[With apologies for the occasional self-aggrandizement] In Massachusetts, where it is quite hard to find a single arrowhead, you learn the value of patience and of putting in the hours. It is not just about being persistent but about being thorough and systematic, and being prepared to fail all day. So, after two years visiting the Las Vegas area, first poking around in one place and, next, driving all over the countryside trying to find the "perfect" place; this year I decided to put in the hours, and focus exclusively on the original spot. I am a lucky Dad, to have a son interested in the same thing, so my son Joe and I went out together. I told him it was going to be epic. I had two goals: to find something arrowhead-like that was not broken; and to learn something - anything - about the place itself.
First, a little context about Nevada lake-shore archaeology:
Here is something I tend to rant about when I get drunk:
Everywhere there is land in relation to water there is a different opportunity for there to have been a particular people and culture that lived on that land and prospered in that relation to water, at some particular time in the past.
So, if you want to switch to exploring a different culture, just switch to a different kind of land-water relationship. In southern Nevada, the water used to fill the valleys with what are called "glacial lakes" - say around 30K years ago. Over time, it dried out. So by around 15K years ago the lakes had shrunk down to the lowest levels, with vast surrounding marshes. This was a lush "Pleistocene" environment, as per the panoramas with mammoths, camels, sloths, and fierce predators. In terms of the above edict, this means the further away from today's lowest levels (the white hard-pan alkali flats of vestigial lake bottom) the further back in time are the cultures that lived there. You want to find recent archaeology? Go to the edges of the Colorado River, or over to the Virgin River. Want to find delicate lithic flakes, go down to the edges of the 'flats'. But the further away from the 'flats' you go, the further back in time. I'll come back to this point in a moment.
Southern Nevada is understood, in conventional archaeology, as being at the intersection of three distinct archaeological traditions: The Great Basin long-stemmed tradition (the West's answer to the East's Clovis culture) to the north. The Mojave Desert tradition to west; and the Hokokam tradition to the east. These traditions are believed to reach back 12-15K years - with the Great Basin tradition being the oldest. All I can say is that there were at least two older cultures in that area that have not yet gotten noticed by conventional archaeologists - you just have to look further from the water.
Day 1 - Around my little hill
You drive north out of Las Vegas on Rt 93 and there is interesting desert on either side. You pass the big solar power arrays and enter Hidden Valley on the way to the Coyote Springs golf course. The only people who go up there are golfers. By contrast we explored the desert and some of the washes on the way. You see a little hill on the left which, it turns out is a prehistoric Jasper quarry. After about 1/2 mile on a badly rutted dirt road and we are there!See that black material on the ground? It is broken pieces of Jasper, mixed with every possible kind of stone tool. Surely there is blade in there somewhere - just a matter of putting in the hours.
Well, we did. First we circled the hill. Then we walked north for 1/2 mile, walking slowing. Coming back to where the car was parked at around 10AM we had a little snack. Then headed west for about 1/2 mile and then returned to the car - again circling the hill along the way. Had a quick lunch, and decided to head northeast for about 1/4 mile. That was the direction in which I was the most optimistic.
In the past I found two broken blades about 1/2 way between the hill and the higher mountains. I started to assume this was the correct distance above the old glacial lake bottom. This is an important assumption and it payed off -finally!- when I found my first complete and unbroken blade.This was the only significant find for the day. A few minutes later I found another broken base. And I found a pretty amazing mono-facial, prepared core, butterfly crescent. I'll discuss that later. At this point, my son was still ready to keep at it a bit longer. But, other than some examples of "backed knives" [they are called that in France but we called them "prismatic scrapers"] (see here) we had not found anything noteworthy. Headed back to the hotel for a burger and a night's rest. We spent part of the evening looking at wepages about similar items found in France.
Day 2 - The lakeshore and wash south of Coyote Springs
Hidden Valley is a small, self-contained, glacial lake bottom. It sits at a low point, without an exit. So there is no erosion. However, in a slightly different drainage to the north, due to the configuration of elevations around Coyote Spring, the drainage joins Pahranagat Wash, and lies below today's vestigial lake shore - so there are places where erosion has cut down through the original lake shore. This creates a different relation between land and water. According to "edict" above, it represents an opportunity for a much more recent archaeology.
