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OBSIDIAN STUDIES IN YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: PRELIMINARY OBSERVATIONS
Kathleen L. Hull Yosemite Research center
P.O. Box 700 El Portal, CA 95318
ABSTRACT
Obsidian hydration and x-ray fluorescence analysis results from large survey and test excavation projects conducted in Yosemite National Park since 1983 are being used to form the basis for a database for obsidian studies in the Central Sierra Nevada. X-ray fluorescence results indicate that Yosemite data are consistent with geographically referenced procurement trends to the north and south, while visual sourcing of debitage suggests some variety in procurement strategies. Hydration data are being used to contribute to the development of a local point typology and define hydration ranges for point series.
INTRODUCTION
This paper reports some preliminary results of obsidian source and hydration studies in Yosemite National Park. These results are considered "preliminary," because data are just beginning to be synthesized, samples examined so far have been relatively small, and as the research progresses, new ideas and approaches about obsidian studies in the Park are being considered. Although the research is ongoing, this review serves to indicate the research directions and some of the observations made thus far.
As indicated in other papers in this volume (Carpenterand Kirn 1987; Mundy 1987), a substantial program of archaeological survey, excavation, and monitoring has been conducted in Yosemite since 1980. In many cases, obsidian source and/or hydration studies have been carried out as part of the analysis of cultural materials recovered. Because obsidian debitage and artifacts account for approximately 99 percent of the cultural material recovered, analyses performed are directed at being as creative as possible in an attempt to extract as much information as possible.
To this end, both visual and geochemical sourcing methods have been incorporated into analysis, while applying hydration results to a fairly broad range of research questions. With regard to sourcing methods, the reliability of visual sourcing has been tested, visual sourcing has been employed as part of debitage analysis, and x-ray fluorescence and visual identifications have been examined with respect to various tool categories. In addition, these sourcing data have provided a background
169
FIGURE 1. areas.
YOSEMITE
NATIONAL
PARK
Yosemite National Park map showing project
A FLETCHER
~~
.. OIIS'DlAN mASOUNC! 6 U'1. HIIIH.o\'"
fI\ INT!lIITo\TI! ,",ITo\TI! HlGHWA' '-:./ ........ 1:::1
••••• YOSEIlItt NO\TIONO\L
!,0 i 10 10 III
IIIUI
PtlNK
FIGURE 2. Location map for obsidian sources in the Yosemite area.
for hydration analysis which includes establishment of relative site age, refinement of projectile point hydration ranges for this area, and examination of point typology in light of hydration results.
The primary project areas referred to in this discussion are the areas of Wawona, Yosemite Valley, EI Portal, and lower Tioga Road (Figure 1). In addition, smaller survey surface collections have been made at the South Entrance, Mariposa Grove, and Glacier Point Road, with excavation materials from these areas currently being processed. No projects have been conducted in the far northern Park area, as this is Wilderness area and most of our work is development-oriented.
OBSIDIAN SOURCE STUDIES
Figure 2 indicates the primary obsidian sources in the Yosemite area -- Casa Diablo, Bodie Hills, Mt. Hicks, Mono Glass Mountain, Mono Craters, and Queen. Fish Springs and Coso materials are not generally recognized in Yosemite collections, while Mono Glass Mountain and Mono Craters obsidians cannot be readily distinguished by x-ray fluorescence analysis.
X-ray fluorescence studies have been carried out for six excavation and three survey projects (see Hughes 1983, 1984; Jackson 1985, 1986, 1987; Origer and Jackson 1982). Material submitted from excavations generally includes both flakes and tools, while survey materials have been limited to artifacts -- particularly projectile points. Examination of these data from projects forming a north-south transect of the Park indicates procurement trends expected on the basis of obsidian source proximity (Table 1). In the more southern Park areas, Casa Diablo material accounts for the bulk of the artifactual obsidian, while in the north-central Park area, Bodie Hills obsidian makes up nearly 50 percent of the total obsidian collection (see Hull and Mundy 1985:69). These trends are apparent in studies to the north and south of the Park, as Casa Diablo has been found to account for most of the artifactual obsidian on sites on the Sierra National Forest to the south (see Jackson and Dietz 1984:217), while Bodie Hills obsidian is prevalent at sites on the stanislaus National Forest to the north (Wallace Woolfenden, personal communication 1986). Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters obsidian occurs infrequently, with no clear geographic pattern. The percentage of Mt. Hicks obsidian is relatively constant, although perhaps slightly greater in the northern Park area. Obsidian from the Queen source occurs rarely in the Park collections, but was noted most frequently in EI Portal. .
