Promontory Caves Revisited: Preliminary Analysis of Faunal Material from 42BO1 and 42BO2
Johansson, Lindsay; Janetski, Joel
Abstract
Promontory Caves (42BO1 and 42BO2) are located on Promontory point and were excavated in 1930 and 1931 by Julian Steward from the University of Utah. The caves are the type site for Promontory Phase occupation in the Great Basin and the work being done currently concerning the caves is one aspect of a larger project by Jack Ives of the University of Alberta and Joel Janetski of Brigham Young University concerning the Promontory culture and its relationship to the Athapaskan migration. Based upon the presence of moccasins and ceramics recovered at the site, Steward (1937:87) concluded that Promontory cultures were neither Puebloan nor Shoshonean in origin. Recently, the upper levels of occupation at Promontory Caves have been dated to what is termed the Promontory phase of the Late Prehistoric, occurring from approximately AD 1300 to 1550 (Forsyth 1986:190; Janetski 1994:176). Here, I present preliminary data from my analysis of the faunal collection recovered by Steward. This is one portion of my thesis research, in which I will be comparing the faunal collections from various Late Prehistoric sites in the Eastern Great Basin.