Paleoindian Predictive Model For Yellowstone National Park

The Greater Yellowstone Region was a destination for nomadic hunter-gatherers for at least 12,000 years. Archaeological sites representing the whole spectrum of time, cultures, and activities, have been found throughout the region. Within Yellowstone National Park a number of Paleoindian projectile points and other related cultural materials have been recorded, however, only a handful of buried Paleoindian sites have been identified and excavated. Considering the nature of the archaeological record in the area, some interesting questions surface about the value of the information recorded on the Paleoindian sites. In terms of Yellowstone National Park (YNP) Paleoindian archaeology, is it possible to use the existing Paleoindian sites to make inferences about the landscape choices of Paleoindian cultures? Can the relationship between the location of known Paleoindian sites and the environment be modeled using quantitative methods? If so, is it possible to use the information about land use patterns derived from a known set of sites to find additional, currently unknown, Paleoindian sites? This paper attempts to answer those questions through the development of an archaeological predictive model, focused on Paleoindian sites, for Yellowstone National Park. Utilizing Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistical software, a probability model has been created that relates the existence or nonexistence of Paleoindian cultural materials with sixteen selected environmental features. The model output classifies areas within YNP through a set of environmental characteristics favorable for finding Paleoindian cultural material.

In this paper, we present a predictive model of Paleoindian archaeological site locations to better understand settlement patterns and land use by early peoples in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem of the northwestern Great Plains and Rocky Mountains. Within Yellowstone National Park (Fig.1), only two Clovis points have been oficially documented, indicating rare use of the region before ca. 13,000 cal yr BP. However, by 11,5000 cal yr BP, Late Paleoindians frequently traveled to Yellowstone, including the highest elevation settings above 10,000 ft. amsl (Lee 2011) -1st paragraph.

This research is a multi step method to predict unknown Paleoindian archaeological site locations within Pine Bluffs, Wyoming, situated in the southeastern corner of the state, using a Geographical Information System (GIS). The GIS technology is being used to predict Paleoindian archaeological site locations and will help demonstrate the geographic similarities and differences between already known Paleoindian archaeological sites and random non-site locations in the Pine Bluffs region. Using GIS, one can note the similarities and differences between the Paleoindian sites and the surrounding landscape and, with the help of logistic regression analysis, one can predict the location of unknown Paleoindian sites.

Bring the wonder and excitement of Yellowstone National Park to your statistics classroom with Exploring Yellowstone National Park Through Statistical Analysis. This set of eight activties takes students beyond the mean, median, and mode to predict wildlife populations, classify thermal features, and determine predictability of Yellowstone's geysers. Statistical analysis techniques include regression, hypothesis testing, percentages, displays of data, data collection, and more.

A History of Underwater Archaeological Research in Oregon, Dennis Griffin Great Basin Obsidian at The Dalles: Implications for the Emergence of Elites in the Southwestern Plateau, Rick Minor Traditional Ecological Knowledge: Reconstructing Historical Run Timing and Spawning Distribution of Eulachon through Tribal Oral History, Nathaniel D. Reynolds and Marc D. Romano A Multidisciplinary Perspective on the 2011 Ethnography ‘The Spokan Indians’, with a Response from the Author, John Alan Ross, Darby C. Stapp, Jack Nisbet, Tina Wynecoop, Dennis D. Dauble, Jay Miller, Deward E. Walker, Jr., and John Alan Ross The 64th Annual Northwest Anthropological Conference, Moscow, Idaho, 21–23 April 2011 Journal of Northwest Anthropology Publication Style Guide

The vast, pine-covered plateau now known as Yellowstone National Park has been lived in, traveled through, and exploited by humans for thousands of years. It is still possible to see the remnants of old camps and deep-rutted trails over which ancient peoples crossed the Park to reach the bison-rich plains. When did humans first visit the area we now call Yellowstone? Who lived there when the first Europeans entered the region? What happened to the last of the early inhabitants? How did the Nez Perce, fleeing across the northen of the newly established Park in 1877, escape U.S. troops? How did Indians perceive the Park's geysers and hot springs? These and other questions are answered in this popular history of the Park written by a professional archaeologist who is also a seasonal resident of West Yellowstone. Joel Janetski reconstructs past human events from archaeological evidence and historical sources to provide an engrossing story of the people who knew the area hundreds, even thousands, of years ago and who left their traces amidst the grandeur that is today's Yellowstone National Park.

The Archaeology of Large-Scale Manipulation of Prey explores the social and functional aspects of large-scale hunting adaptations in the archaeological record. Mass-kill hunting strategies are ubiquitous in human prehistory and exhibit culturally specific economic, social, environmental, and demographic markers. Here, seven case studies—primarily from the Americas and spanning from the Folsom period on the Great Plains to the ethnographic present in Australia—expand the understanding of large-scale hunting methods beyond the customary role of subsistence and survival to include the social and political realms within which large-scale hunting adaptations evolved. Addressing a diverse assortment of archaeological issues relating to the archaeological signatures and interpretation of mass-kill sites, The Archaeology of Large-Scale Manipulation of Prey reevaluates and rephrases the deep-time development of hunting and the themes of subsistence to provide a foundation for the future study of hunting adaptations around the globe. Authors illustrate various perspectives and avenues of investigation, making this an important contribution to the field of zooarchaeology and the study of hunter-gatherer societies throughout history. The book will appeal to archaeologists, ethnologists, and ecologists alike. Contributors: Jane Balme, Jonathan Driver, Adam C. Graves, David Maxwell, Ulla Odgaard, John D. Speth, María Nieves Zedeño