The Great Basin

PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

PART ONE The Great Basins

1. Discovering a Great Basin
Chapter Notes

2. Modern Definitions of the Great Basin
The Hydrographic Great Basin
The Physiographic Great Basin
The Floristic Great Basin
The Ethnographic Great Basin
Choosing a Great Basin
Chapter Notes

PART TWO Some Ice Age Background

3. Glaciers, Sea Levels, and the Peopling of the Americas
The Bering Land Bridge and the Human Arrival
Identifying the Earliest American Archaeology
The Earliest American Archaeology
Chapter Notes

4. The End of the North American Pleistocene: Extinct Mammals and Early Peoples
The Mammals / 67
A Note on Eurasian Extinctions
Back to North America
What Caused the Extinctions?
Chapter Notes

PART THREE The Late Ice Age Great Basin

5. The Late Pleistocene Physical Environment: Lakes and Glaciers
Modern Great Basin Lakes
Pleistocene Lakes in the Great Basin
Great Basin Glaciers
The Relationship between Pleistocene Glaciers and Lakes in the Great Basin
Pluvial Lakes, Glaciers, and Late Pleistocene Climates
Chapter Notes

6. Late Pleistocene Vegetation of the Great Basin
Learning about Ancient Vegetation
Five Regional Pictures
A General Look at Late Pleistocene Great Basin Vegetation
Great Basin Conifers in Deeper Historical Perspective
Chapter Notes

7. Late Pleistocene Vertebrates of the Great Basin
The Extinct Late Pleistocene Mammals of the Great Basin
Extinct Late Pleistocene Birds
Altered Late Pleistocene Distributions of Existing Great Basin Mammals
Why Are There Fishes in Devils Hole, but None in the Great Salt Lake?
Other Vertebrates
Chapter Notes

PART FOUR The Last 10,000 Years

8. The Great Basin during the Holocene / 217
The Early Holocene (10,000 to 7,500 Years Ago)
The Middle Holocene (7,500 to 4,500 Years Ago)
The Late Holocene (The Last 4,500 Years)
Chapter Notes

PART FIVE Great Basin Archaeology

9. The Prehistoric Archaeology of the Great Basin
Pre-Clovis Sites in the Great Basin
The Latest Pleistocene and Early Holocene
The Middle Holocene
The Late Holocene
Chapter Notes
PART SIX Conclusions

10. The Great Basin Today and Tomorrow
Deer, Cougars, Porcupines, and Cattle
More Lessons from the Past
The Great Basin Today
Chapter Notes

APPENDIX 1: RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RADIOCARBON AND CALENDAR YEARS FOR THE PAST 25,000 RADIOCARBON YEARS
APPENDIX 2: CONCORDANCE OF COMMON AND SCIENTIFIC PLANT NAMES

REFERENCES
INDEX