The Obsidian Cliff Plateau Prehistoric Lithic Source, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming

Description

Authors: Davis, Leslie B.; Aaberg, Stephen A.; Schmitt, James G.; and Johnson, Ann M.

Publisher: National Park Service

Pub Date: 1995

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Fair.  Binding tight.  No tears, bends, folds.  Previous owner’s name stamped on upper front cover corner and upper corner title page.  Lower front cover corner has an approx. 1/4″ bend, extends diminishing through first few pages.  Some smudges along lower front cover spine edge.  Light edge wear.

Notes: Selections from the Division of Cultural Resources No. 6.  After the Wolf Creek fire of 1998 in Yellowstone, an archaeological reconnaissance was conducted on the Obsidian Cliff Plateau to determine what damage may have been caused by the fire.  This was actually the first survey of the prehistorically quarried landscape.  Montana State University archaeologists located and described 59 sites, indicating “large-scale” exploitation of the area.  “Culturally diagnostic obsidian artifacts manufactured from Obsidian Cliff plateau obsidian indicate that obsidian was used at many sites within the Central and Northern Rocky Mountains and Northwestern Plains regions over more than 10,000 years.  Such utilization, for utilitarian and ritual purposes, extended north into Canada, south into Colorado, west into Washington, and as far east as the Ohio River valley…”  (From the Abstract)