Abstract
Much of the existing research on prehistoric human land-use patterns in the Great Basin relies on data from large-scale pedestrian surveys (e.g., Bettinger 1975; Delacorte 1990; Larson 2009; Thomas 1971). Most of these studies selected survey tracts or areas with no consideration for the age of the landform surfaces examined. As Waters (1992:7) states, “The first and most fundamental objective of geoarchaeology is to place sites and their contexts in a relative and absolute temporal context.” Inasmuch as earlier surveys were conducted when geoarchaeology was in its infancy, the influence of natural, post-depositional processes (i.e., erosion and deposition) were rarely factored into the interpretive conclusions reached by researchers.
To examine the relationship between the age of archaeological surface remains and the landforms on which they are found, the present study applied geomorphological principles to the results of two pedestrian surveys conducted in Owens Valley, California (Bettinger 1975; Larson 2009). These results were then compared to the human land-use patterns proposed by the original researchers to assess how the age of sampled landforms may have influenced prior interpretations of the past.
The present study determined that most upland landforms were emplaced prior to the Quaternary Period and thus available for human occupation throughout the cultural sequence. Moreover, given comparatively limited erosion and deposition in these upland settings, they provide a reasonably complete record of human activity over time. By contrast, lowland areas are depositional landforms, where the record of human activity is progressively destroyed or buried over time. With this in mind, it is essential that both the design and interpretation of archaeological surface surveys consider the age of the landforms being investigated.