Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Award: Underwater Remote Sensing of Walker Lake, Nevada

Texas A&M University, College Station TX

Investigators

Abstract

Neil Puckett and Dr. Kelly Graf of Texas A&M University will investigate how prehistoric peoples used and adapted to lake environments in the Great Basin during rapidly changing environmental conditions. Previous research in the region indicates an early relationship between people and lakes, but as lakes receded over the past 14,000 years, Great Basin inhabitants gradually shifted away from lake and wetland environments as they responded to lake fluctuations. Archaeological research is essential for understanding how humans adapted to shifts in the environment. Unfortunately, except in caves and rockshelters, erosion and minimal sediment accumulation in the Great Basin result in surface archaeological sites with little information about their age or associated environment. However, it is open air sites, not caves and rockshelters, that have the greatest potential to inform on lake use and landscape adaptations. Buried sites underneath lakes are ideal for answering questions about open air environments, lake use, and chronology. How do people respond to changing environments, and how quick are these responses? Similarly, how well preserved and buried are sites in and around lakes that have undergone rapid transformation? Sites surrounding dry lake basins across the Great Basin reflect the importance of lakes to human populations and their value for understanding how humans adapted to climate change. Similarly, humans have been subject to rapid and dramatic climate change throughout their history, and water is an essential resource that strongly reflects climactic events. Broad and thorough research of such environments will provide useful data and analogies for managing important natural resources in the United States today. The project will also provide insight into a poorly known aspect of United States prehistory. Assessing the state of underwater preservation will also help government agencies properly manage historical resources during sudden water level changes such as those observed before and after the droughts in Texas and California over the last 10 years. Mr. Puckett and Dr. Graf will explore submerged, buried landscapes in the Great Basin to identify preserved sites occupied during low lake levels. Research will be used to understand past environments, human lake use, landscape adaptations, and chronology by recovering sediment samples, preserved organic materials, and archaeological artifacts. The project will be conducted in Walker Lake, NV, a natural perennial lake located at the western margin of the Great Basin. The lake has undergone repeated, rapid lake level rise and fall events, making it an ideal location to investigate changing environments. Past lake low-stands allow for the burial of archaeological sites underwater and increase chances for the preservation of artifacts and datable organic materials. Underwater test excavation locations will be placed based on data from sub-bottom sediment surveys. Recovery of artifacts, sediment cores, and organic material will allow for spatial, temporal, and environmental analyses, determining how prehistoric peoples used the environment and adapted to extensive shifts in local water resources during the last 14,000 years. These data will allow researchers to better understand human responses to both past and modern environmental change.