with respect to projectile point types, Desert, Rose Spring/Eastgate, and Concave Base points of all four major sources have been observed (Table 2). To date, no Elko
172
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I-' ...,J w
TABLE 1
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE ANALYSIS RESULTS FOR YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK PROJECTS
PROJECT CD MGM/MC 8M MR Q ? TOTAL
South Entrance/Mariposa 3 (75', 1 (25', 4 Grove Survey
(YOSE 848)
Wawona Testing 66 (89', 5 7', 1 1', 1 (1', 1 ( 1', 74 (YOSE 80A)
Wawqna Testing 52 (75', 5 n) 2 3', 10 un) • 69 (YOSE 83A/8U,
Glacier Point Road Survey 6 (5n, 1 (11', 1 (11', 1 (11', 9 (YOSE 84E)
El Portal Testing 65 (55', 2 2', 23 (23', 4 ", 6 (6', 100 (YOSE 81A,
El Portal Testing 61 (5a) 8 ( 8', 22 (22', 5 5', 3 (3', 1 ( 1', 100 (YOSE 83B)
Yosemite Valley Testing 11 (85') 1 ( 8') 1 8', 13 (YOSE 84C/85B'
Tioga Road Survey 29 ('0'' 33 ('6', 5 7', 2 ( 3', 723 ( '" (YOSE 840)
• Pieces probably represent Casa Diablo specimens, but small size made accurate identification difficult
CD • Casa Diablo, MGM/MC • Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters, 8M • Bodie Bills, ~ • Mt. Bicks, Q • Queen, ? • unknown
TABLE 2
X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SOURCE RESULTS FOR SELECTED PROJECTILE POINT SERIES
CD BH MGM/MC MH TOTAL
DESERT/COTTONWOOD 22 (47%) 18 (38%) 3 6%) 4 ( 9%) 47
ROSE SPRING/EASTGATE 21 (58%) 10 (28%) 3 8%) 2 ( 6%) 36
CONCAVE BASE 10 (67%) 2 (13%) 2 (13%) 1 7%) 15
ELKO 11 (69%) 2 (13%) 3 (19%) 16 I-' ...J of,>.
SIE~RA SIDE-NOTCHED 3 (100%) 3
TRIANGULAR 1 (33%) 2 (67%) 3 CONTRACTING STEM
PINTO 1 (100%) 1
BIPOINT 2 (67%) 1 (33%) 3
CD = Casa Diablo, MGM/MC = Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters, BH = Bodie Hills, MH = Mt. Hicks,
TABLE 3
COMPARISON OF VISUAL AND X-RAY FLUORESCENCE SOURCING RESULTS
VISUAL CD BH MGM/MC MH ?
Opaque 34 (8n) 1 ( 3~) 2 (67~) o o
Semi-translucent " (11~) 26 (72~) 1 (33~) 2 (33~) 1 (50~)
Translucent o 9 (25~) o " (67~) 1 (50~)
CD - Casa Diablo, MGM/MC • Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters, BH • Bodie Hills, MH • Mt. Hicks. ? • unknown
points of Mt. Hicks obsidian have been identified, while relatively rare types such as Bipoints and Contracting Stem points are of Casa Diablo or Bodie Hills glass. Of course, the sample is quite small.
Integration of visual sourcing techniques into artifact analysis has taken two different directions. The first is to allow examination of obsidian procurement and use through time and space on a large scale. The second goal is to apply methods to selection of samples for obsidian hydration. To a certain extent, the research goals dictate how reliable one can be in identification and this, in turn, has implications for the interpretations possible.
The first attempt at visual sourcing for procurement studies was conducted by Ervin for the 1983-84 Wawona excavation project. It entailed the definition of nine visual types, most of which were found to be Casa Diablo obsidian when submitted for x-ray fluorescence analysis (Ervin 1984:265). In later projects, a simpler technique based primarily on observations reported by Bettinger et al. (1984) was instituted, and it is this latter approach that will be discussed in more detail here. The goal was to recognize obsidian sources by translucency alone, and the method was based on the observation that opaque obsidian is generally recognized as Casa Diablo glass, Bodie Hills obsidian tends to be semi-translucent, while Mt. Hicks and Queen source materials are translucent. Secondary characteristics outlined by Bettinger et al. (1984) such as banding and phenocrysts were not taken into account in the preliminary test of artifacts from three survey projects (Hull and Mundy 1985).
