Document Type

Thesis

Date of Degree Completion

Summer 2020

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Cultural and Environmental Resource Management

Committee Chair

Patrick McCutcheon

Second Committee Member

Steve Hackenberger

Third Committee Member

Craig Skinner

Abstract

Human prehistory in North America has sparked the interest of private citizens for decades, sometimes leading to an accumulation of avocational artifact collections that lack site-level provenience. The Wild/Clymer artifacts (n = 1,371) are one such collection where precise site provenience was lost. The analysis aims to recover regional provenience by using morphology, raw material sourcing, and typology to create a data set. The avocational collection data set was analyzed by comparing it to the professionally recorded archaeological data sets from within 100 miles of Frenchglen, Oregon. A paradigmatic classification approach identified 606 typeable points in the avocational collection, in addition to other morphological traits. Systematic typological schemes used throughout the Great Basin identified 15 different projectile point types, with the densest concentration consisting of Elko Eared (20%) projectile points. The results of portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analysis identified 62 obsidian sources from the northwest Great Basin, although it was dominated by Beatys Butte obsidian. Many morphological, typological, and sourcing characteristics of the Wild/Clymer Collection sample are consistent with professionally analyzed archaeological records within the northern Great Basin. We conclude that lost information can be recovered and used to evaluate scientific information potential, which facilitates the identification of affiliated Tribes for collaboration in the continued care and management of the collection.

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