Mojave Desert Landscapes: Current Research at the Stump Springs Site in the Pahrump Valley

Dr. Barbara Roth, Kara Jones, and Melina Luu from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas discuss their research for the Anthropology Department's Proseminar Lecture Series, spring 2023.
"Stump Springs (26CK301/4169) is a prehistoric site with an historic component located in the Pahrump Valley of southern Nevada. In the spring of 2022, we did mapping and surface artifact analysis at the site to explore its role in prehistoric land use in the region and forager responses to the changing Holocene climate. Our investigations focused on an extensive fire-cracked rock scatter with intact thermal features, ground stone, and lithics. In this presentation, we report on our initial findings. We discovered that Stump Springs was used from at least the Middle Archaic (ca 4000 BP) through the Late Prehistoric (ca AD 1200-contact) periods and it appears that the site was used for similar purposes through time. We discuss the implications that our results have for understanding foraging adaptations in the Mojave Desert."