To test the reliability of such a visual sourcing scheme, visually sourced artifacts were submitted for x-ray fluorescence analysis with mixed but somewhat encouraging results (Table 3). The primary observation was that Casa Diablo obsidian was generally opaque, as expected. Unfortunately, so were most pieces of Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters obsidian, although material from this source constitutes a very small percentage of the Park col
175
TABLE 4
OBSIDIAN DEBITAGE OPACITY AND FLAKE SIZE FOR YOSEMITE VALLEY TESTING COLLECTIONS
Mir1PJEB Co.mty Tr1n::Wa.1s
-61 -61 -158/~ -163 -l96/ro<> -305 -308
> 20 t+t qa:Jte 0 0 1 (~) 1 (~) 30 (3.....) 1 (1~) 2 (1~) aeni-traiD:!l 0 2 (1~) 2 (m) 1 (~) 41 (46%) 0 0 tIarBllDE!!rlt 0 0 0 0 19 (21%) 0 0
I-' 12 - 20 Mtf-...l ~ qa:Jte . 0 14 ( 4".1%) 13 (37%) 15 (56%) 193 (31%) 14 ( 7~) 12 ( 31%)
aeni-traiD:!l 0 14 ( 47lt) 21 (~) 10 (37%) ~ (49%) 6 ( n) 27 ( 69%) tIarBluoent 0 2 ( 7lt) 1 ( 3%) 2 ( 7%) 123 (~) 0 0
6 - 12 t+t q;aqle 0 65 ( 18'5) 43 (15%) 32 (24%) 789 (19%) 19 ( 19%) 39 ( 16%) aeni-tIals 2 (1~) 247 ( 67lt) 215 (76%) 91 (m) 2&)1 (~) 73 ( 74%) 193 ( 77%) tIarBltt:ent 0 57 ( 16%) 24 ( 9%) 13 (10%) 894 (21%) 6 ( 6%) 18 ( 7%)
3-6r+t Clplqle 1 ( ~) 57 ( 11%) 43 ( 7%) 22 (11%) 739 (10%) 9 ( ~) 30( 7%) aeni-trans 1 ( ~) 381 ( 71%) 503 (79%) 159 (77%) 4778 (64%) 122 ( 8..."') 313 ( 77%) tIarBllDE!!rlt 0 en ( 18'5) 91 (14%) 25 (12%) 1930 (26%) 13 ( 9%) 62 ( 15%)
lections. Second, Bodie Hills obsidian was generally semi-translucent, but in this case, several artifacts of Bodie Hills glass were noted as translucent and one was opaque. Some of the artifacts of Mt. Hicks obsidian were translucent and some were semi-translucent. No material from the Queen source was identified.
These data suggested that Casa Diablo obsidian could be recognized by translucency alone fairly consistently - 89 percent of the time -- but that some problems might arise in equating "translucent" exclusively with Mt. Hicks or "semi-translucent" with Bodie Hills. Unlike Bettinger et ale (1984), there was less problem distinguishing Bodie Hills from Casa Diablo than distinguishing Bodie Hills from Mt. Hicks. Addition of secondary characteristics and refinement of techniques might contribute to the further distinction of Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters from Casa Diablo and Bodie Hills from Mt. Hicks, although the Glass Mountain and Bodie Hills sources exhibit much variability. In terms of recognizing rough, general geographic trends in artifactual obsidian distribution such visual methods might not be inappropriate in the Yosemite area, although limitations should be realized.
The greatest potential problem with using visual sourcing methods to examine procurement, comes when applying techniques to thin pieces -- particularly flakes. Tools are generally thick enough and large enough to maintain opacity and exhibit several characteristic traits. However, thin Cas a Diablo obsidian becomes semitranslucent, banding may become apparent, and some pieces even exhibit a gray-green tinge -- all traits indicative of other sources. Bodie Hills flakes become more translucent and minimal banding makes distinction from Mt. Hicks difficult if not impossible. Because of these problems, one would expect the percentage of translucent pieces to increase with decreasing flake size, while the percentage of opaque flakes would decrease with decreasing flake size.
