Prehistory of the Carson Desert and Stillwater Mountains, Nevada: Environment, Mobility and Subsistence in a Great Basin Wetland

Kelly (anthropology, U. of Wyoming) draws on a 1980-81 archaeological survey and 1987 excavations to examine the prehistoric use of the Stillwater Marsh in the Carson Desert of western Nevada, and the adjacent Stillwater Mountains, where water trapped in the Great Basin forms lakes and marshes. Such use has long been a controversy pivoting on whether the area was home to sedentary hunter-gatherers, was just one stop of a family's seasonal round, or was used only as backup resources. Therefore, he focuses on the issues of hunter-gatherer subsistence and mobility.