Danger Cave, and Smith Creek Cave (eastern Great Basin, USA): Interpreting their radiocarbon chronologies The Paleoindian occupations at Bonneville Estates Rockshelter

Numerous caves and rockshelters in the Great Basin of western North America contain geological deposits chronicling human adaptive change through the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene periods. This is especially the case in the western Bonneville basin of Nevada and Utah, where three caves in particularDanger Cave, Smith Creek Cave, and Bonneville Estates Rockshelterhave yielded artifacts, faunal remains, floral remains, and hearth features in sealed, stratified contexts. Complex taphonomic histories, however, have led to much confusion in the radiocarbon dating of the caves cultural deposits. In this paper we review the radiocarbon records of the three sites in detail, analyzing them in the context of site formation processes. Our results suggest that the main Paleoindian occupations of these caves date to between about 10,900 and 9500 radiocarbon years ago (12,850 and 10,650 calendar years ago), and that this corresponds to a cool, wet period in the eastern Great Basin that may relate to the Younger Dryas cooling event in the North Atlantic. In all three caves, Paleoindian occupations are followed by gaps in human occupations of at least 1500 years; these gaps appear to correlate to significant aridification of the Bonneville basin, starting at about 9000 radiocarbon years ago (10,200 calendar years ago).

The Paleoindian occupations at Bonneville Estates Rockshelter, Danger Cave, and Smith Creek Cave (eastern Great Basin, USA): Interpreting their radiocarbon chronologies Chapter