However, experimentation with visual sourcing of debitage material has been conducted in an effort to examine intra- and intersite variability in obsidian procurement (Table 4). Results from Yosemite Valley indicate some general trends, again using only three translucency categories within four flake size groups. First, it was noted that the percentage of translucent flakes did increase as flake size decreased, while opaque flakes had the opposite trend. This is what one would expect because of the problem with accurately ascribing source to thin flakes, but a second look at these data suggests that maybe there is some cultural explanation for these distributions. For example,translucent flakes rarely occur'in the largest size class -- a class not subject to problems of scale. The absence of translucent material in large sizes suggests a possible difference in how obsidian from various sources was introduced into the Park, although the sample of large flakes is generally quite small.
177
TABLE 5
OBSIDIAN DEBITAGE OPACITY AND FLAKE TYPE FOR YOSEMITE VALLEY TESTING COLLECTIONS
M!lr1p::l13!l CCIlnty Trirnrdals
-61 -f:rl -158,t:3t:9 -163 -196/3» -3ai -«l8
~[H:.
opaque eeni-t:nI:B tmrsl'OO!!l'l.t
0 0 0
1 (~) 1 (~) 0
1 (10:.) 0 0
0 0 0
18 (3511S) 25 (4911) 8 (1~)
1 (10:.) 0 0
1 ( ~) 1 ( ~) 0
I-' -..J ex>
SB'nflIIR'l IB::. opaque 8I!IIli-t:nI:B tmrsl'OO!!l'l.t
BlFJICI!! 'JIIlRCl'lII3 <:pque 8I!IIli-t:nI:B tmrsl'OO!!l'l.t
0 0 0
0 1 (10:.) 0
1 (1oft) 6 (a) 0
28 (18!11) 1m (_) 24 (15\)
7 (~) 7 (~) 0
19 ( 1~) ae (.) 9 ( 8!11)
6 ( 751t) 2 ( 251t) 0
16 (m) 41 (.) 2 ( 3fI5)
79 (25\) 166 (s:.) 67 (2~)
159 (18!11) 566 (63115) 170 (1911)
3 (.) 5 ( 62%) 0
10 ( 2911) 22 ( 63115) 3 ( 8!11)
5 (~) 9 ( 64%) 0
10 ( 10ft) 61 ( 82%)
3 ( oft)
I:lIMRl\L 'l'HIHtll«;
opaque 8I!IIli-tnnB trarBl'OO!!l'l.t
0 1 (10:.) 0
49 (21~) 155 (.) 35 (15l11)
32 ( 1~) 146 ( '1!W) 16 ( 8!11)
26 ( m) 59 ( 6~) 12 ( 12%)
775 (~) 2m (M) 811 (2~)
20 ( a) 53 ( 7015) 3 ( .)
'n ( 18!11) 150 ( 70ft) 15 ( 7!5)
~PREP. <:pque 8I!IIli-t:nI:B trarBl'OO!!l'l.t
1 (~) 1 (~) 0
57 (11%) 3'19 (m)
!11 (18!11)
41 ( ~) 500 ( 1'9115) 91 ( 10ft)
22 ( 1~) 159 ( 6~) 25 ( 12%)
n6 (l(J1) 4689 (64!11) 1886 (a)
9 ( ~)
121 ( 85lII) 13 ( 911)
30 ( 7!5) 312 ( "mi) 62 ( 15lII)
H71tH op!IqIlIt 8I!IIli-t:nI:B trarBl'OO!!l'l.t
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 0
0 0 1 (10:.)
