One Hundred Years of History in the California Desert: An Overview of Historic Archeological Resources at Joshua Tree National Monument

This overview describes known facts about the social and economic history of Joshua Tree National Monument from the period of Indian-European contact to the present. I summarize the archeological reports and various other written materials pertinent to the monument area, and discuss the strengths and limitations of the different source materials.

Major social and economic developments are traced in chapters documenting Indian occupation and acculturation, mining, livestock raising, and the development of modern communities. These historical chapters serve as a basis for identifying types of historic properties and predicting their distributions within and across environmental zones. Included in the conclusions are a discussion of the anthropological research potential offered by various types of historic property, and general recommendations for the protection of such properties and the information they contain.