See how the white "lake bottom" is chopped up by erosion, as the water flow turns a corner (top of the image), headed downhill, and enters the upper reaches of Arrow Canyon? Here is what that landscape looks like, up close: We spent about an hour here and Joe, paying too much attention to details, spotted a couple of little bits of worked chert. All I saw was a small owl that was resting under a bush. Otherwise we didn't not see much and decided to go have a little hike where Pahranagat wash enters and becomes "Double Canyon" and then "Arrow Canyon". Much closer now to an actual flowing river, we found bits of gray pottery and more Jasper deposits. A beautiful place with no lithic debris:After a short hike, we went back to the car and drove over to the golf course for a hot meal. We decided to finish the day by continuing to explore the glacial wash where we started the day. Joe was trying hard but still with no significant success. I was a bit tired and poked around a little while waiting for him to give up and get to the car. I took a little stroll, and didn't want to tell him I found something cool - a broken "Pinto" made of plum-red carnelian. Imaging walking for hours, looking at gray gravel, and suddenly seeing this bit of color? The tip was missing. When I told him, he insisted we go back to the same exact spot, so he could look around more carefully. Sure enough he found the broken base of a little side-notched obsidian point. I don't know the point types well enough to guess the proper name for such a point. Taken together this an interesting little collection for the day:I believe that arrowhead on the right, made from fossiliferous chert, is a Haskett Point, perhaps 13K years old. The carnelian Pinto is less than 5K years old, and the obsidian point is even more recent.
More important than these individual finds is that we qualified this place as a place worth putting in the hours. This is where you look for arrowheads in southern Nevada.
The material from around my little hill is considerably further from the water. I.E. significantly older.
Day 3 - A day of rest - a vacation from the vacation
There is a YouTube video of a guy hunting fossils on the slope between Mount Frenchman and the Colorado River, where he casually mentions finding an arrowhead. So Joe and I decided to take a day away from Hidden Valley and explore over there. It was no fun, so instead we strolled down to the Colorado River - where we had a pleasant chat about birdwatching, with someone from the Henderson Audubon Society.
I was feeling a little bad that Joe had not found anything yet.
Day 4 - Another Jasper quarry at the edge of Hidden Valley, north of the little hill.
We agreed to spend the last day (Joe was flying home at midnight) at another Jasper quarry. Joe said: "I am going to find something". So we drove in (west) from Rt 93, along a different dirt road. Here is where my choice of parking places was important. I tried to pick an elevation similar to the "zone" where I found blades - about 4/5 of the way up the slope ("Bajada") from the bottom to the mountains' edge.
I parked, and two minutes later, Joe found two broken blade. I want to study that big broken one. Because that is a broken "bi-point", the American Solutrean. At this stage we had enough examples of broken bases to note: the shapes range from pointed to rounded.
It wasn't good enough for Joe, and he headed off to explore a different little hill. [These "hills" are Jasper outcrops. They are places where good quality stone is available at ground level - without a person needing to climb 300 feet up a cliff to get to a nice outcrop.] I was tired (and getting sick, actually) so Joe was on his own, while I stayed closer to the car. I got a text from him: "It is pretty good over here". I texted back: "Did you find something?". He replied "yes". I asked about the shape and he replied "teardrop". Here is his video:
Here are all the blades and blade fragments from the hunt:
Time to tell someone "official" about these places. I am hoping to engage the Moapa (Southern Paiutes) in a curatorial role - since it is really their homeland.
***
Summary:
I could get in trouble. The question asked is: What if everyone picked up stone tools? There are several very simple answers: Everyone would not and could not. What kind of passion and devotion does it take for anyone to succeed? It took me three years to learn where to focus. It took my son 4 days to find what he found. Today, these sites are used as gun ranges for enthusiasts. There were bullet casing of all types; crash dummies; beer cans; mattresses with stuffing spilling out; empty plastic water bottles; you name it. We collected stone tools at a dump - with the goal of rescuing the place. I am not done with trying to reveal this place.
Our first goal was to find some nice things. I think we did. The second was to learn something about the place. Here are my conclusions:
(1) There is a source for carnelian, somewhere around there. Previously I found a broken carnelian blade.
(2) The good "Solutrean" items are from 4/5 of the way from the lake bottom, up the slope ("Bajada") to the edge of the mountains.
(3) There are clear signs of 2, maybe 3, distinct cultures from long before the Haskett time frame (13K years ago). The oldest, that used prepared core flaking technology and maybe used heat treatment - is associated to "Chattel-Peronian" Neanderthals in France (see here from a previous year). The bi-point are associated with Solutrean bi-points - either from France or the Pacific northwest. Then, the pointed bases seem to become more rounded, and possibly become a later stage tool design. No such blades have been reported [in my narrow awareness of scholarship] from this part of the world.
So there you have it. Open air archaeological sites, with tool types matching those from the European upper paleolithic - going back to about 30K years ago. Hiding underneath the trash of modern society.
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