4 ( 5lII) 46 (ea) 24 (3a)
0 0 0
0 0 0
a:m: l.IMM!NI.'5 qap! 8I!IIli-tnrls trarBlu:e:rt:
0 0 0
0 0 0
4 (10:.) 0 0
1 (10:.) 0 0
13 (m) 2 (13f15) 0
0 0 0
2 (100II5) 0 0
--
TABLE 6
OBSIDIAN DEBITAGE OPACITY AND FLAKE SIZE FOR WAWONA TESTING ,COLLECTIONS
~0CU1ty~
-1"U/332 -333 ~1 -649 ~ -651 ~ -733
I-' -..J 1..0
> 21UIL <:p:pJ .m-u.. tlW'el1plft\:
lla) llal 0
2 I~I llal 0
2 11~1 0 0
1 I~I 0 0
2 (lOOI) 0 0
1 I 8111) 81m) 3 12!IlII)
1 (1~1 0 0
0 6 (l~1 0
91al 91a, 0
21~' 1 I_, 0
12-20'" <:p:pJ .m-u.a tlW'elUDllllt
33 lal 311 1., 0
20 lal 191a1 1 I a)
61MI 13 162111, 2 110rel
1 I.., 9 1&8111) 0
& 1:l81li1 .2 I?!IIW) 1 I.,
14 (18111) c lal 19 I~
12 IMW) 61la) l( .,
111M' 311 leal 3 I .,
391m) 10& Iml
4 ( 31111
2 (al 1 I.' 0
, .,. 12 II!M <:p:pJ 114 lSI .m-u.a 489 lTaI ~ 15 I 3111
193 1M) 3fllal
13 I a)
aB (1~1 1&0 11.)
1& I ",
16 11"', 71 la, 0
39 (lS.I 185 Iml 15 ( S.I
99 (lIIIQ 3'10 ( &8111) 192 129IIIl
36 1231111 l23 17'.I!II1
1 I lJI)
2& I.' 422 llal 43 I ~I
142 llal 9M Imll
88 ( "')
16 (13111 108 181', 10 I "'I
3-6'" . <:p:pJ
.m-u.a tlW'elUDllllt
116 (1311) . BOt la) 46 1.,
146 (1"'1 11198 101 32 I.)
311 1131111 221 101 21 I II"
291_ 1.181'1
2 I lJI)
62 I~' 411 leQI
16 I 3!Q
156 lla) 837 I6!IIIQ 292 1231111
tr1 11al) 331 18lJ1) 18 I .)
!lO I '" -I'l9IIII1 90 11.,
1!lO I "',19M IIIIIIQ
191 I .,
11 I ~I 142 11"'1
2& (1"
-141
TABLE 7
VISUAL SOURCING RELIABILITY FROM YOSEMITE VALLEY
CD MGM/MC BH 7 TOTAL
Opaque flakes 141 (96%) 4 ( 3%) 1 «1%) 2 ( 1%) 148
CD - Casa Diablo, MGM/MC = Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters, BH = Bodie Hills, ? - unknown
Examination of flake type data helps to support the conclusion that source-specific procurement strategies may vary in the Yosemite area (Table 5). For example, translucent primary and secondary decortication flakes are less abundant than opaque material, while translucent cores were never observed.
The same trends in flake size, type, and translucency were noted in recent results from Wawona (Table 6). The one exception is site CA-MRP-651, in which the percentageof translucent material does not increase with decrease in flake size. As well, the percentage of opaque material remains constant. These data suggest that perhaps flake size does not always dictate the distribution of observed translucency, and that the trends noted in Yosemite Valleyand elsewhere in Wawona may be related to variation in procurement. However, the span of time represented by the deposits at this site has not yet been determined, and the observed distribution may simply be the result of lumping components which reflect distinct obsidian use. In addition, this site differs from the other sites studied in Wawona because of the relative abundance of translucent material.
A comparison of the relative percentage of opaque, semi-translucent, and translucent flakes for sites in specific project areas indicates very different results than those noted through x-ray fluorescence analysis of artifacts -- again indicating possible problems with visual sourcing techniques (see Mundy and Hull 1987). Clearly,the next step is to test the reliability of identification within various size groups with x-ray fluorescence analysis. However, x-ray fluorescence specimen size requirements may preclude the examination of the smallest debitage class.
The application of visual sourcing to hydrationanalysis has focused on the reliability of equating opaque obsidian with the Casa Diablo source. In this case, sourcing was completed to obtaip column samples of Cas a Diablo flakes for hydration and not to determine the relative abundance of various source materials by assigning every piece to a source. The site samples were usually large enough to allow selection of distinctly opaque
180
flakes, while disregarding marginally opaque, thinner flakes.
One hundred and forty-eight opaque flakes from the Yosemite Valley excavation were submitted for x-ray fluorescence analysis (Table 7). Of the total, 141 were of Casa Diablo obsidian while four were Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters, one was Bodie Hills, and two were unidentifiable although probably representing Casa Diablo glass (Jackson 1987). These results indicate a 96 percent reliability in equating "opaque" with Casa Diablo - certainly acceptable error for large hydration samples. In addition, inclusion of secondary characteristics in sorting probably would have excluded the Mono Glass Mountain pieces from the Casa Diablo flakes (see Mundy and Hull 1987).
