Latest Pleistoceneearly Holocene human occupation and paleoenvironmental change in the Bonneville Basin, UtahNevada
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abstract
On this field trip, you will visit two important archaeological cave sites that provide the most compelling evidence for latest Pleistocene and earliest Holocene human occupation in the Bonneville Basin. Danger Cave, located near Wendover, Utah/Nevada, is famed for its deeply stratified archaeological deposits dating as old as 10,300 radiocarbon yr B.P., when the remnant of Lake Bonneville stood at the Gilbert shoreline. Bonneville Estates Rockshelter, located south of Danger Cave at the Lake Bonneville highstand shoreline, also contains well-preserved stratified deposits, including artifacts and cultural features dated to at least 11,000 radiocarbon yr B.P., making it one of the oldest known archaeological occupations in the Great Basin. We describe results of our recent research at these sites and show the stratigraphic evidence for these earliest human occupations. We also review recent work at the Old River Bed Delta, on Dugway Proving Ground, that has documented hundreds of Paleoarchaic occupation sites dating 11,000-8500 radiocarbon yr B.P. Together these localities give us an unparalleled picture of human occupation during the first few thousand years of known human occupation in the region, during a time of dramatic environmental change. Packrat middens, pollen sampling localities, and geomorphic features that illustrate the history of Pleistocene Lake Bonneville and the environmental history of the western Bonneville Basin will also be observed on this trip. 2005 Geological Society of America.
author list (cited authors)
Rhode, D., Goebel, T., Graf, K. E., Hockett, B. S., Jones, K. T., Madsen, D. B., Oviatt, C. G., & Schmitt, D. N.
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16
complete list of authors
Rhode, David||Goebel, Ted||Graf, Kelly E||Hockett, Bryan S||Jones, Kevin T||Madsen, David B||Oviatt, Charles G||Schmitt, Dave N
