Idaho National Laboratory Cultural Resource Management Plan

However, artifacts that often have stylistic elements with no functional value (e.g., beads, basketry, hafted
knives, and footgear) reflect cultural relationships and should be maintained.
Data Requirements: Any undisturbed site containing buried Middle Archaic assemblages.
Especially important sites would be those that have remained dry since occupation, such as caves, so that
perishable artifacts are preserved.
Research Topic: Late Archaic Occupations. The pattern established during the Middle Archaic
continues during the Late Archaic, although the predominant point style changes from the
stemmed-indented base to the large corner-notched points. A vast area of shared technology is suggested
by this pattern. Movement of people, diffusion, or a combination of the two probably accounts for this. Of
importance is that the eastern Great Basin continued to be excluded and changes that occurred there are
obviously independent of those in the central and northern Great Basin, upper Snake River Basin, and
northern plains.
Research Question—Are the artifact assemblages common during the Middle Archaic maintained
into the Late Archaic?
As previously discussed, if artifacts with distinctive stylistic elements continue to be made during the
Late Archaic, the argument for population stability is supported. The explanation for the shift in spear
point style would then need to be based on something other than population replacement.
Data Requirements: Sites with buried Late Archaic deposits, especially in a dry cave where
perishables would survive.
Research Topic: Late Prehistoric Occupations. The recent literature discussing the late
prehistoric in southern Idaho is filled with references to Fremont occupants. The Fremont occupants were
semi-sedentary groups in the eastern Great Basin that subsisted on a mixed economy of horticulture and
hunting-gathering. That lifeway was never practiced in the upper Snake River Basin; therefore, by a strict
definition, the Fremont did not occupy this area. It is clear from the archaeological record, however, that
the Fremont did interact with the occupants of the upper Snake River Basin; it is the nature of the
interaction that is open for debate. At the same time, the northern plains seem to indicate a separate
trajectory of development that occasionally intrudes into the upper Snake River Basin. Therefore, any late
prehistoric site containing preserved information should be considered significant.
Research Question—Do late prehistoric sites exhibit artifact assemblages similar to Fremont?
There are several characteristic styles of artifacts associated with Fremont sites in Utah that
occasionally occur in Late Archaic sites in the upper Snake River Basin. Because of the paucity of
excavated sites, we do not know if this is an underlying pattern for the entire time period that suggests
Fremont occupants, or, if in only a few sites, some Fremont styles were introduced by trade or limited
incursions into the area by Fremont people.
Date Requirements: Any late prehistoric site containing buried deposits, especially in a dry cave
where perishables would be preserved.
Research Question—Do any late prehistoric sites contain artifact assemblages similar to the
Avonlea of the northern plains?
The introduction of the Avonlea point in the northern plains marks a diversion from the consistency
over a large area during the Middle and Late Archaic. The Avonlea point occurs in the upper Snake River
Basin, and its relationship to the contemporary Rose Spring Corner-Notched and Desert Side-Notched
points is unknown.
Data Requirements: Any site with Avonlea points, especially with buried deposits.
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