Getting Beyond the Point: Textiles of the Terminal Pleistocene/Early Holocene in the Northwestern Great Basin

Abstract

Although the Great Basin of North America has produced some of the most robust and ancient fiber artifact assemblages in the world, many were recovered with poor chronological controls. Consequently, this class of artifacts has seldom been effectively incorporated into general discussions of early chronological and cultural patterns. In recent years, the Great Basin Textile Dating Project has accumulated direct AMS dates on textiles (bags, sandals, mats, cordage, and basketry) from dry caves in the Great Basin, particularly in the northern and western areas. We focus here on the terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene, to identify chronological patterns in this class of artifacts and to evaluate Adovasio’s characterization of the region’s earliest basketry as simple and undecorated. New AMS dates now suggest that the region’s earliest people had sophisticated textile traditions that incorporated numerous decorative elaborations. Some distinctive structures, including Fort Rock sandals and weft-faced plaited textiles, have limited early temporal ranges and may serve as diagnostic indicators for terminal Pleistocene/early Holocene times. Other basketry forms and structures that appear by about 9000 cal B.P. persist into the historic period, suggesting a stronger thread of continuity (especially in the north) from this time than is apparent in lithic traditions

A Collection of Fiber Sandals From Last Supper Cave, Nevada, and Its Implications for Cave and Rockshelter Abandonment During the Middle Holocene

“…Cressman (1942) defined two other sandal types found at sites in the northern Great Basin: Multiple Warp and Spiral Weft (see also Barker 2009; Connolly 1994; Connolly and Barker 2004). Multiple Warp sandals possess the following attributes: (1) a close- or open-twined sole comprised of 8–14 warps (although more have been observed, it is always an even number) constructed from the heel to the toe; (2) at the heel, the warps are arranged in a series of stacked arcs, rather than flat like Fort Rock warps, to form a heel pocket; (3) at the toe, warps are shredded and pulled back over the foot to form an open-twined toe flap; and (4) a tie system consisting of bindings, made from weft elements spun into cordage and looped back into the sole, and a skein of warp cord spun into cordage at the toe and used to bind the weft loops along the sole (Figure 1).…”

“…Location of Last Supper Cave and the distributions of the Fort Rock, Multiple Warp, and Spiral Weft sandal types (redrawn from Connolly and Barker 2004:248).…”

“…9400 cal B.P. and were constructed until ethnographic times (Connolly and Barker 2004:248). Existing radiocarbon dates on Multiple Warp sandals display a bimodal distribution with an earlier period ca.…”

“…3400 cal B.P. to Euro-American contact (Connolly and Barker 2004:248). Multiple Warp sandals seem to remain unchanged across this 4,000-year gap, although that may be due to “an overly inclusive type definition” (Connolly and Barker 2004:248).…”

“…The Great Basin's caves and rockshelters afford excellent preservation of perishable artifacts such as baskets, mats, and sandals (Fowler and Hattori 2008). Perishable artifacts can reveal clues about prehistoric technology, style, and, potentially, ethnicity rarely preserved in open-air sites (Adovasio 1986; Connolly and Barker 2004; Fowler 1994). Additionally, perishable artifacts can be directly dated, which may help elucidate when caves and rockshelters were occupied, even when those sites are plagued by stratigraphic mixing or illegal excavations.…”