A Possible Ritual Cache of Great Basin Stemmed Bifaces from the Terminal Pleistocene—Early Holocene Occupation of Nw Nevada, USA

Abstract

Recently, an assemblage of 19 obsidian tools has come to light following the death of their original collector. This collection apparently resultedfrom his excavations in an unknown cave in 1974 and may have been found buried together as a cache and ritual offering. These unusually large tools correspond to the Parman variety of the Great Basin Stemmed cluster, which is associated with the terminal Pleistocene-early Holocene occupation of the Great Basin region of North America. The assemblage contains six Parman projectile points, four stemmed bifacial preforms, five bipointed preforms, two ovoid bifacial blanks, one small triangular biface, and a thick scraper. Trace element studies of these materials suggest origins from five different obsidian sources near the High Rock country of NW Nevada. Comparison of this collection with Paleoindian biface caches from outside the Great Basin suggests some interesting parallels that may imply shared cultural behaviors between these groups.

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