Great Basin and Columbia Plateau Worlds: Lakes, Rivers, and Living Homelands

NPS places the investigated settlement broadly in the later thirteenth century rather than across the whole regional chronology. BLM distinguishes the buried ancient foundations from visible walls built for interpretation in 2002.

Reference town or lake–river context

Ely, Nevada, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

Hockett's analysis examines large and small animals across successive deposits rather than assuming exclusive large-game specialization. The project director records excavation seasons from 2000 through 2009 and changing university field-school partnerships.

Reference town or lake–river context

West Wendover, Nevada, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

CRITFC presents Celilo as a long-standing place of fishing and intercommunity connections, not an empty waterway discovered by outsiders. CTUIR's history dates inundation to 1957 and describes profound disruption; this is later history, not an ancient population-replacement event.

Reference town or lake–river context

The Dalles, Oregon, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The published Cave 5 study identified varied dryland plants and selected wetland taxa in sampled combustion features. The museum's field-school account distinguishes caves and successive investigations, rather than one undifferentiated deposit.

Reference town or lake–river context

La Pine, Oregon, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

Utah State Parks presents Danger and nearby Jukebox Cave as long archaeological sequences, not one moment or one household. Jennings's report documented a deeply stratified archive; its broad Desert Culture interpretation needs separation from observed materials.

Reference town or lake–river context

Wendover, Utah, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

Renewed work supported an early Holocene occupation but did not verify the older proposed human presence. The museum's sandal collection documents plant-fiber manufacture; an artifact style does not name every maker's language or identity.

Reference town or lake–river context

La Pine, Oregon, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The AMNH project interprets much of the assemblage as deliberately cached equipment and food, not simply household rubbish. BLM records successive excavation campaigns; older collection histories affect what survives for study.

Reference town or lake–river context

Fallon, Nevada, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The first volume examines dating and deposit formation before interpreting household activities. The second volume compares food use, architecture and social organization; inequality models remain interpretations rather than transparent records of offices.

Reference town or lake–river context

Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The Colville history program includes Kettle Falls and dam-impact histories within its own public heritage work. The Council's river-history account describes fishing and trade and dates reservoir inundation to 1940; observer numbers require attribution.

Reference town or lake–river context

Colville, Washington, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

Smith and colleagues' renewed stratigraphic and direct-dating work did not support the earlier proposed Pleistocene occupation. Heizer's preliminary report is an accountable record of an earlier interpretation, not evidence that all its conclusions remain accepted.

Reference town or lake–river context

Lovelock, Nevada, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

Reclamation distinguishes this camp setting from better-known riverine records and describes repeated use, not a permanent ethnic capital. The WSU repository identifies supervision of the Lind Coulee materials by Reclamation, separating curation from unrestricted public reuse.

Reference town or lake–river context

Moses Lake, Washington, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

BLM interpretation connects cave evidence with surrounding wetland resources, not an empty or uniformly barren desert. The Smithsonian records a rush-and-feather decoy and an attributed ancient date; its cultural attribution is qualified, not a membership determination.

Reference town or lake–river context

Lovelock, Nevada, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The WSU Press synthesis describes a long record of human use whose surviving collections and documentation require contextual interpretation. Washington State Parks connects the investigations with the Lower Monumental reservoir project, rather than a neutral discovery story.

Reference town or lake–river context

Pullman, Washington, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The OSU project account identifies the place as Nipéhe in Nez Perce history and reports early stratified evidence; proposed migration routes remain interpretations. The 2022 project account describes points from pits and their dating; headline superlatives are not treated as permanent facts.

Reference town or lake–river context

Lewiston, Idaho, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

BC Parks describes house depressions and other First Nations use, while acknowledging that its public page is not a complete Indigenous history. The Syilx educational account connects waterways, mobility and multiple livelihoods, countering an isolated or empty-lake narrative.

Reference town or lake–river context

Vernon, British Columbia, Canada (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

Jenkins and colleagues report repeated dates and stratified tool deposits; the association of a dated sample with human activity still requires scrutiny. The Oregon museum presents Paisley as a research context within a changing regional record, not proof that the surrounding desert was empty before one arrival.

Reference town or lake–river context

Lakeview, Oregon, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The museum describes a field station for long-term archaeological and environmental study, not a deserted landscape awaiting discovery. Modern cultivation experiments evaluate labor and environmental constraints; their outcomes are models, not direct observation of ancient intentions.

Reference town or lake–river context

Price, Utah, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

CTUIR's history places river foods, seasonal work and wider connections within its own account, not a uniform nomadic stereotype. Tamástslikt's exhibitions explicitly address past, present and future; this is a living institution rather than a substitute ancient settlement.

Reference town or lake–river context

Pendleton, Oregon, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

BLM presents a long occupation record while qualifying its proposed earliest age; headline first-evidence language should not become an absolute claim. ISU's account notes damage between campaigns and explains why renewed excavation emphasized deeper contexts.

Reference town or lake–river context

Twin Falls, Idaho, United States (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.

The project describes successive floors and roofs as evidence of rebuilding and changing household work. The field account identifies partnership with Xwísten and distinguishes successive excavations rather than an outside discovery of unknown history.

Reference town or lake–river context

Lillooet, British Columbia, Canada (orientation only): approximate public-town or distant institutional orientation, not an excavation, burial, sacred-site, cave-entrance, private compound or vulnerable-deposit location; never a territorial, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, political, religious, sovereignty, hunting, gathering, farming, fishing, water-rights or route boundary. The orientation may be far from the archaeological context. No access, collecting, fishing or travel permission is implied.

Language family

Language, material classification, political allegiance, residence and living identity are distinct; this record does not classify every ancient speaker.