SETTLEMENT, RAW-MATERIAL, AND LITHIC PROCUREMENT IN THE CENTRAL MOJAVE DESERT

This paper explores the prehistoric use of two quarries in the central Mojave Desert. Technological analysis and cation-ratio dating of refitted core/flake sequences indicate that patterns of raw material selection, reduction strategies, and the range of objects produced at and removed from the sites remained essentially constant over time despite major changes in human mobility and settlement organization. Changes are evident in the rates at which the sites were exploited, the degree of reduction carried out at one site over time, and the kinds of products emphasized at one of the sites during one period. These results indicate that human use of these sites was conditioned by a range of factors, in addition to mobility strategies, including regional patterns of raw material quality and abundance and quarry location. © 1990.