Large-Scale Traps of the Great Basin

Book excerpt: Early hunter-gatherers in North America spent significant time and energy to secure a reliable food supply. One means of doing so involved the use of large-scale traps—rock and/or wood features constructed through group or communal effort to trap or ambush migrating artiodactyls such as bighorn sheep or pronghorn antelope. Designed to concentrate large numbers of prey animals for easier slaughter, large-scale traps also open an important window for the study of prehistoric social patterns involved in the design, construction, and successful capture of large game en masse—alliance building, trade, revelry, match making, and other cultural activities. This important new research from Bryan Hockett and Eric Dillingham examines the archaeological evidence for large-scale traps over the past 9,000 years in North America’s Great Basin. The authors provide field identification methods, hard data, and archaeological examples of game trap features, focusing their inquiry on the Great Basin region of eastern California, western Utah, and Nevada. Large-scale trap features are found worldwide, and wherever they are found, they exhibit similar characteristics. The first comprehensive book devoted to describing large-scale traps across the entire Great Basin, this work is among the first to provide such a depth of research for any region, anywhere in the world. Ample color illustrations as well as informative maps, drawings, and tables enhance this careful study of ancient communal hunting practices. Offering important insights drawn from some of the oldest large-scale trap structures in the world, Large-Scale Traps of the Great Basin will occupy an important place in the literature of the early inhabitants of North America.