The Kammidɨkadɨ of Little Steamboat Point-1 Rockshelter: Terminal Early Holocene and Early Late Holocene Leporid Processing in Northern Warner Valley, Oregon

Abstract

The terminal Early Holocene was a time of climatic upheaval in the Great Basin. Archaeofauna from this period are dominated by small game. Many Great Basin sites were abandoned during the Middle Holocene as aridity intensified and human populations focused their settlement systems around remaining sources of water. Following the Middle Holocene, human populations appear to have expanded as conditions improved during the Late Holocene, with many sites being reoccupied after hiatuses. At the Little Steamboat Point-1 Rockshelter, a stratified site containing terminal Early Holocene and Late Holocene deposits in southern Oregon, an extensive archaeofaunal assemblage has been recovered. The assemblage is composed primarily of leporids, the majority of which are jackrabbits (Lepus spp.). The taphonomic analysis presented here strongly suggests that the archaeofauna were deposited by human agents and that the faunal assemblage may represent seasonal usage of the site primarily to hunt leporids.