OBSIDIAN HYDRATION STUDIES
Obsidian hydration studies in Yosemite have focused primarily on the definition of hydration ranges for potentially time-diagnostic projectile points of Casa Diablo glass. For survey and excavation projects, x-ray fluorescence analysis has been employed to assure accurate source identification, while visual sourcing has been used for the monitoring collections.
The 1983 El Portal excavations provided the first data for this database (Figure 3). The primary types examined for this and later study were Desert, Rose Spring/Eastgate, Concave Base, and Elko Series points. In El Portal, Desert Series points of Casa Diablo obsidian had a range of 1.2 to 3.6 microns, Rose Spring/Eastgate points ranged from 1.9 to 5.3 microns, Concave Base points ranged from 3.4 to 5.6 microns, and the single Elko point of Casa Diablo obsidian had a hydration rim of 7.4 microns (Riley 1986).
This contrasted with results from survey and excavation collections from elsewhere in the Park (Figure 4). For these areas, point series generally had more restrictive ranges while exhibiting thinner hydration bands overall (Hull and Mundy 1985:71-75). However, this is not unexpected given the difference in climate and elevation between El Portal and the other areas studied. Temperatures in El Portal often exceed 100 degrees (Fahrenheit) in the summer, while freezing temperatures and winter snowpack are common in the other areas. Desert Series points of Casa Diablo obsidian ranged from 1.4 to 1.9 microns, Rose Spring/Eastgate points ranged from 1.1 to 4.0 microns, Elko points ranged from 2.6 to 5.5 microns, and two Concave Base points both exhibited rims of 2.6 microns. Two additional notes: (1) the Rose Spring point with a 4.0 micron hydration band was highl¥ weathered and was located on an exposed, sandy slope: and (2) a Desert Side-notched point located through monitoring and visually sourced to Casa Diablo returned a hydration value of 4.1 microns this latter piece is weathered and may have cortex on the
181
DESERT SIDE-NotCHI cOttONWOOD
ROSE SPRING/EASTGATE
CQNCAVE BASE
ELICO
• I>
• • •
I> • •
• • •••• t
I> I>
• L!'_________________,
• • I>....
I> • •
o 1 2 3 " 5 6 '1 a
HYDRATION (MICRONS) Sources·
.Caaa Diablo I>Bodie H11la oMt. Hicks .Mono Glaaa Mt./Mono Cratera .Unknown
FIGURE 3. Obsidian hydration data for selected projectile point series from El Portal.
DESERT SIDE-NOTCRI COTTORWOOD
ROSE SPRINCV EASTGATE
CONCAVE BASE
ELICO
.. I
I
I r T
••• •• • I • L
, •
I ~__ ~_'~_g________!_9 t ,
• I
4 ~__~~~____~~_____t • ~--.t--..·2.-...~.· • t •I -.----••-.- •••__._....
I I
P I I I T
4
I
~ I
••I I I I, I 4
I I
A I A
• • •• • • •• I I I I I I
o 1 2 3 15 6" HYDRATION (MICRONS)
Sources;.C••• D1.blo 4B041. RUle aMt. H1ck. -Mono 01••• Mt./Mono Cr.t.r. • Unknown
FIGURE 4. Obsidian hydration data for selected projectile point series from the South Entrance/Mariposa Grove, Glacier Point Road, and Tioga Road surveys and test excavations in Yosemite Valley.
TABLE 8
COMPARISON OF POINT SERIES HYDRATION RANGES FOR LONG VALLEY AND YOSEMITE
RANGE MEAN • STANDARD DEVIATION POINT SERIES LONG VALLEY YOSEMITE LONG VALLEY YOSEMITE
o.e.rt/Cottonwood 1.2 - 2.7 1.4 - 1.9 1.88 0.4 1. liS 0.2
Roe. Spr1ng/Eaetgat. 1.8 - 4.2 1.1 - 3.7 3.21 0.8 2.60 0.9
Elko 2.9 - &.8 2.6 - 15.15 4.18 0.7 3.84 1.1
surface examined (Brian Wickstrom, personal commmunication 1987).
