Data Recovery at Site 26WP2016, Great Basin National Park, White Pine County Nevada

Archeological data recovery was conducted at site 26WP2016, one of four previously recorded sites in the Baker Guard Station parcel, Great Basin National Park, in support of a proposed visitor center and parking lot. The results of the project suggest that the function of site 26WP2016 was similar during each of its prehistoric occupations: Great Basin Desert Archaic, Parowan Fremont and Western Shoshone. The site was an open, intermittently occupied campsite that served as the base for the exploitation of locally available subsistence resources such as procuring and processing the locally available plants and animals. The recovered lithic assemblage suggests that tools were brought in, used and curated by the site occupants, or repaired and resharpened until spent. Specialized analyses included pollen and macrobotanical analysis as well as obsidian sourcing by x-ray fluorescence. Radiometric analysis confirms the Archaic and Fremont occupations. The historic component is represented by the scattered concentrations of historic trash within the site boundary, which are associated primarily with the Euroamerican residents of the town of Baker. This report completes the requirement of final documentation of the project for dissemination of the data-recovery results and circulation to the Park, the Nevada SHPO, the concerned Indian Tribes, and other interested parties.