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Bodie Hills research, but also further substantiate that a statistically significant number of sites cluster around the hydrologic features. CONCLUSIONS Together, the archaeological, paleo<strong>environment</strong>al, <strong>and</strong> modern <strong>environment</strong>al analyses provide strong evidence for the perSistence of the Plateau as an important habitat for hunter-gatherers. They indicate that the water resources, <strong>and</strong> the flora <strong>and</strong> fauna dependent upon their existence, were seasonally available. These features of the Plateau's effective <strong>environment</strong> provided the main incentive <strong>and</strong> attraction for recurrent hunter-gatherer use of this upl<strong>and</strong> habitat. During periods of climatic stress, persistent micro-habitats would have provided an altemative for hunter-gatherers to cope with unproductive <strong>and</strong> unreliable resources in other areas. It can be predicted that the relatively highaltitude (2,460 m) Plateau provided such an altemative. In conclusion, it can be suggested that the dearth of evidence for early Archaic human habitation in the Great Basin may be a result of archaeological investigations which have focused, generally, on highly unstable habitats easily influenced by climatic change, such as marshes <strong>and</strong> lake basins located in lowl<strong>and</strong> habitats. Perhaps a change of focus to <strong>environment</strong>s such as the Dry Lakes Plateau will serve to address questions concerning Great Basin human response to periods of extreme dimatic stress, <strong>and</strong> could provide more conclusive evidence of human activities during these periods. More resilient resource bases, such as the Plateau, would have been particularly important to humans during periods of <strong>environment</strong>al pressure. We can predict that such habitats offered a reliable <strong>and</strong> stable option for hunter-gatherers who were compelled to cope with <strong>and</strong> adapt to the variable <strong>and</strong> often extreme· <strong>environment</strong>s within the Great Basin. REFERENCES CITED CronqUist, Arthur, Arthur H. Holmgren, Noel H. Holmgren, <strong>and</strong> James L. Reveal 1972 Intermountain Flora, Vascular Plants of the Intermountain West, U.S.A. Volume 1. Hafner Publishing Company, Inc., New York <strong>and</strong> London. Elston, Robert G. 1982 Good Times, Hard Times: Prehistoric Culture Change In The Western Great Basin. In Man <strong>and</strong> Environment in the Great Basin, edited by David B. Madsen <strong>and</strong> James F. O'Connell, pp. 186-206. SM Papers No.2. Society of American Archaeology, Washington, D.C. Halford, F. Kirk 1998 Archaeology <strong>and</strong> Environment on the Dry Lakes Plateau, Bodie Hills, Califomia: Hunter Gatherer Coping Strategies for Holocene Environmental Variability. M.A. Thesis, University of Nevada, Reno. Hall, Matthew 1980 Surface Archaeology of the Bodie Hills Geothermal Area, Mono County, Califomia. United States Department of the Interior, Bureau of L<strong>and</strong> Management, Bakersfield District. Kobori, Larry S., Colin I. Busby, James C. Bard, <strong>and</strong> John M. Findlay 1980 A Class II Cultural Resources Inventory of the Bureau of L<strong>and</strong> Management's Bodie <strong>and</strong> Colville Planning Units, Califomia. Basin Research Associates, Inc. For the U.S. Department of Interior, Bureau of L<strong>and</strong> Management, Bakersfield District Office. Major, Jack 1977 Califomia climate in relation to vegetation. In Terrestrial Vegetation of california, edited by Michael G. Barbour <strong>and</strong> Jack Major, pp.11-74. John Wiley <strong>and</strong> Sons, New York. 157
Meltzer, David J. 1995 Modeling The Prehistoric Response To Altithermal Climates On The Southern High Plains. In Ancient Peoples <strong>and</strong> L<strong>and</strong>scapes, edited by Eileen Johnson, pp. 349-368. Museum of Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas. Messick, Tim C. 1982 Flora <strong>and</strong> Phytogeography of the Bodie Hills of Mono County, California <strong>and</strong> Mineral County, Nevada, USA. MA Thesis: Humboldt State University. Nowak, Cheryl L., Robert S. Nowak, Robin J. Tausch <strong>and</strong> Peter E. Wig<strong>and</strong> 1994 Tree And Shrub Dynamics In Northwestern Great Basin Woodl<strong>and</strong> And Shrub Steppe During The Late-Pleistocene And Holocene. American Journal of Botany 81 (3):265-277. Origer, Tom M. 1997 Obsidian Hydration Report: File Number 97-H1626. Sonoma State University Obsidian Hydration Laboratory. Rohnert Park, California. Rusco, Mary 1991 A Class II Cultural Resource Inventory for the Bodie Project: Prehistoric Resources. Western Cultural Resource Management. Inc. Prepared for Bodie Consolidated Company, Bridgeport, California. Skinner, Craig E., <strong>and</strong> M. Kathleen Davis 1996 X-Ray Fluorescence Analysis of Artifact Obsidian from the Dry Lakes Plateau, Mono County, California. Northwest Research Obsidian Studies Laboratory Report 96-28. Weide, David L. 1976 The Altithermal As An Archaeological "Non-Problem". In The Great Basin, edited by Robert Elston, pp. 174-184. Holocene Environmental Change in the Great Basin, Nevada Archeological Survey, Research Paper NO.6. Reno. Wharton, R.A., P.E. Wig<strong>and</strong>, M.R. Rose, R.L. Reinhardt, DA Mouat, H.E. Klieforth, N.L. Ingraham, J.O. Davis, C.A. Fox, <strong>and</strong> J.T. Ball 1990 The North American Great Basin: A sensitive Indicator of Climatic Change. In Plant Biology of the Basin <strong>and</strong> Range, edited by C.B. Osmond, L.F. Pielka, <strong>and</strong> G.M. Hidy, pp. 323-360. Springer Verlag, New York. 158
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