These second hydration results are very comparable to findinqs in Lonq Valley (Table 8). Examination of ranqes for Desert, Rose Sprinq/Eastqate, and Elko series points are very similar to those noted by Jackson (1984) east of the Park, althouqh the Yosemite data indicate sliqhtly slower hydration in each type. As more material is collected and sourced, similar analyses with projectile points of Bodie Hills, Mt. Hicks, and Mono Glass Mountain/Mono Craters qlass will be conducted.
Finally, the temporal sensitivity of certain pointstyles is beinq explored, particularly focusinq on Concave Base, Bipoint, Sierra Side-notched, Pinto, and ContractinqStem types defined by Moratto (1972). Hydration data may also help to clarify point typoloqy, particularly in distinquishinq larqe Rose sprinq Corner-notched points from small Elko Corner-notched points. As the data in Fiqures 3 .and 4 suqqest, there may be some confusion in typinq such projectile points.
, '
184
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Obsidians. In Obsidian Studies in the Great Basin, edited by Richard E. Huqhes, contributions of the University of California Archaeological Research Facility45:63-78. Berkeley.
Carpenter, Scott L. and Laura A. Kirn 1987 Underwater But Not All wet: Archaeoloqical Survey
of Yosemite's Lake Eleanor Reservoir. Paper presented at the Twenty-first Annual Meetinq of the Society for California Archaeoloqy, Fresno.
Ervin, Richard G. 1984 Test Excavations in the Wawona valley: Report of
the 1983 and 1984 Wawona Archeological Projects.Yosemite National Park. California. PUblications in Anthropoloqy No. 26, USDI National Park Service, western Archeoloqical and conservation Center, TUcson.
Huqhes, Richard E. 1983 Letter report reqardinq the x-ray fluorescence
sourcinq of obsidian from the 1981 Wawona TestinqProject, dated 6/21/83. On file, USDI National Park Service, western Archeoloqical and Conservation Center, TUcson.
1984 X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Obsidian. In Test Excavations in the Wawona Valley: Report of the 1983 and 1984 Wawona Archeological Projects. YOSemite National Park. California. by Richard G. Ervin, pp. 319-324. Publications in Anthropoloqy No. 26, USDI National Park service, western Archeoloqical and conservation Center, Tucson.
Hull, Kathleen L., and W. Joseph Mundy1985 The 1984 Yosemite Archeological Surveys, vol. 1.
PUblications in Anthropoloqy No.1, USDI National Park service, Yosemite Research Center, Yosemite National Park.
Jackson, R. J. 1984 Obsidian Hydration: Applications in the Western
Great Basin. In Obsidian Studies in the Great Basin, edited by Richard E. Huqhes, contributions of the university of California Archaeological Research Facility45:173-192. Berkeley.
185
Jackson, Thomas L. 1985 X-ray Fluorescence Source Determination of Obsidian
Artifacts from Miscellaneous Sites in Yosemite National Park, California. In The 1984 Yosemite ArcheologicalSurveys by Kathleen L. Hull and W. Joseph Mundy, pp. 131-142. Publications in Anthropology No.1, USDI National Park service, Yosemite Research Center, Yosemite National Park.
1986 Report of X-ray Fluorescence Analyses of Artifactua1 Obsidians from CA-MRP-6 and CA-MRP-382, Yosemite National Park. In Archeological Investi gations in the Merced River Canyon: Report of the 1983 E1 Portal Archeological Project by Lynn M. Riley. Draft, USDI National Park service, Yosemite Research Center, Yosemite National Park.
1987 X-ray Fluorescence Source Determination of Artifacts from CA-MRP-158, CA-MRP-163, CA-MRP-196, CA-MRP-300, CA- MRP-305, CA-MRP-308, and CA-MRP-314, Yosemite National Park, California. In The 1984 and 1985 Yosemite Valley Archeological Testing Projects by W. Joseph Mundy and Kathleen L. Hull. Draft, USDI National Park Service, Yosemite Research Center, Yosemite National Park.
Jackson, Thomas L., and Stephen A. Dietz 1984 Archaeological Data Recovery Excavations at
CA-FBE-798 and CA-FRE-805, Siphon Substation 33kV Distribution Line and Balsam Meadow Hydroelectric Project. Archaeological Consulting and Research Services, Inc. Submitted to Southern California Edison Company, Rosemead, California.
Moratto, Michael J. 1972 A Study of Prehistory in the Southern Sierra Nevada
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