Late Holocene Lithic Procurement Strategies in the Northwestern Great Basin: The View from Paiute Creek Shelter, Nevada

Abstract

We present source provenance data from a sample of obsidian projectile points and unmodified flakes from Paiute Creek Shelter (PCS), a site in Nevada's Black Rock Desert that was first occupied 4,700 calendar years ago (cal BP). Significant differences between the source profiles of earlier (pre-1,450 cal BP) and later (post-1,450 cal BP) occupations suggest that toolstone procurement strategies changed over time at PCS. Before 1,450 cal BP, there was a heavy reliance on local toolstone directly procured from nearby sources. Although local toolstone remained important after 1,450 cal BP, non-local toolstone became more common at PCS, highlighting increased interactions with neighboring populations. The shift in toolstone use at PCS is but one of many changes in the archaeological record of the northwestern Great Basin after 1,500 cal BP.