Research in the GBA Lab focuses on learning from fieldwork carried out by the UO-UNR Archaeology Field School throughout the Northern Great Basin. We are currently working on a variety of projects related to the Connley Caves in central Oregon. Below are some examples of our ongoing work.
13,000 Years of History and Ecology at the Connley Caves, Oregon
Connley Caves is situated in central Oregon within the homelands of the Klamath, Northern Paiute, and Modoc peoples whose ancestors visited the shelters for nearly 13,000 years. Our research there focuses on human adaptation, ingenuity, and environmental interactions through high-precision excavations and interdisciplinary approaches.
We also collaborate on myriad projects including an NSF-funded study of micromammals to understand paleoenvironment led by Rebecca Terry (Oregon State University) and Meaghan Wetherell (University of Arizona), starch analysis of ground stone tools by Stefania Wilks (University of Utah), faunal analysis by Miranda Harding (University of Utah), geoarchaeology by Justin Holcomb (University of Kansas), faunal analysis by Bryan Hockett (BLM, retired) and lithic analyses by Richard Rosencrance (University of Nevada, Reno [UNR]), Shelby Saper (UNR), and Tyler Zawacki (UO).
Indigenous Foodways in the Pleistocene
Botanicals from hearths (McDonough et al. 2022).
Understanding how Indigenous communities interacted with plants during the Pleistocene is fundamental to addressing questions about long-term ecological relationships, dietary practices, and adaptive strategies. Plant use in the Pleistocene has not been a primary topic in North American archaeology, due in part to the sparse material evidence. Our work at the Connley Caves is contributing new perspectives on people-plant relationships. For example, our study in Cave 5 found charred seeds going back ~12,000 years ago, adding to the growing record of diverse plant use in the Pleistocene. You can read that paper here.
Western Stemmed Tradition Technologies and Lifeways
Want to learn more about stemmed and fluted technologies? Check out this new edited volume.
The Western Stemmed Tradition (WST) refers to a variety of stemmed projectile points and associated tools found in late Pleistocene and early Holocene contexts (>9,500 years ago) across western North American. Recent work at Cooper’s Ferry in Idaho shows that people were making stemmed points as much 16,000 years ago, millennia before other early tool technologies like Clovis points came into use. Stemmed points at the Paisley Caves in Oregon go back ~13,o00 years ago, and studies throughout the west indicate a major fluorescence in stemmed technology beginning around that time and ending ~9000 years ago. Much remains to be learned about the everyday lives of the people who made and used WST points. Our work at the Connley Caves is contributing to those questions with a focus on technological organization, cold adaptations, subsistence practices, social connections, and more. Richie Rosencrance is focusing onWST technological studies at the Connley Caves as part of his dissertation research.
Micromorphology and Site Formation Processes
Dirt under the microscope! The arrows indicate microstructures that tell us about past environments.
Geoarchaeology–the application of Earth sciences to archaeology–is critical for understanding site formation processes. Sediments and soils (which are not the same thing) tell a story about how stratigraphy formed and hold important clues about past environments, human activities, and more. Led by Dr. Justin Holcomb (Kansas Geological Survey), geoarchaeological work at the Connley Caves takes both macro- and microscopic approaches. Through micromorphology, Justin and colleagues found microscopic evidence of frost action during the Younger Dryas (a global cold snap between 12,900 and 11,700 years ago) suggesting periglacial environmental conditions. Read that paper here.