 appendices, $18.00 (paper).

In this paper, "Millingstone Horizon" is meant to refer to archaeological cultures (or sites or assemblages) where the dominant food processing technology is the mano and metate and whose ecological adaptation is thought to be very heavily dependent on plant foods.

Few scholars have accepted the evidence presented so far for associations between humans and mammoths, but Orr described a number of other intriguing early sites that may place humans on Santa Rosa Island by the terminal Pleistocene. For several years, we have been studying these and other early Santa Rosa Island sites. We have yet to find evidence for a Pleistocene occupation of the island (Erlandson and Morris 1992), but several early Holocene sites offer evidence for the settlement of the island prior to 8,000 years ago (Erlandson 1992). One of these is an isolated human burial at CA-SRI-116, a large shell midden located near the mouth of Lobo Canyon on the northeast coast of the island (Fig. 1). In this paper, we report on a suite of radiocarbon dates for CA-SRI-116 and describe the available data on the stratigraphic context of the burial, its position, and its artifact associations.

The Forgotten Tribes: Oral Tales of the Teninos and Adjacent Mid-Columbia Indian Nations. Donald M. Hines, 1991, 143 pp., 23 illustrations, $10.95 (paper).

The following four papers were originally presented at the plenary session of the 22nd Great Basin Anthropological Conference, held in Reno, Nevada in October of 1990. Speakers addressed the question of what Great Basin anthropologists should be doing in the next 10 years. I asked them to tackle this difficult task because anthropologists today question many of the fundamentals of our field; the "voices" of ethnography, the inferential methods of archaeology, and the relationships between anthropologists and the world's cultures. The authors make some important suggestions about future problems and approaches in Great Basin anthropology. Not everyone will agree with all of the suggestions, but they need to be considered because, like it or not, anthropology will not proceed in the 21st century as it has in the 20th.

To the American Indian: Reminiscences of a Yurok Woman. Lucy Thompson. Foreword by Peter E. Palmquist. Introduction by Julian Lang. Berkeley: Heyday Books, 1991, xxx + 292 pp., 42 illustrations, 2 maps, index, $12.95 (paper).

An Archaeologist's Guide to Chert and Flint: Archaeological Research Tools 7. Barbara E. Luedtke, Institute of Archaeology, University of California, Los Angeles, 1992, 172 pages, 2 appendices, bibliography, glossary, index, $18.75 (paper).

This paper sketches the principal music and culture areas of native California and identifies general characteristics that distinguish the region in the overall sphere of Native American music. Rather than provide notations or detailed analyses I describe the music according to a set of general parameters that I have found useful in previous comparative research. The following elements are considered: (1) vocal quality or timbre; (2) presence of words or vocables, text-setting, and repetition of text; (3) musical organization or texture; (4) musical form or structure, including phrase-length; (5) melodic range or ambitus; (6) melodic contour or direction; (7) scale, particularly number of tones in scale; (8) rhythm, especially meter; and (9) other notable tendencies. For readers who want more detailed information, sources describing the music or the performance contexts of public singing are noted throughout.

When asked to take a retrospective and prospective look at the state of Great Basin archaeology vis-a-vis the public it was clear that the scope and dimensions of such an endeavor could quickly escalate to unmanageable proportions. In this paper, I will focus on what I see as positive efforts that have been employed to include the public in what it is we do and the hurdles we need to overcome to realign our priorities. I then turn to the future and where we ought to think about going in the next decade.