Hunter-Gatherer Settlement Patterns in the South-Central Mojave Desert: Perspectives from Emerson Lake, San Bernardino County, California

ABSTRACT This article briefly explores the archaeological signatures of Early through Late Holocene resource use and hunter-gatherer settlement patterns near Emerson Lake aboard the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. Investigations of 156 localities along a linear belt of probable plant biomass modeled through Normalized Difference Vegetation Index assessments registered larger, richer, and more diverse assemblages containing significantly higher frequencies of resource-processing artifacts, such as flake tools and ground stone, nearer this belt than predicted by random distribution, suggesting that hunter-gatherer encampments, reflecting the utilization of recurring abundant seasonal biotic patches, targeted this belt. However, other than upticks in processing artifact numbers and proximity to the belt during the 1,000 years prior to European contact, archaeological assemblage profiles remain comparatively constant, implying little deviation in the way local hunter-gatherers utilized and settled around this landscape throughout the Holocene.